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North Hop Visits The Plockton Real Ale & Gin Festival

Wednesday 24th May 2017

Here at North Hop HQ we pride ourselves on filling our festivals with bars and breweries who offer the perfect serve - local providers of world class beer, cider, gin and other spirits; as well as locally sourced street food vendors. Year round we try and visit as many other festivals as we can and travel around Scotland, not only to support North Hop favourites, but also to source new finds to bring to future festivals!

North Hop Festival Director, Michelle is based in the Highlands and recruited North Hop’s Digital Marketing Manager, Suz from Border.Digital in Aberdeen to join her for the Plockton Real Ale & Gin Festival in beautiful Plockton. Not only were some of the North Hop festival favourites on site, but also some of our new finds for the up-and-coming Glasgow festival were on offer.

Whilst we make it look like it is all fun and games, we did try a few beers and gins in the name of market research and even made some notes along the way! Check out our list below:

Beer
Cairngorm Brewery - TradeWinds - Light wheat beer with distinct elderflower nose and taste.
Swannay Brewery - Ale 9 - Amber beer with a nice white head and toffee notes.
Plockton Brewery - Serendipity - A sweeter version of their bitter-sweet Plockton Bay.
Tempest Brewing Co - Cascadian - An easy drinking citrus based session ale.
Tempest Brewing Co - Chinook vs Citra - A battle of the hops, fruity session IPA.

Gin
Makar Glasgow Gin - Glasgow’s first gin with definitive juniper nose and taste.
Misty Isle Gin - Local gin from Skye, juniper heavy with citrus notes.
El-Gin - Moray gin with Scottish oats for a creamy mouthfeel and local fruits for sweetness.
Stirling Gin - A slightly green gin with lots of fresh tastes from the nettle and basil botanicals.

Gin Cocktails
Eden Mill - Bramble Pre-Bottled Cocktail - Refreshing accompaniment for the beers.

For us, Ale 9 from Swannay Brewery alongside Tempest Brewing Co Chinook vs Citra came out as top of our beer list for the weekend and Stirling Gin and Makar Glasgow Gin were our top 2 for the gins!

You can find Tempest Brewing Co and Makar Glasgow Gin at our next festival in Glasgow at SWG3 on 16 and 17 June - tickets available here.