Traditional Bottled Ales
Brewing in Scotland goes back over 5,000 years; it’s said that ale is likely to have been made from barley at Skara Brae and at other sites dated to the Neolithic period. The ale would have been flavoured with meadowsweet in the manner of a kvass or gruit made by various North European tribes including the Celts and the Picts. Today there are 115 Scottish Breweries spread across the country according to CAMRA, and they are massively on the rise with a variety of different flavours perfect for any palate. From hoppy India Pale Ales and refreshing lagers to blonde, amber and golden ales and robust stouts and porters, the choices are endless.
Our team of beer experts have hand picked / mouth tasted what we believe to be the best Scotland has to offer, we also have the knowledge help craft a range perfect for your establishments. If you are a brewer that think they should be in our range, get in touch and see how we can help get your beer to be top of the hops in the Scottish Market.
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Brands In Our Range
Craingorm Brewery
The Cairngorm Brewery Company, established in 2001, is situated in the village of Aviemore within the Cairngorms National Park in the Highlands of Scotland. They brew traditional ales with a fresh new edge, the use well established brewing methods, the finest malted and roast barley, hops and crystal-clear mountain water.
Cairngorm Breweries traditional Scottish recipes such as Black Gold, Wildcat and Stag are well established, giving consistent, quality products. Alongside these, Cairngorm have added new contemporary brews such as Trade Winds, Autumn Nuts, White Lady and Caillie.
Cairngorm are proud to brewers of award winning ales and have received the accolade of Champion Beer of Scotland in 2004 with Trade Winds and in 2005 with Black Gold. Trade Winds also won Speciality Beer of Britain 2004, 2005 and 2006 and UK Champion Best Bitter in 2008. The title of SIBA Supreme Champion Beer of the Year was awarded for 2009, to their traditional Scottish 4.4% ABV Stout, Black Gold. In 2012 Trade Winds received CAMRA Highlands & Western Isles Beer of the Year, with Black Gold runner up. This is the third year in a row Trade Winds has won this title and in 2010, Trade Winds and Black Gold were joint winners.
Cairngorm’s bottled ales have also picked up the award of Beer of the Year 2010 from the Vegetarian Society. They also hold star accreditations from the Guild of Fine Foods.
Blackwolf Brewery
Many moons ago, in the black of the night, Viking invaders were about to attack our hometown of Stirling, when a howling wolf alerted the defenders, who saved the town. We raise a glass to that wolf. The Black Wolf.
it all begins with barley. Barley contains starches that are the natural sugars that power fermentation so the grains are soaked in water to germinate. To stop the germination at the perfect point, the barley is heated in a kiln – the temperature of which decides the flavour of the malt and the ale.
We crush the malt into a course grind and mix with hot water in a mash tun to release the sugars into the liquid. Once the sugars from the malt have been converted the remaining ‘wort’ is boiled with hops for at least an hour in a copper. The hops create the bitter flavour and aroma, and act as a natural preservative. After boiling, we filter through even more hops.
The cooled wort is run into fermentation tanks and we add yeast. Yeast feeds off the sugars in the wort and ferment to produce alcohol and carbon dioxide (the bubbles). Each specific yeast variety produces different flavours, and we go to great lengths to preserve our own uncontaminated yeast variety. We use 4 different types of yeast in order to enhance and enrich the flavour of our ale.
Finally, all our ales are traditionally cask conditioned. Conditioning covers all of the changes that occur in the beer from the time it is primed to the time it is served. This process allows the yeast to continue fermenting slowly, transforming our hand-crafted liquid into a fresh ‘real ale’ worth howling for.
Spey Valley Brewery
Spey Valley Brewery was the first commercial “micro” brewery to be located in the heart of Speyside, creating the finest hand-crafted beers from the same water as Speyside’s world renowned malt whiskies.
The company was founded in 2007 by a distiller, David MacDonald, and a local farmer, Innes MacPherson, who set out to produce world-class beers on the farm in Mulben. Initially brewing from a tiny pilot plant, for the first four years the brewery survived on the owners’ day jobs and focused exclusively upon getting the recipes and the products right. Distribution was deliberately confined to a limited number of informed, local buyers and it wasn’t until 2011 that the first commercial casks arrived on the market.
The first product – Spey Stout – was enthusiastically received by consumers and critically acclaimed throughout the wider brewing world. Encouraged by this early success, the company expanded production in 2012 and began distributing more widely throughout the North East and further afield. In early 2016, production moved to a dedicated unit – still on the farm! – that has seen Spey Valley Brewery become the largest brewery in the local area.
The Spey Valley wends its way from Dalwhinnie in the south to the Moray Firth in the north. An area of pine clad slopes and wide fertile valleys with the majestic Cairngorm mountains as the backdrop. Speyside is world famous for its whisky and salmon fishing, and that very same water goes into their beers.
Category Brands
The Food and Drink Hub offer us a bespoke service, supplying a wide, tailored range of local Scottish produce to our stores to supplement our core national range. We have found the Food and Drink Hub to be experts in their knowledge of the Scottish market and proactive in their approach. They handle orders with minimal fuss and have increased our supply chain efficiency and central control by reducing the number of direct deliveries into stores.
We have a fantastic relationship with Food & Drink Hub. They understand our beers and work hand in hand with us to increase market share and distribution. Communication is positive and constructive and Steve is always willing to offer feedback and advice on new brands.
The Food and Drink hub have provided excellent continued support for Hamlyn’s Oats, Nisha and Millar confectionery. They spotted an opportunity to increase their product ranges to the Hubs partners and that has been pinnacle to this year’s success. I firmly believe that in partnership with The Food and Drink Hub can grow these brands and produce so many exciting products in each of the product categories.
As a company, we’ve really enjoyed working with The Food and Drink Hub over the last few years. We’ve found them to be excellent partners in business with an experience behind them that allows them to understand the needs of their suppliers and customers alike.
As a relatively new entrant to the world of the multiples, we’ve found the support offered by The Food and Drink Hub invaluable. They understood what was different about our brand and our plough-to-pint ethos, and have ensured that we have gained listings on the back of it.
Working with The Food and Drink hub has been a fantastic experience, and has really helped us gain traction where it would otherwise be extremely difficult. Ease of doing business is the key, from being set up to supply, to the order process and through to deliveries. There is no doubt that The Food and Drink hub have helped many small suppliers throughout Scotland to grow their businesses.
It’s been great developing our business alongside The Food and Drink Hub over the past few years. We have a good working relationship with Steve Wallace and the team at The Food and Drink Hub. Without any shadow of a doubt the support, passion, advice and knowledge that they have under their belts, has gained us significant listings with Coop and Morrison’s to name but a few. This partnership has not only gained us access to new markets but has also significantly helped to raise the profile of our brewery and our brands.
I have worked with James and Steve at the Food and Drink Hub for over 4 years and it has been a very fruitful relationship. They are very professional and have considerable in-depth knowledge of the retail trade, which has enabled them to win new customers and develop new customers over this period. My brands have performed well with their customers, and we have developed a close and friendly working relationship, which I value.
Over the past year, The Food and Drink Hub have become one of our Top 10 customers from a virtually standing start. This is as a result of working together on a number of on-trade and off-trade opportunities within the Scottish craft beer sector. We look forward to growing our respective business through 2018 and beyond
Mackie’s Crisps have been delighted to work with The Food and Drink Hub over the past couple of years in growing our brand together. During 2017 we saw a 79% increase in sales by working closely with their team.
