Champion beer of Scotland

CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale, has announced that Orkney-based Highland Brewery's Dark Munro has been voted Champion Beer of Scotland at the Scottish Traditional Beer Festival held in The Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh.

The final results were:
1st Dark Munro: Highland Brewery, Birsay, Orkney
2nd Maverick : Fyne Brewery, Cairndow, Argyll
3rd Piper's Gold: Fyne Brewery, Cairndow, Argyll

Highland Brewery was founded in January 2006 by Rob Hill, a brewer with 25 years' experience in the brewing sector. He said: “I am absolutely over the moon. Dark Munro has been selling extremely well as it is a very drinkable ale with loads of malt and a wonderful balance of flavour at around 4% abv.”

CAMRA's Regional Director for Scotland, Ken Davie, congratulated the winner, saying: “The judges agreed all the eight beers in the final were in very good condition and well presented and the score was extremely close. “But Dark Munro was the deserving winner and the years of experience Rob Hill has in brewing shone through in this fantastic, traditional style Scottish dark ale.”

Talking of dark ale, I have to say that Orkney does Scotland proud. Dark Island is a favourite real ale of mine. Perhaps not a summery ale but it definately adds some warmth to the soul in the Winter!

Any suggestions for favourite ales and Scottish pubs from our readers?

UKTV Local Food Hero 2007

For the second year - Gary Rhodes and UKTV Food have launched a nationwide search to discover Britain’s ultimate food champion. Now’s your chance to get involved – there’s £40,000 for the ultimate food champion.

These awards celebrate home-grown local success stories. From farm shops to tea rooms, to bakers and butchers Gary Rhodes’ Local Food Heroes 2007 asks food lovers to vote for, and reward, their food heroes’ passion for putting quality food on our plates.

To nominate, vote and review your favourite food business simply log onto http://www.uktvfood.co.uk/. Voting ends on 20 August when the final shortlist is announced. Find out more about how to vote and also the exciting wildcard category – it’s all on the website.

Quote from Gary...
"UKTV Food's Local Food Hero 2007 is the perfect opportunity to celebrate the very best of food and produce across Britain. The awards are a tribute to everyone who puts great British produce onto plates, into shops and markets, and on pub and restaurant tables."

What makes a UKTV Food hero?

Passion

We’re looking to support small-scale businesses that exhibit pride and passion for their craft and don’t compromise on quality.

Quality
Great taste scores - as does sound business practice. For example, the coffee shop owner who roasts and grinds beans on-site, the deli manager who sources outstanding olive oil direct from the grove; and the butcher who sells meat from locally reared animals.

Environmentally sound
From ethically sourced ingredients to animal welfare - we’d expect our food heroes to be aware of seasonality, sustainable food issues, and to respect the land and people who farm it.

Contributing to local communities
Whether celebrating local food traditions, making superb sandwiches for office workers or helping farmers at home stay afloat – we’re looking for heroes who give something to the community they live in and work with.

It’s easy to vote for your local food hero. For more information simply click on to www.uktvfood.co.uk.

Why not let EatScotland visitors know about your local food hero, post your comments here!

EatScotland Dining Out - A Restaurant Mini Journal

Have you ever eaten out and wished you could remember all the details?

Well now you can!

EatScotland has created its own Dining Out Journal.

It's a great gift idea for anyone who loves to eat out.

Keep a record of your dining out experiences so you can return to restaurants where you had a great meal with excellent service and, occassionally, avoid the ones where you didn't.

Remember the details of your first visit and use the information to make the next visit even better.

Available to purchase now from the EatScotland office - £6.00 per journal

If you wish to purchase please call +44 (0) 131 335 6608 with your credit/debit card details. Alternatively, send an email with your details to eatscotland@sfqc.co.uk plus details of a postal address.

A 10% discount is available on purchases of 10 journals or over in any one transaction.

Dimensions : 3" x 5" inchesPage Count : 120

Hi and Welcome

Hi and welcome,

Firstly congratulations goes out to all our Gold, Silver & Individual award winners who have worked so hard to receive one of our first round of EatScotland awards> These awards are not given out easily, so well done.

Apologies if I did not speak to you personally on the day.

For those of you who did not receive these awards time round please keep working hard and your hard work will be rewarded. We all need to keep raising the standards.

Looking forward, we have in Edinburgh the Taste of Event which will show case Scotland’s pride in its food and drink. Featuring Edinburgh’s finest, Martin Wishart & Tom Kitchin will both be there plus other top chefs and food producers. It’s an event not to be missed so get your tickets now.

See you there!

Kevin

Dine Around Aberdeen - Fixed price dining for £15!

Are you going to be in Aberdeenshire during the month of June?

If so, you should be aware of VisitScotland's Dine Around festival, taking place at various restaurants from 2nd June to the 1st July. Dine Around offers £15 fixed price meals at some fantastic restaurants. It's a great excuse to sample the great restaurant scene in Aberdeen city and shire...as if you needed an excuse!

For more information, check out EatScotland.com's dedicated Dinearound section: Dine Around Aberdeen.

We will, for the first time, be running a dine around blog. Please drop us a line and let us know about the best venues.

M.

The List Awards

I had the pleasure of attending The List Food and Drink awards last night, a pleasurable experience where wine and good conversation flowed. Now in its 14th edition, The List eating and drinking guide has become a popular guide for eating out in the Central Belt of Scotland.

Over 800 restaurants, cafes and bars are represented by The List and it is really pleasing to see the diversity and quality in Glasgow and Edinburgh's dining scene.

And so to the awards!

Edinburgh's restaurant of the year was named as The Kitchin. Well, who would be surprised at that? Carefully sourced, seasonal Scottish ingredients find their way onto a very pleasurable menu. Tom Kitchin managed to bag himself a Michelin star in double quick time and his restaurant and staff are a credit to him.

Glasgow's restaurant of the year is Bistro at One Devonshire Gardens. Again, wonderful ingredients, inventive dishes, attentive staff and Paul Tamburrini.

The Edinburgh newcomer of the year is Abstract. You might recognide the name, Loic Lefebvre, who appeared alongisde Gordon Ramsey in his 'kitchen nightmares' series. Well, word is that only sweet dreams will come from visiting Abstract on Castle Terrace. A wonderful addition to the fine dining club in Edinburgh.

Glasgow newcomer of the year is The Left Bank. In the words of The List, 'On Gibson Street, Hillhead, it is one of the most talked about newcomers in some time. There's often a heady buzz but it doesn't distract from a globally-influenced menu in a foodie neighbourhood that now offers no shortage of worthy places to go.'

Edinburgh budget restaurant of the year is First Coast, a great local bistro on Dalry road with great prices to match.

And Glasgow's buget restaurant of the year is 'the perennially popular Cretan taverna': Konaki, with a wide selection of Mediterranean Greek cuisine which is maredly affordable.

Thanks to everyone at The List.

Higher Awards...and welcome!

Welcome to my first ever EatScotland blog...or, in fact, my first blog ever!

I am pleased that EatScotland has recently launched its higher awards, which are to be known as the Silver and Gold Awards. These additional awards were created to recognise eateries that were achieving superior results or going that extra mile.

An official launch will be going ahead on the 14th May 2007 which all current Silver Award winners will be invited to attend. At the event Gold award winners will be announced as well as announcing individual awards.

We at EatScotland, feel that the Silver & Gold Awards marks a real step forward for the Scottish food and drink industry as a whole. The scheme will reward our most innovative and quality driven establishments with the recognition they deserve, be they a local tea room or your bistro down the road. We really feel that these awards will, in time, provide an incentive across the industry to strive to improve standards.

The guide lines for silver are discretionary but are largely guided by the grades received within the EatScotland report. However, the full guidelines are available on www.sfqc.co.uk/food if you wish to view at your leisure.