Beverages have been talked about before, including beer. We thought we'd try something different, and ask your favourite national breweries/distilleries/tea factories. The team at New Verve stuck our heads together and came up with a list of our favourite Scottish brands in the beverage industry
Beer
We have many fantastic breweries in Scotland, ranging from the small and indie to massive international operations, including our famous Tennents brewery - producing Scotland's iconic Tennents Lager since 1885. A recent article in the Scottish Licensed Trade News publication suggested "Scotland “is very quickly being seen as the ‘homeland’ of craft beer”
Every Friday we enjoy a beer before we leave the office, with a selection available of staff favourites as well as a rotation of new beers we've not tried before, here's our favourites (Brewdog being a clear winner):
- Wee Heavy (Belhaven) - Roasted malty sweetness balanced by spicy fruitiness, 7.4% - Matt
- Bitter & Twisted (Harviestoun) - "an easy drinking, cold weather 4.2% beer" - Matt
- Jet Black Heart (BrewDog) - "a 4.7% milk stout with a coffee and chocolate flavour" - Victor
- Nanny State (BrewDog) - "a low alcohol 0.5% beer that still packs a hoppy kick" - Kris
- Make Earth Great Again (BrewDog) - "7.5% spicy saison, with proceeds going to the 10:10 charity " - Daniel
- Joker IPA (WIlliams Brothers) - "my first craft beer, which moved me on from pub standard lager, a 5.0% complex IPA" - myself
Whisky
On the stronger end of the beverage scale, when talking drinks it would be outrageous to forget perhaps Scotland's most famous export - whisky.
Scotland is home to many world famous distilleries - from blends such as Johnnie Walker, to single malts such as Lagavulin and Speyside. The isle of Islay, one of Scotland's whisky regions, is home to 8 distilleries alone!
- "I love nip of Speyside distillery's Monkey Shoulder which is an affordable blended malt" - Victor
- "Bowmore's Number 1 blend, or a cheeky wee 18 year old Glengoyne, distilled down in the Scottish lowlands but using spring water from the gorgeous Highlands" - Matt
Gin
Our managing director Nigel is a fan of a variety of Scottish gins, including some of Scotland's many craft distilleries:
- Kirkjuvagr, hailing from Orkney - Nigel's favourite
- Teasmith Gin from Aberdeen - with tea botanicals!
- Edinburgh Gin - direct from our capital
Tea
- New Verve's resident tea drinker, Victor, loves a cup of Chilli Rooibos, a loose leaf tea made by Eteaket in Edinburgh.
- Kris doesn't have a specific recommendation for tea leaves, although he spent many an evening in the Tchai Ovna tea shop in Glasgow's West End when he was attending Glasgow University
Biscuits
Although not a beverage, we can't talk tea without paring with a good Scottish biscuit:
- A favourite of everyone in the office is Tunnock's Caramel Wafers, which never seem to last longer than a few minutes.
- The world's finest shortbread - Walker's
Your turn
Now that we've touched on a few famous and favourite Scottish drinks (with a bit of food snuck in) - what is your favourite beverage from where you're based?
