CAMRA consumer report
July has just passed by and the last time I published a blog update was January. I had not felt that anything interesting enough to write about had happened. It really did all seem to mainly involve drains, plastering and painting. Who wants to read about that? Nobody I’m sure, but the CAMRA consumer report did come out and that really is worth reading. I’m hoping with that and the Indie Beer campaign from SIBA, we can all move away from the term “craft beer”.
SIBA supports CAMRA findings
The major beer related event that happened recently was the publishing of CAMRA’s consumer report into the state of the UK beer market. If you do one thing, visit the CAMRA site and read their report. The link is below.
https://camra.org.uk/beer-report
CAMRA is the Campaign for Real Ale and they have been around since 1971.
SIBA is the Society of Independent Brewers and Associates (of which I’m a member) and they fully support the CAMRA findings. Please read the report. It may contain some shocking facts for you.
In buying what is marketed as a craft beer, you may not be supporting who you thought you were when you bought that beer.
This is one of the reasons that, as independent brewers and mostly all very small businesses, we are all trying to move away from the term “craft beer” as it now considered a dirty word; for the reasons given in the report. SIBA and others now directly use the term “independent” as “craft” is now a misleading word in this context.
On a lighter note I recently came back from another trip down to Oban. There are two ferry routes linking Orkney to the Scottish mainland. The most convenient for me is the original traditional crossing route run by Pentland Ferries from ‘The Hup’ to Gills Bay. The other is the Northlink ferry route from Stromness to Scrabster which is the longest continually running ferry route to Orkney.
When the weather is good the Pentland Ferries route is a lovely run that takes in views of Hoxa head, Swona and the island of Stroma before you disembark at Gills Bay.
Orca Ventures runs tours in the summer months to the privately owned island of Swona. They’re the best way to to access the island. I did the tour with family a couple of years back and it’s well worth it. The island has a fascinating history and our guide was brilliant.
Landing on Swona requires permission from the owners and you can find more information about the island and the volunteer group helping to maintain this fascinating piece of Orkney Heritage here.
From Gill’s Bay it’s about 5 hours 30 minutes to get down to Oban in winter and 6 hours 30 in summer with all the motor-homes and visitor traffic to contend with.
Oban – Boats and beer
Coincidentally, whilst I was in Oban the Clipper Round the World race was finishing a leg there and the town was packed with visitors. The weather was spectacular which would have been a huge boost for the town’s local businesses. The North pier car park had been taken over by the race organisers to explain the race and market the opportunity for folks to apply and take part.
They race over 40,000 nautical miles around the globe over 8 legs and applications are open to anyone. The yachts left Oban on their final leg on Sunday 19th July.2026. There’s a brilliant wee thank you video from the teams on Facebook here:-
You can see the route they took to the finish via the link below.
https://clipperroundtheworld.geovoile.com/2025/tracker/
There are apparently still a few berths available for the 2026-2027 race if you fancy a challenge!
Beer
I also took the opportunity to visit the Oban Beer Seller again.
This is the most fantastic wee shop with a wonderful array of independent Scottish breweries’ beers. I usually focus on stronger, darker, barleywine style purchases when I’m in there, but this time I let Karen the owner’s expert knowledge of her brewers guide me towards something lighter and different this time, probably a reflection of the warm and sunny weather Oban was experiencing that day.
If you care about beer and care about the future of independent breweries, then Karen’s wee shop is a must visit if you are in the Oban area. She also does UK wide delivery for a very reasonable flat fee. Wherever you are in the UK you can buy these amazing, small, but truly independent brewers’ beers via her website.
Brewery build progress
Progress on the store
The garage is now well on its way to its conversion to the brewery store. It has its new roof and the garage door has been removed. I’ve installed full height wall ties on both sides of the door opening which has now been blocked up and the window installed.
It was a fair effort to install the new long lintel that now spans the width of the original opening, but with the help of blocks, ratchet straps and a car jack, I got there.
The electrics have been done, including the required linked, mains smoke alarms. The interior walls have been skimmed, save for the new blockwork which will need to be left exposed for now, for inspection. The side door lintel has been installed and a side door opening cut out and new doors hung. The new split doors will allow for me to get a pallet in and out easily up the access ramp I’ve cast.
I’ve installed sanitary coving all the way round the interior to make cleaning easier and the store is almost ready for its first inspection. There are still quite a few tasks on the brewery building to do before I’m there.
Progress on the brewery
Orkney’s weather can be ruthless. The wind will exploit any weakness and if accompanied by rain, it will drive its way into the smallest gaps.
The brewery needs good ventilation and to this end I cut the required openings through the blockwork as per the plans. Vent grilles have been installed, but these will not prevent the rain being driven through the vents to the inside, so I’ve also installed rain deflectors to deal with both types of Orkney rain, vertical and horizontal.
Inside, the plastering work continued and the walls received their first lick of paint.
The back brewery area is where I’ll be filling and seaming cans and that area has now been tiled.
I can only take the construction so far as I need to have everything approved before moving to the next stage and hopefully completion of the building works soon.
I’m now well on the way to having the brewery sinks’ plumbing installed in its planned configuration.
What’s next?
Not very exciting from a brewing perspective as I’m a long way from that still, but I’ll be continuing with pipework and upgrading of the existing door access mechanisms to be compliant with building regulations.
