I understand that Scottish beer has little to do with Gaelic, but I'm a huge beer lover and this is my website, so I thought what the heck, I'll host some beer reviews here. If you yourself have a beer review that you would like me to publish here, then by all means please send it to me by email. You will notice that not all of these beers are made in Scotland, some of them are simply Scottish style, or in other words made in the same fashion as they would be in good old Scotland. I would also like to put out the word, that if you know of an arse kicking Scottish made beer that you think I should try, then make sure you let me know what it's called, and I'll see if I can get my hands on it. I hope you all enjoy this section of the website, even if it's somewhat of a detour away from learning about Gaelic. Perhaps with a few Scottish made beers in your system, you might be jabbering away in Scottish Gaelic before the night is over, you never know.
For those of you unaware, beer has been produced in Scotland for over five thousand years. These first brews were made of course by the Celts who inhabited the area, and were made from bittering herbs. The two main areas where beer has been refined and produced the most in Scotland, is in and around Glasgow and Edinburgh. These two cities have long been considered the brewing hot spots for the country, and are where all of the nation's top breweries are located. While a large portion of these beers are consumed by a domestic market, they are also exported all over the world. There are hundreds of well known Scottish beer brands, and likely thousands of more small microbrewed creations. Despite the widely held notion that beers in Scotland use far less hops than beers in England or elsewhere, evidence has shown this to be false, as the Scottish are huge importers of hops, taking in all the major types from around the world.
One very interesting fact that you might not know, is that the strongest beer in the world is created and sold in Scotland. The beer is called Tactical Nuclear Penguin, and it contains 32% alcohol by volume. I have six bottles of this liquid gold sitting in my beer refrigerator, and I plan to do a beer review of them shortly, so please stay tuned for that to be published. For those of you who are beer connoisseurs, then you know that Scotland produces some strong and delicious imperial stouts, which is what Tactical Nuclear Penguin is. Actually it's known as an uber-imperial stout, though I think the brewery that sells it might have pulled that term out of thin air. In addition to writing a review on this stuff, I will also try and detail the best method for acquiring this stout, in hopes that I can encourage others to try it out as well. What better way to support your love for Scotland, than to import their fine beverages into your country.
If this section of my website turns out to get a decent and regular flow of steady interest, then I will also open up an Irish beer reviews section, and maybe even an Isle of Man beer reviews page as well. I know that the Isle of Man is host to Okells Brewery based in Douglas, but I will investigate and see if I can find any other microbreweries located on the island, as I'm always open to trying something off the beaten path. So if you have any questions about this section of my website, or if you just want to chat about beer in general, then please feel free to drop me an email. General response time to all inquiries is about one to three business days. I would like to thank you all again for taking the time to read through this, I hope it was enjoyable. Oh and before I forget, if you would like to know how to say cheers in Scottish Gaelic, it's slainte mhath, pronounced slaancha vaa, which translates to mean "to good health". So once again, cheers.
