AS winter begins to give ground to spring, thirsty bar-goers across Scotland may begin to notice a change in their palette. Cravings for hearty stouts with high alcohol contents, to keep the chills of winter at bay, might give way to desires for more zesty and reinvigorating flavours.

Of course not everyone is the same and there are many who will happily drink stouts all year round, but for those who do like to match their ale to the season there will be much to choose from.

Bloody ‘Ell is a blood orange IPA from London-based brewery Beavertown. It’s released seasonally and tends to find its way into fridges across the country around the start of April.

Since it’s only available for small parts of the year craft beer enthusiasts tend to get rather excited in the build up to its launch, with good reason. The first sips are loaded with lip smacking citrus intensity, but underneath that there’s a resonating sherbert sweetness. In that way it’s ballance is perfect for the early days of spring when the days can be hot, but the sun still sets onto cool evenings. This is an incredibly popular brew and a number of craft beer pubs across Scotland will be running launch events, check with your local bar for details.

Meanwhile Wild Beer, famous for their innovative use of wild yeast strains, have produced a twist on lager. Lagers are of course among the styles most synonymous with warm weather but Wild Beer’s Chronos promises something different. This particular example has been brewed with brettanomyces. For those unfamiliar with this fascinating micro-organism, it is a kind of yeast which when used in brewing can produce dry acidic flavours and often give the finished product an aroma that can be best described as “barnyard like”.

That may not be to everyone’s taste and it’s certainly not what you’d expect from a standard lager. However, for those willing to take a risk you will be rewarded with a drink that, at the very least, will be markedly different from your average beer garden fodder.

If you do enjoy taking your beers into the great outdoors then you could do a lot worse than visit FyneFest this summer. Tickets are on sale now for what will be the seventh iteration of the event which is comfortably establishing itself as one of the best in the craft beer calendar.

Taking place in the idyllic surroundings of Argyll; FyneFest brings together some of the best breweries from across Europe. The organisers have managed to pull off the impressive trick of combining the atmospheres of both beer and music festivals while remaining resolutely family friendly. Last year hosted over 130 different beers while the food avoided traditional greasy burger vans and instead provided the far more appetising prospect of fresh Loch Fyne oysters.

The diversity of food and drink on offer at FyneFest, combined with the aforementioned welcoming attitude to families, is a reflection of how far craft beer has come. At this festival there will be drinks on offer to suit any taste, and equally one will be able to find a meal that compliments their chosen beverage perfectly. No one need feel excluded.

Other festivals in Scotland have used that same recipe to similar success. The Great Scottish Beer Celebration (GSBC), which will have its third outing later this year, took many of the components of FyneFest and transplanted them into the more urban surroundings of Glasgow’s East End.

Just like FyneFest the two outings of GSBC so far attracted everyone from devoted hop heads to people who had never drank anything but Tennents. Crucially though all were welcomed and everyone, expert or not, tried something new. That commitment to broadening the church at every opportunity is the very backbone of Scottish craft beer’s present strength.

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BEER REVIEWS

Cherry Chopper by Six Degrees North is a 7% stout aged with cherries in a Bordeaux barrel. The beer pours a deep ruby red, fading into black, giving hints of the fruit flavours to come. The nose is sweet red wine and redcurrant jelly with just the faintest suggestion of nutmeg. What is immediately striking about the flavour is how much it resembles Cherry Cola, but that saccharin flavour doesn’t outstay its welcome and is replaced with treacle and a tiny fresh chilli kick. Try it with teriyaki chicken or a dark chocolate pudding.

AKA IPA by Cromarty Brewing weighs in at 6.7% abv and is as bold as it’s boozyness suggests. Upfront the nose is full of sticky spruce sap, but that masks a bounty of fresh mango and pineapple. The taste is an electric sting of grapefruit, but the surprisingly full body subdues the sharpness quickly. The flavours then revert into those more tropical flavours present on the nose. Little pieces of cantaloupe melon are introduced into this boozy fruit salad on the finish.Try this with jambalaya or a tart rhubarb pie.