Diary of news and events in Glencoe and Clachaig Inn.

Clachaig Blog - Autumn 2006

1st November 2006
Another Octoberfest has been and gone. Our autumn festival is now so popular that just a few lines can't do it justice - apologies for the length of our 'brief' overview!

*The Beer!* 30 ales over 15 handpulls ensured plenty of choice throughout the week. New additions being Harviestoun Schiehallion - a unique cask conditioned lager (4.8% abv) and Caledonian XPA (4.3%) their eXceptional new brew. Fastest selling ale was a close run thing between Isle of Skye's Red Cullin (4.2%), Orkney's Skullsplitter (8.5%) and Hebridean's Berserker (7.5%). Our range of bottled German/Belgian brews sold well with the full Chimay range going before Tuesday evening. The Craic! With a great start from Pure Malt on Friday things just got a tad loopier with the Titanics bringing the house down on the first week-end. Their next showing is at the Hogmanay Hoolie which should be a peach of a night. Sunday saw a few familiar faces banging out their favourites at the open session. Special thanks to pubjamsessions.com for advertising. Monday was the Big Frizzy Quiz with nearly 50 entrants. Jimmy managed to bamboozle most of them, but with a score of 27/40 the lucky winner went home with a mini keg of Hebridean Islander beer.
Tuesday – The Ale Masterclass saw 20+ tasters being educated on the prizes and pitfalls of brewing. A huge success rated by all. Wednesday was debut evening for east coast teuchter band Heidrum who fairly got the crowd singing and dancing with a quality delivery of your sing along folky classics. Destined to return to Clachaig in 2007.
Thursday - and on to our 20th ale of the week, and the whisky tasting to look forward to. Oversubscribed by 100%. The lucky 25 were expertly guided through various regions of production by Gerry our Gordon & MacPhail specialist. Benromach, Bunnahabhain, Littlemill, Highland Park, Caol Ila, Benromach Port Wood all featured another successful evening had by all. Box ‘o’ Bananas again proved they’re one of the best ceilidh bands to be seen.. Their ‘Last of the Mohicans’ finale providing a stunningly eerie closure to the proceedings.
Friday. Barrel o’ Spoons delivered another polished set with humourous banter flowing freely between crowd and stage. Their final few songs invoking ‘ up on the tables’ scenarios all round. Brilliant session at the end with members of Heidrum joining in the fun. Saturday with Halloween approaching the staff were in fine fettle and costume all evening. 3 sexy witches and Martinas ‘mummy’ all entertained the crowd, warming them up nicely for the JDE and their penultimate show at Clachaig. What an evening ensued! Everyone in the party spirit and even a guest ‘ghouloist’ joining Jim on the show stopping walkabout. Fantastic and everything Clachaig is all about. Sunday – Lots of coffee and hot chocolate. Lots of great memories and a few sore heads! See you all again next year - or maybe at FebruaryFeast!?
27th October 2006 We'll let you off if you've not been reading your Oban Times over the last couple of weeks. However, you wouldn't want to miss the highlights, so here we are... First off we have Gordon (our GM) and Donny (Service Manager) presenting the Community Council with the £1000 raised for the Community Poly-tunnel project. We're continuously raising funds for needy local projects and already we are well into the next £1000 target for the local baby and toddler group. Thanks to everyone who has contributed.
Next off we have a likely looking bunch who are posing for the camera, having just collected 4 huge sacks of rubbish from the verges between the A82 junction and the Red Squirrel Camp Site. As part of our continued business development Clachaig is taking steps to address the environmental impact of the business and adopt sustainable tourism policies. In short, please don't drop your litter when you're wandering back to your tent from the pub!
5th October 2006 Atlas Brewery's Latitude has just been voted one of the world's top 50 beers. A very regular favourite on the fonts at Clachaig and The Grog & Gruel in Fort William, the cask pilsner lager was judged best in its class at the recent International Beer Challenge in London.