Guide to Drinking Beer in Scotland

本·基恩的文章和照片

Outside the Moulin Brewery.

“Have you tried the beer?”

The question was predictable enough, and caught me off guard all the same. Despite the sign outside prominently advertising free tours, I didn’t think the lone employee would actually stop what he was doing to bother with an inquisitive imbiber nosing around his workspace. Yet that’s precisely how I met the brewmaster forMoulin啤酒厂。A tiny operation just outside the town of Pitlochry, Moulin is one of nearly a dozen Scottish craft beer producers where the art and science of brewing can be witnessed firsthand—but only if you’re willing to skip a distillery or two in favor of a foamier fermented beverage.

大多数人将苏格兰与威士忌联系在一起，而不是啤酒。实际上，其中许多人旅行到那里只是为了尝试他们最喜欢的单一麦芽。而且，鉴于国家饮料（或某些人可能会争论的消遣）占苏格兰总出口收入的百分之十以上，这是完全合理的。但是，我宁愿以其他形式享受我的麦芽大麦，但我计划了一次旅行，这使我成为了该国一些最好的黄褐色啤酒的制造商。

我和我的朋友凯特（Kate）选择了机票成本，我选择在格拉斯哥（Glasgow）开始正规教育，这是从纽约飞往纽约的最便宜的城市。当涉及到苏格兰啤酒时，我们只想在适当的酒吧做一些味蕾，无论如何还是我们的第一站。第一天主要由博物馆跳和橱窗购物组成，但是当Jet Lag最终赶上我们时，我们已经准备好找到一个温暖而舒适的地方来塞住几个小时。Babbity Bowster, an excellent if somewhat difficult-to-find pub in the old Merchant City, met our qualifications nicely: no televisions, a homey, historic interior, and a decent selection of local beers to choose from. We arrived late in the afternoon on a chill day and as a result, skipped the small outdoor seating area. I started with one of their guest beers, an amber-colored Cotswold Lion from the胡克·诺顿啤酒厂, while Kate went for a diet IRN-BRU instead. Non-alcoholic yes, but Scottish nonetheless.

整洁，光线充足的机构中的几乎每个人似乎都是格拉斯威格人，但是当我们看着天空慢慢穿过四个大窗户，俯瞰着Blackfriars Street的四个大窗户，大部分深绿色和白色的摊位仍然是空的。实际上，分散的对话足够低，以至于我感到有些自觉与凯特谈论第二次饮料的选择。还有其他11人被点击，这并不是一个容易的决定。最后选择喀里多尼亚啤酒厂’s award-winning Deuchars IPA, I decided that this pale ale would go particularly well with an affordable—even at the punishing exchange rate—cheese-plate-laden with enough apples, grapes, celery, and the ubiquitous Scottish oatcakes to quiet two growling stomachs. With six well-appointed, mid-priced rooms upstairs, we could have continued quaffing well into the evening, were it not for our ambitious agenda.

我们判断自己为更大，大胆的啤酒挑战做好准备，我们解决了账单，第二天早上租了一个小的绿松石福特ka。前往高地，我们开车经过阿盖尔的Fyne Ales，但只停了足够长的时间来对Inveraray的鱼类和薯条进行加油。在这一点上，我应该补充说，有可能通过火车或公共汽车到达苏格兰的许多地方，但对于希望访问啤酒厂以外的人来说，这是不切实际的。一辆汽车使我们能够选择目的地，并在我们喜欢的时候徘徊。然而，在我们到Moulin之前，我们在威廉堡度过了一整夜。我们的行程没有足够的时间来看到我们希望的每一个杂货和调理坦克，但是这个活泼的小镇在惊人的距离之内Black Isle Breweryin Inverness,Cairngorm酿造公司在Aviemore附近或更近的地方，Atlas Brewery, another place where intrepid beer hunters can sample unique brews on a free evening tour, held daily expect for Sundays from Easter until late September.

As with Black Isle, Cairgorm, and Atlas, an informal tour and tasting is free at Moulin, and it’s also possible to enjoy all of their drinkable products at the adjacent 300-year old inn. Mike the brewer, who was still wearing dark blue coveralls emblazed with the logo of his former employer, Bell’s Scotch Whisky, said he could make about 20-21 kegs a week and showed us his gravity-fed method for filling the small metal barrels. When asked about the difficulty of his job, he replied matter-of-factly: “You just keep things clean and stick to the recipe really.”

啤酒成分。

Brewmaster在工作。

Of the four ales on tap at the Moulin Inn, I went for the malty, ruby-colored Ale of Atholl, and Kate the rich, smooth Old Remedial, but apparently the medium-bodied draft called Braveheart is their best seller. Unsurprisingly, its popularity (and in fact inception) coincided with the release of a certain Oscar-winning film sharing the same name. As Kate and I sat outside at a wooden picnic table enjoying our half pints, I don’t remember being the least bit concerned about Hollywood though, or even the fact that I hadn’t yet laid eyes on a spirit still; on the contrary I was already daydreaming about the beers I could taste on a tour ofStewart Brewing在爱丁堡（每人8英镑，包括食物茶点和一品脱），甚至调整我们的计划，以便在苏格兰边界停下来评估其中一个OakyTraquair House啤酒回到美国。包括18世纪啤酒厂在内的房屋和地面的游览，价格为6.50英镑，并从3月至11月提供。

Actually, of all the Scottish craft beers we tried during our eight-day trek, my two favorites came from the same place: Unst. And while I would have gladly tasted them at their place of origin, the remoteness of the瓦尔哈拉啤酒厂- 在设得兰群岛最北端的地方 - 为大多数旅行者提供了木桶大小的弯路。另一方面，在途中穿过奥克尼人将使勇敢的跳跃有机会看到高地酿造公司- 苏格兰冠军啤酒2008年的冠军啤酒制造商Campaign for Real Ale。无论好坏，我的旅行都必须等待另一次访问，尽管我毫不犹豫地推荐瓦尔哈拉岛贝尔（Valhalla's Island Bere），烟熏啤酒和遗产大麦酿造的烟熏啤酒以及更强壮，饱满的sjolmet stut。

这次游览并没有带我去所有苏格兰啤酒厂，而且由于必要，我也没有在这里分类每种啤酒品种。付出一些努力，您可以通过国际分销商购买众多喀里多尼亚啤酒的瓶装版本来发现自己的收藏夹。但这不应该阻止您体验沙绳的果味乐趣（由Fyfe, arguably Scotland’s smallest commercial brewer), or the malty sweetness of the Hop Rocker, from酿酒犬，在阿伯丁郡的一家新微型酿酒厂，直接从水龙头上。没有更好的方法来尝试它们。

Ben Keene是一位流浪的作家，一位勇敢的食者，也是Best Hikes Near New York City。他的作品出现在草稿中，乡村声音，啤酒鉴赏家和《旧金山纪事》。