News

From woodland walks and wild food feasts to wellness workshops and foraged cocktails, the programme for the first ever Foraging Fortnight, was launched today.

 

This brand new festival brings together over a hundred events across five diverse regions of Scotland: from the rolling hills of Lanarkshire, the golden beaches and fields of Fife; the mountains and coast of Moray; to the woodlands and lochs of the Forth Valley and Loch Lomond area; and the diverse islands of Orkney.

The LEADER funded project will take place from 31^st August – 15^th September, allowing people to explore Scotland’s natural places and increase their knowledge of wild food and medicinal plants.

Events include:

• The Scottish Wild Food Festival: taking place on 14^th September on Cardross Estate in the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park. This brand-new event will include a series of hands-on foraging, mindful workshops, folklore walks throughout the estate and the chance to try freshly prepared food and drink made of wild ingredients. The event will also include spectacular one-table feasts from Buck & Birch’s Rupert Waites and Marysia Paszkowska of Monachyle Mhor.
• Living Off the Land: Eva Gunnare, a food and culture connoisseur from Swedish Lapland will be running a series of events across all five regions sharing her insights into foraging in the Arctic Circle, blending traditional recipes with modern creations.
• Forage to Make Hedgerow Jelly: A free event at Fife’s Cambo Estate showing participants how to forage for ingredients to make your own hedgerow jelly.
• Clyde Valley Apple Walk: an exploration of Clyde Valley’s heritage apple trees with a historical walk through Kirkfieldbank Community Orchard where the past is brought to and nature, conservation and food production go hand in hand.
• Explore the Edible Seashore: the opportunity to explore marine life and discover the edible seaweeds that grow locally in Moray along with a demonstration to show how coastal ingredients can be cooked.
• Old Ways and New Journeys: this Orkney event contains fascinating insights from instructor Zeki Basan, who grew up in a remote part of the Cairngorms. A glacier guide in Iceland and a wilderness instructor in Scotland, he describes the skills of survival used in the past in Scotland and by indigenous people today.

The festival programme has been designed to encourage people of all ages to participate safely and responsibly in different foraging activities, while discovering some of the most breath-taking parts of Scotland. Offering a range of free and paid-for tickets, each region has tailored the two-week festival to showcase its surroundings and unique local flora. Participants will be able to forage for medicinal plants, learn how to cook with wild ingredients or attend one of the many feasts of foraged food.

Catharine Idle, Programme Coordinator for LEADER in Fife, said:

“This is the first time an event like this has taken place in Scotland and I’m delighted by the strength, diversity and ambition of the programme.  From mindful workshops and wild food feasts to talks from internationally renowned wilderness experts, Foraging Fortnight truly celebrates Scotland’s rural areas and shows the wealth of opportunities for everyone to get involved in foraging.”

The festival aims to leave a legacy of increased public awareness and expertise of sustainable foraging along with a greater understanding of the health and wellbeing benefits of foraging in natural environments. The festival will be repeated in May 2020 in four of the regions and in September 2020 in Orkney.

Foraging Fortnight events will encourage adherence to Scotland’s Outdoor Access Code and organisers have put together foraging guidelines to ensure that those taking part are doing so in a safe and responsible way.

The full programme will be announced on www.foragingfortnight.co.uk .

Foraging Fortnight is part of Scottish Food & Drink Fortnight, which runs from 31^st August to 15^th September.

 

@foragingfortnight

@foragingfortnight

@foragingF

 

A new festival focusing on locally gathered wild food is to take place at Cardross Estate in Stirlingshire this September.

The beguiling Cardross Estate stretches over 4,500 acres of park, wood and farmland and the festival will be the first of its kind to be hosted in the grounds, offering a venue with a rich variety of foraging habitats. Perched above the River Forth with spectacular views in every direction, Cardross Estate is within easy reach of three of Scotland’s major cities – Stirling, Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Douglas Johnston, Chair of Forth Valley and Lomond LEADER says:

“The Scottish Wild Food Festival is a ground-breaking project that encourages people to learn more about foraging and understand its benefits. This area is rich in wild food, making it a perfect location for the festival with an abundance of ingredients for people to explore. I’m delighted to launch the first festival of its kind in Scotland at Cardross Estate”.

The full line up of The Scottish Wild Food Festival will be announced on the Foraging Fortnight website www.foragingfortnight.co.uk

Tickets are priced at £8 per adult with free entry for children. Tickets are available for the morning session between 10am – 2pm and the afternoon session 2pm – 6pm.  Some events and workshops within the festival are individually priced, all event and workshop purchases include free entry to the festival.

The Scottish Wild Food Festival is one of the key events of Foraging Fortnight, a LEADER funded project that draws together events across Forth Valley and Loch Lomond, Fife, Lanarkshire, Orkney and Moray.  Foraging Fortnight runs from 31st August to 15th September. The festival is also part of Scottish Food & Drink Fortnight, which runs 31^st August – 15^th September.  The Scottish Wild Food Festival will be repeated in May 2020 with dates yet to be announced.

 

     

Foraging Fortnight, a brand-new festival taking place across five diverse regions of Scotland this autumn, has been announced.

From coastal exploration to herbal wellness, wild food feasts to fireside evenings and topical talks, Foraging Fortnight will allow people to explore Scotland’s natural places and increase their knowledge of wild food and medicinal plants through a series of events.

The LEADER funded project will take place from 31^st August – 15^th September across five of Scotland’s distinct regions:  From the rolling hills of Lanarkshire, the golden beaches and fields of Fife; the mountains and coast of Moray; to the woodlands and lochs of the Forth Valley and Loch Lomond area; and the diverse islands of Orkney.

The festival programme has been designed to encourage people of all ages to participate safely and responsibly in different foraging activities, while discovering some of the most breath-taking parts of Scotland. Offering a range of free and paid-for tickets, each region has tailored the two-week festival to showcase its surroundings and unique local flora. Participants will be able to forage for medicinal plants, learn how to cook with wild ingredients or attend one of the many feasts of foraged food.

Events already confirmed in the growing line up include The Scottish Wild Food Festival taking place on 14^th September on Cardross Estate in the Forth Valley and Loch Lomond area. This brand-new event will include a series of hands-on workshops, bread-making courses, folklore walks throughout the estate and the chance to try freshly prepared food and drink made of wild ingredients. The event will also include spectacular one-table feasts from Buck & Birch’s Rupert Waites and Marysia Paszkowska of Monachyle Mhor.

Further north, a significant part of the acclaimed Orkney International Science Festival will be dedicated to the theme with foraging walks, food workshops and a look at the health and nutrition benefits of seaweed with an evening of Neolithic inspired foraged food.  The festival welcomes Eva Gunnare from Swedish Lapland who will be giving talks and tastings on summer foraging for Arctic herbs and Zeki Basan from the Cairngorms, who will be hosting a series of workshops from tanning fish skins to bush craft outings.

Wendy Barrie, Scottish Food Guide said:

“Scotland is an ideal place for foraging; from woodland fungi and flowers to seashore areas.  The five regions taking part in Foraging Fortnight will showcase the true diversity of habitats and we hope that the events will provide opportunities for visitors and local communities alike to discover some really special places.  Foraging is an activity that’s outstanding for mental and physical fitness and something that is truly accessible to everyone.”

Fiona Richmond, Head of Regional Food at Scotland Food & Drink, added:

“It’s great to see this exciting new initiative take place during this year’s Scottish Food & Drink Fortnight, which celebrates Scotland’s reputation as a Land of Food and Drink and the role it plays in driving a vibrant tourism sector. Foraging Fortnight will encourage curious foodies to get out and about and discover some of the fantastic wild produce that grows along the coasts and in the woodlands of Scotland, offering everyone the opportunity to explore, learn and be inspired by our iconic scenery and diverse local larder.”

The festival aims to leave a legacy of increased public awareness and expertise of sustainable foraging along with a greater understanding of the health and wellbeing benefits of foraging in natural environments. The festival will be repeated in May 2020 in four of the regions and in September 2020 in Orkney.

Foraging Fortnight events will encourage adherence to Scotland’s Outdoor Access Code and organisers have put together foraging guidelines to ensure that those taking part are doing so in a safe and responsible way.

The full programme will be announced on www.foragingfortnight.co.uk

Foraging Fortnight is part of Scottish Food & Drink Fortnight, which runs from 31^st August to 15^th September.

     

Edinburgh based food producer, Mara Seaweed is delighted to announce its inclusion in Tesco’s 2019 Incubator programme. It is just one of six UK food and drink brands, and the only one from Scotland, to be chosen to partner with the supermarket giant, which looks to help young, innovative suppliers grow and reach their potential.

Established in 2017, Tesco’s Incubator programme is designed to give a helping hand to a carefully selected group of small entrepreneurial brands that have the potential to offer something different and exciting to customers.  Over the past two years, 28 suppliers have participated in the programme, with brands such as Brewdog, Fevertree and Graze going on to become household names.

 

Mara’s seaweed flakes – ‘healthy salt’ – has been recognised by Tesco as offering something different and exciting: a way of reducing sodium salt intake with a mineral-rich nutritious ‘healthy salt’ that tastes delicious. Mara will be launching in November in Tesco stores nationwide, in the Herbs & Spice category.

 

 

Once selected, each brand on the Incubator completes a comprehensive yearlong programme that includes advice and guidance on marketing products effectively, responding to Tesco customer insight, as well as tips and mentorship from Tesco’s experienced Product team.

 

Award winning Mara Seaweed was established in 2013 by Fiona Houston and Xa Milne and has now grown to be a ground-breaking sea-to-shelf culinary seaweed brand, with the aim of “nourishing body and soul” with sustainable, local, seaweed.

 

The business has come a long way since Xa and Fiona met in 2003 and discovered a shared love of seaweed foraging which led to the cookbook ‘Seaweed and eat it’. In 2013 Mara began to sustainably wild harvest under Crown Estate license in Scotland, and Mara (Gaelic for sea) Seaweed was born. Since then, Mara has grown to a team employing 8 people, working hard to develop the supply chain and establish the UK’s first sea-to-shelf production facility in Edinburgh, enabling nationwide distribution and export to the US and beyond. From the harvesting to sourcing and processing, Mara Seaweed aims to share the health benefits and essential nutrients of seaweed and promote is as a part of an everyday diet.

 

 

 

Fiona Houston says: “To have been accepted onto the Incubator programme is a game-changer for Mara. It will allow us to learn from industry leaders and develop our brand and long-term partnership with the UK’s biggest retailer. It has been an unbelievably hard six years, and could not have achieved without the support of the team at Mara who share the same passion for the brand as I do.”

 

Abi Cosgrave, Partnership Manager at Tesco added: “It is great to have an innovative Scottish brand participating in this years’ programme. Mara Seaweed won us over with their ethos and unique approach to healthy eating.  With two-thirds of customers looking for supermarkets to support them to live healthier lives, it’s never been more important for Tesco to offer products that reflect the latest health and wellness trends. Mara are at the forefront of this and we look forward to working with them in the future.”

 

Mara can be bought online at: www.maraseaweed.com

 

The Little Chartroom, Edinburgh made its debut at the Estrella Damm National Restaurant Awards placing number 79, ahead of some of the UKs top one and two Michelin starred restaurants. Having recently won Best Newcomer at the Edinburgh Restaurant Awards, the 18 cover restaurant has gone from strength to strength having only opened in June 2018. Other Scottish restaurants to make the list are Ondine, Timberyard, The Kitchin and Restaurant Andrew Fairlie.

Shaun McCarron, co-owner of The Little Chartroom: ‘’We are over the moon to have made it into the Top 100 at the National Restaurant Awards the same week we mark the restaurant’s first birthday so it’s a double celebration for us. The awards were quite surreal as we were surrounded by so many chefs and front of house names that we have looked up to so for many years so, to be recognised alongside them was very humbling, but also an amazing feeling. We are really proud of what we have created at The Little Chartroom and so grateful to the team around us who have helped get us here today. second year!’’

The Little Chartroom is the first restaurant from chef Roberta Hall-McCarron and her husband Shaun McCarron which opened in June 2018. Shaun and Roberta met when they both worked at Dominic Jack and Tom Kitchin’s Castle Terrace, her as head chef and him as restaurant manager.

Their restaurant, on Edinburgh’s Leith Walk has only 18 covers and is run almost single-handedly by the couple both in the kitchen and front of house, assisted by two chefs.

Since opening The Little Chartroom they have received a 10/10 review from critic Joanna Blythman as well as glowing reviews from The Sunday Times’ Marina O’Loughlin and Grace Dent of The Guardian. Roberta was named Chef of the Year at the Young British Foodies Awards last year. So far this year the restaurant has been named one of the UK’s Top 100 at the Estrella Damm National Restaurant Awards, won an Edinburgh Restaurant Award for Best Newcomer and an Eating & Drinking Award from The List Magazine. Watch out for Roberta at London’s Meatopia in August this year, where she will be flying the flag for Edinburgh with her dish of Ox tongue and beef haggis oat taco, spicy romesco and smoked bone marrow.

www.thelittlechartroom.com

Combining global flavours with the whiskies and natural larder of Scotland, Ghillie Basan’s new book Spirit & Spice takes readers on a culinary journey around the world and back again – to Ghillie’s home in the Highlands of Scotland.

The author of more than 40 cookbooks, Ghillie grew up in Africa and has travelled extensively throughout Turkey, the Middle East and Southeast Asia, and researching the links between culinary cultures forged by trade routes, colonisation and migration.

Learning from locals in remote villages, she ground coconuts and pineapples on a stone in Kerala, stuffed pounded pork, ginger and spices into the hollows of bamboo stems in Saigon and picked argan nuts out of goat droppings to be pressed for oil in the Sous Valley.

On returning to Scotland, Ghillie moved to a deserted croft in the wind-battered hills of the Cairngorms.  Here she brought up her two children, grew vegetables, foraged for fungi and berries and cooked wild rabbits from the glen, while using the flavours, spices and techniques picked up on her travels to shine a new light on Scottish produce.

With expert insights on pickling, preserving, smoking and outdoor cooking, Spirit & Spices features beautifully presented recipes detailing Ghillie’s fascinating life story and painting an inspirational, heartfelt picture of her family life in one of Scotland’s wildest and most beautiful corners.

Taking inspiration from the notes of spice lingering in the air from nearby distilleries, she has become an expert in identifying which whiskies enhance the flavours and spices of her recipes and in Spirit & Spice she explains how to pair the perfect dram to a dish.

Recipes include “Body-warming, Midge-busting Dhal”, a spicy, nourishing lentil-based dish, perfect for camping in Scotland; “Whisky and Spice Cured Venison Fillet with Juniper Berries and Wild Thyme” and “Fresh Fish on Sticks Over the Fire”, which Ghillie makes in her garden using fresh trout from Rothiemurchus Estate.

Chapters:

• Flavour and Spice – how to concentrate and enhance flavour in spice mixes, preserves, pickles and flavoured spirits
• Breakfast in the Bush – inspirational ideas for cooking outside whether you’re camping in the glen or hiking through the mountains
• Wild Food & Foraging – making the most of Scotland’s natural larder
• Feeding Family & Friends – family favourites to savour and share
• Sweet Contentment, Sugar and Spice – treats from all over the world, from Ghillie’s kitchen to yours
• Spirit and Spice – a user’s guide to pairing food with whisky

 

Ghillie Basan said:

“Two years ago I almost lost my home – the very heart of this book – as I had given up everything to look after my mother who has dementia. To buy a bit of breathing space with the bank I sold my jewellery and any items of value and then sat on my deck with a dram to draw inspiration from my view – a view that has always reminded me of Africa but on this occasion it dawned on me that here I was in the heart of whisky country and I had never done anything with the spirit, apart from drink it!  As hospitality costs nothing and is at the root of everything I have ever done I linked up with Chivas by opening my doors to welcome international groups to experience food and whisky in a remote smugglers’ glen. By breaking down the flavours in whisky and building them up again in the food, working with flavours from different culinary cultures, the foundation for Spirit & Spice was set and has put me on the right path to save my home. From time to time, we all need a story of hope.”

With photography throughout the book by Christina Riley and Zeki Basan, Spirit & Spice will be published in hardback by Kitchen Press on 14^th May 2019 and will be available nationwide, priced at £25.

 

Kitchen Press titles are distributed by BookSource.

www.kitchenpress.co.uk

To celebrate the famous Wimbledon Grand Slam tennis tournament (1-14th July), Jannettas gelateria in Fife, St Andrews, will serve up not one, but two delicious limited-edition ices.

Opt for the refreshing Pimm’s sorbet, made with Pimms, Lemonade & Fresh Mint or dive into the indulgent Strawberries and Cream gelato made using the freshest possible local strawberries grown by the family-run Pittormie Fruit Farm. Priced at £2 for a standard cone or tub these delicious creations are available for a limited time throughout July.

Jannettas is an institution in Scotland, having been founded more than 110 years ago by Bennett Jannetta. Four generations on, and the family business is run by his great-granddaughter Nicola and her husband Owen. The gelateria in the seaside town serves ice cream to take away along with an eat-in ice cream parlour for visitors, as well as catering for events and wholesale.   

With a staggering 54 flavours of ice cream, Jannettas also serves up classic favourites including Mint Choc Chip, Vanilla and Chocolate as well as seasonal specialities using local produce – including heritage pear; a seaweed and lemon; and whisky marmalade.  The rich and creamy milkshakes and ice cream floats are also popular throughout the summer. 

Pioneering aquaculture company Great British Prawns is launching the world’s first sustainable land-based, clean water prawn farm at Balfron, Stirlingshire in Scotland.

 

Great British Prawns uses specially developed aquaculture technology and sustainable energy to produce warm water King prawns in clear and clean water in the United Kingdom for the first time.

The brand new Recirculation Aquaculture System (RAS) cleans and recycles the majority of the water used in the system every day to provide premium locally grown prawns, without contaminating the environment. The 1500m² Balfron farm is the first of its kind in the UK; and the company has ambitious plans to expand, providing fresh prawns to restaurants across the UK.

King Prawns

The farm will produce the world’s most popular prawn variety, the Pacific Whiteleg Shrimp, better known as the King prawn. Normally native to the Eastern Pacific Ocean, the prawns at Balfron will be grown in over 300 tonnes of water capable of holding up to a million fresh prawns, which will grow to reach an average size of 25g each.

The majority of the UK’s King Prawns are currently sourced frozen from farms in the Far East and Central America, a model widely criticised for its damaging environmental practices. Great British Prawns’ land-based farms will deliver the prawns from tank to plate within 24 hours, with no need for freezing and with zero air miles.

Sustainable

 Great British Prawns’ first farm has been designed to have minimal and an increasingly reduced impact on its surrounding environment. Using sustainable energy from an anaerobic digester on a neighbouring dairy farm, high levels of insulation and ground-breaking bio-filters to clean and recycle its waste, heat that would otherwise have been lost is used to produce food. As a result constantly improving design will allow future facilities to be virtually waste free and, because of the closed filtration system, won’t require the antibiotics and other medication, chemicals and manual handling used widely in the existing prawn farming industry, resulting in uniquely ‘clean’, fresh prawns.

With harvesting starting in summer 2019, the prawns will be available initially to chefs within a 2-hour radius of the farm (including Edinburgh and Glasgow) at a cost of £23/kg, a price similar to other shellfish such as langoustines. Other Great British Prawns farms are scheduled to open across the UK shortly.

Chairman and Commercial Director, James McEuen said:

“Most prawns have traveled 6,000 miles to reach a UK consumer with worldwide demand continuing to grow.  But we know that consumers are increasingly concerned about the environmental impact of seafood production and to be sustainable, the future of aquaculture really has to be land-based.

This farm has the potential to lead a transformation in the way seafood is produced.  We aim to meet growing UK consumer demand for regional and local food production with the reassurance of outstanding husbandry, provenance and sustainability.

This farm is a world-first in terms of technology and sustainability but it also produces some of the most outstanding and delicious prawns in the world.”

Dr Andrew Whiston, Technical Director for the project said:

“I’ve worked in aquaculture engineering for more than 25 years and this project is truly setting a worldwide precedent that will change the way prawns are farmed in the future. Focusing on getting the Recirculation Aquaculture System (RAS) exactly right, along with mimicking the precise conditions required for optimal prawn development has been a precision project that has required painstaking research and engineering. The outcome is an approach that impresses on its engineering, as well as its sustainability and humane methods.”

To find out more about Great British Prawns, visit http://greatbritishprawns.com.

To coincide with World Gin Day, Real Mary King’s Close, the five-star visitor attraction located underneath the famous Royal Mile in Edinburgh, is teaming up with local herb and gin experts – The Old Curiosity Distillery – to offer unique gin-tasting tours.

Paying homage to the famous illicit gin trade of 18^th century Edinburgh and the plague doctors who used botanical to ward off disease, the late-night tour will be an opportunity to learn about the origins of gin production in the city while enjoying a range of exclusive and specially selected Old Curiosity gins, deep underground in the historic city.

Visitors will learn about why the Dutch traded genever (gin’s precursor), the adventures of local smugglers, and the distilling innovations that led to Edinburgh’s lengthy love affair with this chameleon spirit. They will get the chance to explore the life and times of Edinburgh’s first plague doctor – Joannes Paulitius – to discover why herbs were thought to protect the doctor from deadly plague epidemic and why he wore the distinctive beaked mask.

The late night 1.5 hour guided tours cost £35 and will take place every Wednesday in August and Saturday in September. Accompanied by a gin expert, visitors will be given four gins to taste, including: Apothecary Rose, Lemon Verbena, and Chamomile & Cornflower, followed by a plague doctor inspired Lavender & Echinacea gin cocktail.

Paul Nixon, General Manager from The Real Mary Kings Close, said: “Given Edinburgh’s unique history and connection with gin, hosting an Old Curiosity Gin tour with their award-winning range, all made right here in Edinburgh, made perfect sense. There is a wealth of stories waiting to be told about the illicit stills, plague doctors and their connection with herbs and botanicals, including their characteristics, flavours and supposed magical properties.  The Real Mary King’s Close is a truly unique attraction and this tour allows visitors to explore these underground streets in a totally different context – bringing history alive while discovering the fascinating origins of gin.”

 Francesca Martin, Events and Marketing Manager at Old Curiosity adds:

“We’re delighted to be partnering with The Real Mary King’s Close. We can’t wait to share the interesting history of gin and showcase our creations in a unique setting.”

The Real Mary King’s Close is a five-star visitor attraction located on Edinburgh’s historic and world-famous Royal Mile. Visitors are taken on a journey into a warren of uniquely preserved 17^th century streets, which were once home to a thriving community

Find out more: https://www.realmarykingsclose.com/

Low ABV, Core Range, and Simplicity: The We Are Beer team discuss tap trends for 2019

Scotland’s largest celebration of craft beer returns to Edinburgh this May with a special foodie focus, top-class music acts and a huge selection of craft beers from some of the world’s most innovative brewers.

Ahead of the festival the team from We Are Beer, the organisers behind the event, look at some of the trends they expect to see on tap this year.

DANIEL SYLVESTER, WE ARE BEER CO-FOUNDER:

“Looking at trade-based events and having attended exhibitions across the country, I’ve noticed the sharp rise of low-ABV beers and a huge growth in alcohol-free drinks as a whole.

Within beer, we’ve seen the foundation laid by the likes of BrewDog and Mikkeller, and now breweries like Big Drop are expanding the offering and upping the low-ABV game.

As greater health consciousness progresses across our industry, I predict a greater focus on lower-strength beer—without compromising on flavour.”

Low ABV beers you can try at Edinburgh Craft Beer Festival:

Black Isle Brewery – Goldfinch, 3.5%

This refreshingly hopped IPA is a zingy and citrusy little number, with the added bonus of being gluten free as well as low ABV.

Big Drop Brewing Co. – Lager, 0.5%

Big Drop specialise in making the finest alcohol free beer and will be bringing their range to Edinburgh in May, including their crisp and balanced Lager with notes of honey and pepper.

TOM MAYA, HEAD OF MARKETING:

“Whether it’s a prediction or a hope, I’d like to see fewer people focus on the hype breweries and return to the breweries that are smashing their core range or beer style they specialise in. I, like many others, was well and truly aboard the ‘fuss train’. Of course, there are still beers I see on social media and pine over them, but when it comes down to it, some breweries are just creating consistently cracking beers that are part of their core range.

If anything, more focus on these will only encourage breweries to keep improving these beers. Too many breweries are seeing trends and trying to jump on the bandwagon; sometimes it pays off and a delicious beer is brewed but more often enough, an okay-ish beer is the end result. So my prediction is a return to those ‘constant’ beers and less people commuting on the hype train.”

Festival breweries which are smashing it with their core range:

Pilot, Edinburgh

Pilot has made a name for itself for its straight talking online, and it’s an approach which is reflected in the brewery itself; with a solid core line up of beers which are becoming mainstays in the bars of Edinburgh.

Tempest Brew Co., Galashiels

Certainly not shy of a seasonal brew or limited edition, but Tempest’s core range proves it can weather any storm with pride of place at many a bar.

LILY WAITE, HEAD OF CONTENT:

“With more breweries thinking further outside of the proverbial box, and breweries such as Harbour, Wild, Burning Sky, and Mills simultaneously producing excellent wild and mixed-fermentation beers and growing interest in them, one area I’m keeping a beady eye on is fermentation. With fermented beverages such as kombucha and kefir entering the mainstream more of late, and breweries across the world experimenting with the likes of Kveik yeasts last year, I think we’ll see a rise in interest in less conventional fermentation methods—not only from breweries, but the consumer base too.”

Fantastic ferments pouring at Edinburgh Craft Beer Festival:

Vault City Brewing – Mandarina Mandarin, 7.7%

One of the capital’s youngest breweries but already competing with the big guns, Vault City won a place at the festival at the annual Raise The Bar competition. This one is a juicy, hoppy delight.

Vault City Brewing – Strawberry Skies, 8.5%

Another one from the Raise The Bar winners; fresh strawberries blended with Madagascan vanilla and lemony-tart hibiscus.

GREG WELLS, WE ARE BEER CO-FOUNDER:

“We all know beer and food is a match made in heaven, if done right. Craft beer as part of the street food and casual dining sector has been a major part of ‘going out’ for the last four or five years. However, this will be the year we see it fully established into the higher end of food—seeing great sharing bottles alongside wonderful lagers and pilsners in the very best restaurants is so exciting. Hats off to places like Timberyard in Edinburgh, or Smoking Goat in London for really pushing the agenda forward. Ultimately fermentation is the wonderful alchemy that connects the very best chefs and brewers together in an appreciation of flavour – and I think that’ll grow ever stronger in 2019.”

Food at the festival:

Aizle, Edinburgh

A first for one of Edinburgh’s most popular restaurants and the festival , this collaboration elevates the food offering to a new culinary level  as Aizle presents its inaugural festival menu,  bringing its innovative seasonal flavour to the Edinburgh Craft Beer Festival.

Harajuku Kitchen, Edinburgh

Harajuku Kitchen fuses traditional family recipes & fresh Asian ingredients with AA rosette level flair to create the best Japanese food in Edinburgh. We are excited to be able to pair beers to these flavours

Tickets for Edinburgh Craft Beer Festival are priced from £45 and include entry, all your beer, a special festival beer glass and magazine, and access to the festival’s pop-up kitchens and music acts.

Opening Night: Friday 24^th May, 6pm – 11pm, £45 standard / £65 VIP
Saturday Social: Saturday 25^th May, 11.30am – 4.30pm, £45 standard / £65 VIP
Big Night Out: Saturday 25^th May, 6pm – 11pm, £45 standard / £65 VIP
The Beer Geek Weekender: Friday 24^th May – Saturday 25^th May (all sessions), £100

Purchase your ticket now at edinburghcraftbeerfestival.co.uk