Summer 2015
Bandstand Bar BF This was the 7th festival that Gordon had organised and by all accounts the opening weekend had been his busiest with him having to introduce a ‘one out, one in’ policy due to numbers attending. He had live music at some point every day of the festival - the night I was there some locals came in and played a nice variety of music in the main bar. A whopping 90 casks were consumed over the first weekend! And with the rest of the week and following weekend to go, the total casks sold was going to be in excess of 160 – a fantastic effort. But what of the beers? The Wooha Brewery has recently opened in Nairn and is run by Heather McDonald. They launched their initial two ales at the festival – a lager and a porter, both at 5% ABV, which unsurprisingly had flown out the door on the opening weekend, but some extra supplies of the porter had been arranged and I was able to try some - it was very nice and malty, and was a very easy to drink ale. Hopefully a 32
brewery to watch out for in the future. Another new brewery showcasing their beers was Cumbernauld’s Lawman Brewery. On the Wednesday of my visit only the 6.4% ABV Weatherall IPA was available. Highland’s 4.2% Scapa Bere was probably my favourite ale, made with Orkney Bere Barley, closely followed by Strathbraan’s 4.4% True North. Other beers enjoyed included An Teallach Fuar, Copper Dragon Best Bitter, Cross Bay Halo, Fyne Ales Sunset Boulevard, Loch Ness InverNess and MóR Scode.
Bandstand Bar BF Thursday was a beer-free day and involved watching some small vessels enter the Caledonian Canal at Clachnaharry (it was too early to go into the Inn!), followed by a tour round some old haunts on the Black Isle including birdwatching at Udale Bay and of course trying to see the dolphins at Chanonry Point (we saw two). I did manage to visit the Cromarty Brewery though to stock up on some bottles, including their new Oranage and Earl Grey Berliner Weisse and their 3rd anniversary ale – a caramelised fig infused Belgian Quadrupel style ale coming in at a mere 11% ABV!
Bandstand Bar BF