Beer review: Altbier by Top Out Brewery

The Cone IPA from Top Out Brewery 

Top Out are a cracking brewery based in the south of Edinburgh. They've a quirky origins story, a strong visual identity courtesy of Ordnance Survey, and some make very fine beer indeed.

Prior to brewing professionally, Top Out's co-founders Philip 'Moo' Birch and Michael Hopert worked as a street lighting engineer in Yorkshire and a German living in London selling whisky. And though they both liked beer, their paths weren't destined to cross.

But a chance conversation at a wedding between Moo (childhood nickname, no one knows why) and Michael's girlfriend Jenny (Moo: "I'd love to open a brewery"; Jenny: "So does my boyfriend, you should meet him.") was the first step towards the creation of one of Scotland's best new independent breweries.

Top Out Brewery from Edinburgh (they only moved north to Edinburgh because Jenny applied for, and got, a job in a hospital lab there) are looking ahead to celebrating their third year in business. And within a relatively short space of time they've brought out several super beers. Chief among these was their flagship IPA The Cone, which, sadly, fell out of production due to the notorious shortage of Simcoe hops (although it made a welcome guest appearance at the Great Scottish Beer Celebration in March). It also got them a few headlines.

Undeterred, Moo and Michael have steadily been expanding their core range, with each new beer showing a different Ordnance Survey map of mountain peaks "topped out" by head-brewer and mountaineer Michael; a neat bit of branding there.

Top Out, incidentally, also host gypsy brewers Black Metal Brewery, another young independent founded by Jaan Ratsep, and which uses Michael and Moo's brewkit to produce their own beers. Black Metal has a massive following from rock music fans but deserves to be more widely available.

Six outstanding Top Out beers

Altbier lager/ale hybrid (4.5%)
Label shows: Ben Wyvis
The best of Top Out's trio of new release, Altbier is a brown ale that draws its inspiration from the brewpubs of Dusseldorf. The aroma - light malts, soft earth - gives little away. Below the surface are gentle flavours of sweet malt - figs and Christmas pudding - set against a well-weighted dose of bittering, delivering a crisp, clean beer. There are also, unsurprisingly, echoes of lager here - the German hops playing their part. The texture is smooth, waxy and warming, and hints of maple syrup, tart grape and cherries come through. Fun and serious, Altbier tastes like a German fairground.

The Cone IPA (6.8%)
Label shows: Ben Lomond
A big, beautiful IPA with a pungent hop aroma of fresh citrus, and flavours of earthy spiciness, grapefruit and sweet mandarins, balanced against a highly satisfying bitterness. A classic beer with a limited lifespan. Ridiculously drinkable. Grab them while you can.

South Face red IPA (5.9%)
Label shows: Bidean nam Bian
Another of Top Out's new releases. A reddish brown beer with hints of mango. Light aroma belies its bitter and dry character. Flavours of pine, tropical fruits, toast and coastal breeze. A decent follow-up to The Cone.

Copper Hied ginger ale (3.4%)
Label shows: Beinn Ime
The third of Top Out's new releases. While the light aroma of ginger has you expecting a sticky sugary beer, you're quickly taken from an initial sweet dash of ginger to a more balanced style of beer with spices, tart gooseberry and a bitter finish. Refreshing and different.

Smoked porter (5.6%)
Label shows: Liathach
A delicious dark beer with flavours of wood fires and treacle. Starts sweet, with some dried fruits, then a finish of bitter coffee and chocolate. The smokiness lingers throughout - makes you think of eating bacon on Islay.

Blood Revenge rye stout (6.6%)
By Black Metal Brewery
An honourable mention for Top Out's lodgers, Black Metal. Their best beer, Blood Revenge, gives off a blast of sweet malt, treacle and spices that is usurped by a brief tart hit then flavours of vanilla, chocolate and toffee apple before finishing long, dry and bitter. A belter.

Beer Review: Aldi Winter Beer Festival

Lochtober Fest by Loch Lomond Brewery

Aldi have long been supportive of Scottish breweries, and they've smashed it again with another sensational line-up of ales for its Scottish Winter Beer Festival. 

The best festival kicked last week, and since then Aldi's Scottish stores have been filling their shelves with beers from the majority of Scottish breweries - 50 in total. The beers, from breweries such as Williams, Cairngorm and Inveralmond, are a sterling representation of the world-class ales and lagers being produced in our wee country.

Fans of good beer are in for some treats, with beers such as Alechemy’s Red Rye IPA, Top Out's Copperheid and Windswept's Wolf; but the festival is also a terrific way for Scotland’s breweries to showcase their core beers to drinkers reluctant to make the step away from bland, mass-produced beer. The offering reflects the many different types of beer styles, hops, malts and methods being used across Scotland, from traditional British bitters to hop-heavy IPAs, oatmeal ales to bourbon barrel-aged beers.

It’s also a prime example of how large retailers should be co-operating with small producers. Brewery after brewery praised Aldi for the support it has given to Scotland's craft breweries, highlighting the open and collaborative stance it has taken - an insight as refreshing as the beers themselves. Aldi’s beer buyers Michael Whiteford and Kirsty Reid were singled out for praise.

Isla Mercer of Lerwick Brewery said: “Aldi’s beer festivals are a fantastic initiative that allow smaller breweries to showcase their beers and reach a much larger audience than they normally would. It's great from a consumer point of view to be able to have such a broad selection of quality Scottish products so easily available. Aldi are to be congratulated for putting in so much work to promote local, Scottish produce in their stores.”

Some beard-lovers, of course, may grumble that the line-up doesn't carry enough of the darker beers, such as porters and stouts, traditionally drunk as winter creeps closer. It's a valid critique, though the success of Aldi's beer festivals suggests they know what they're doing; while the beer curation is in fact a reflection of what the breweries themselves want to showcase. It was an assertion repeated by the likes of Williams Brothers, Drygate, Inveralmond, Black Metal Brewery, West Brewery, Tempest, Top Out, Barney’s, Cairngorm, Alechemy, Loch Lomond, Cromarty and so on

Beer drinkers after small-batch specials, spicy porters and the likes, your local independent beer shop will be delighted to help you.

But pedantic grumbles aside, this supermarket beer festival is an outstanding opportunity to access a wide range of Scotland's craft breweries, often thought of - incorrectly - as too pricy or elitist. The beers are priced from £1.29 to £1.99. 

Hopefully this festival and the ones to follow will encourage more people to think craft and to think Scottish. So, while it feels unfair to pick out a handful of beers from such a great selection, here are:

SIX GREAT BEERS in the ALDI BEER FESTIVAL

Lochtober Fest by Loch Lomond Brewery (5%)

The soft fruity aroma gives little away but inside is a little beer treat. Amid the toffee and toast malts, you'll find fruity and mild spiced flavours in this amber-coloured boch style beer, with the taste conjuring up the scent of an autumnal orchard.

Easy Livin Pils by Tempest Brewery (5%)

Proof that Czechs don’t have the rights to great pilsners, Tempest’s lager is honey, apricot and citrus on a light biscuit malt. Delicate and subtle with a brilliantly crisp and bitter finish.

Bourbon Barrel by Eden Brewery (6.5%)

Sweet, spirited and well rounded, this is easily one of Eden's best beers and a brilliant choice for them to showcase. The toffee and dark chocolate sit very well with the rich oaky flavours from the bourbon.

Orkney Blast by Highland Brewing Company (6%)

A potent pale ale with a sensational nose of summer woodland. Tastes of mandarin, nectarine and caramel malt with the citrus becoming ever more pronounced as you move towards a well-rounded finish.

Redact Red Lager by Williams Brother Brewery (4.4%)

A lovely little beer that comes in easy-drinking 330ml bottles. The addition of darker amber malts to the lager style is a nice touch as the toffee flavours blend easily with the citrus and autumn fruit aroma and mildly bitter finish.

6.2 IPA by Broughton Ales (6.2%)

Bid, bold and brilliant, you really ought to buy two. It’s probably worth trying the Knops IPA too for comparison. Oh, and you’ll need some of BrewDog's Jack Hammer while you're at it.

Here’s the full line-up:

West Brewing Co, St Mungo Lager

Williams Brothers, Redact Red Lager

Deeside Brewery, LAF Californian steam beer

Tempest Brewery, Easy Livin Pils

Lerwick Brewery, 60 Degree North Lager

Burnside Brewery, Wild Rhino Blonde

Belhaven Brewery, Speyside Oak Aged Blonde Ale

Cairngorm Brewery, Trade Winds

Highland Brewing Co, Orkney Blast

Jaw Brewing, Glide Ale

Sulwaith Brewers, Galloway Gold

Orkney Brewery, Corncrake Ale

Top Out Brewery, Copperheid Ale

Traquair House Brewery, Bear Ale

Archerfield Fine Ales, Archerfield Golden Ale

Black Metal Brewery, Yggdrasil

Wooha Brewery, Wooha IPA

Windswept Brewing Co, Wolf

Spey Valley Brewery, Stillman’s IPA

St Andrews Brewery, Oatmeal Pale

Knops Beer Company, Knops IPA

BrewDog, Jack Hammer Ale

Ayr Brewing Co, Hiphopopotamus Hoppy Pale Ale

Cromarty Brewing Co, Happy Chappy

Scottish Borders Brewery, Elder Flower Ale

Houston Brewery, Crystal Ale

Caledonian Brewery, Bill’s beer

Hebridean brewing Co, Berserker Export Pale Ale

Barney's Beer, Volcano IPA

Drygate, Ax Man Rye IPA

Islay Ales, Angus Og Ale

Broughton Ales, 6.2 IPA

Inveralmond Brewery, Thrappledouser red ale

Isle of Mull Brewery, Terror of Tobermory

Stewart Brewing, Embra Ale

Arran Brewery, Arran Fireside

River Leven Ales, River Leven Dark

Kelburn Brewery, Ca’ Canny

Valhalla Brewery, Old Scotness

Mor Brewing, Mor Tea, Vicar

Speyside Craft Brewery, Bottlenose Bitter

Loch Ness Brewery, Spookyness

Isle of Skye Brewery, Skye Red

Brewmeister, Pump’d Ale

Loch Lomond Brewery, Lochtoberfest festival ale

Alechemy Brewing Co, Five Sisters Red IPA

Black Wolf Brewery, Florida Black

Eden Mill Brewery, Bourbon Barrel

Strathaven Ales, Ginger JockOban Bay Brewery, Skelpt Lug