The Highland Brewing Company

THE CASTLE TAVERN FESTIVAL
Wednesday, October 15 2008

Dark Munro has been awarded beer of the festival at the annual Castle Tavern Beer Festival, Inverness. Real ale maestro George Maclean, the owner of The Castle Tavern, said Dark Munro was voted top beer from a range of 42 ales over the week long festival. Thanks to all who voted for Dark Munro! Read about The Castle Tavern here.

CAMRA GBBF 2008 - AWARDS
Tuesday, August 5 2008

Scapa Special scoops silver in the Best Bitter category and Orkney Blast grabs a bronze in Strong Bitters. The Great British Beer Festival 2008 was judged at Earls Court, 5 August, by a panel of brewers, beer writers and journalists.

Last year we had Scapa Special and Orkney Best in the running to no avail. This year we had an amazing four beers in for judging: Dark Munro, Orkney Best, Orkney Blast and the flagship Scapa! Any recognition at this level is warmly welcomed and is something to build on for the future.

Get down to your local and ask for our beers by name!

SIBA SCOTLAND AWARDS 2008
Monday, June 30 2008

More great awards news! The SIBA Scotland awards 2008 took place at the Scottish Traditional Ale Festival in Edinburgh on the day after the Champion Beer of Scotland competition with a different panel of judges. Fantastically, for the second year in a row Dark Munro has won the Milds up to 4.0% category!

Highland Brewing Company's placings:
Milds up to 4.0% - Dark Munro - Gold Medal
Strong Ales over 5.6% - Orkney Blast - Gold Medal
Premium Bitters 4.6 - 4.9% Orkney IPA - Silver Medal
Overall competition - Orkney Blast - Silver Medal

The Munro & the Blast now go forward to the SIBA National Competition in 2009 with the other regional category winners.

Watch this space for news next year!

CHAMPION BEER OF SCOTLAND AGAIN!
Thursday, June 19 2008

For the second year in a row The Highland Brewing Company has been voted CAMRA Champion Beer of Scotland, this time with our flagship pale ale, Scapa Special. Amazingly, Orkney Best was also placed third in the competition. The results were judged and announced at the Scottish Traditional Beer Festival held at the Assembly Rooms, George Street, Edinburgh, 19 June 2008. This is yet more great news for the brewery - we just can't wait to get our bigger brewplant completed and brewing so we can brew even more fantastic ales! We hope you keep enjoying our ales as much as Dad enjoys brewing them! Links: http://www.camra.org.uk/page.aspx?o=279502

Overall winner (click to enlarge) Third place (click to enlarge)

SWANNAY BREWERY PICTURES ONLINE
Tuesday, May 27 2008

We've put some pictures of our new brewplant being installed online; we're hoping to have it up and running this summer. Use the "brewery" link above or click here.

ABERDEEN BEER FESTIVAL - NOW IN JUNE!
Monday, May 26 2008

The Highland Brewing Company's beers will be at the CAMRA 22nd Great Grampian Beer Festival (CAMRA Aberdeen Beer Festival) from June 5-7. Please note the change of dates from the usual November!

TASTING NOTES ONLINE
Friday, May 2 2008

We now have some tasting notes online - please have a read.

ORDER BOTTLED ST MAGNUS ALE ONLINE
Friday, May 2 2008

We've not quite managed to get our online store up and running yet but in the meantime you can order bottles of St Magnus Ale online now from OrkneyStore.com, take a look and let us know what you think - both of OrkneyStore's service and the beer!

IN THE PRESS...
Monday, April 14 2008

The brewery was recently featured in The Press and Journal. Read the article here.

DARK MUNRO DOES IT AGAIN!
Saturday, March 8 2008

Dark Munro has scooped a Gold medal in the Milds category of the prestigious Small Independent Brewers Association (SIBA) National Ales Competition which was judged in Hereford two weeks ago. The results were announced late on Friday afternoon following the annual SIBA conference in Harrogate, North Yorkshire. Dark Munro at 4.0 % ABV stood out against a selection of six other Milds from around the country, all of which had won top spot in their respective regional competitions. Dark Munro is a refreshing dark beer with a mere hint of hop, lots of roast malt flavour and a lingering, fruity, chocolate malt finish. The judging panel consists of experienced brewers and respected figures within the brewing industry supply chain.

Owner and brewer Rob Hill said "This is another remarkable win for Orkney's Swannay Brewery. This comes on the back of a Bronze medal in the Milds category at the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) National Winter Ales Festival in January 2008 and also winning Champion Beer of Scotland in June 2007."

Dark Munro has been selling well, with sales coming largely from word of mouth so far. The new brew plant will be on stream in the next few weeks and it is hoped to appoint a dedicated sales person to push sales forward, grow the business and fund developments at the fantastic brewery site at Swannay, Orkney. Dark Munro will also be available in bottle once the new brewery is bedded in and the flavour profiles have been matched.

The first two years brewing have been challenging, rewarding and great fun to say the least. The hard work is over and now the really hard work begins!

View the full results here.