retiredmartin

Definitely not a “county”, more a random collection of tourist-friendly hills and lakes,

overseen by a benevolent creature who occasionally emerges to pick inaccessible GBG entries out of a hat on the riverbank near Inverness.

My first five picks will delight the tourist as much as the beer connoisseur.

John O’Groats Brewery Tap

Well, this was a surprise. I always assumed John O’ Groats was as plasticky (?) as Land’s End, but the tat is classy, the architecture varied,

and the eponymous brewery tap a bit of a gem, with (control yourself) good homebrew.

I did the JOG on the dramatic final surge to complete the Beer Guide; a fortnight before had seen perhaps the most nerve-wracking of all GBG ticks (the Old Forge at Knoydart was closed that year).

Applecross – Applecross Inn

I’d read so many warnings about the route to Applecross, particularly from Americans, and it’s fair to say I wouldn’t want to do it again in winter in a motorhome,

but it was a magical pub at the end of a dead end track with views to forever,

and the fish pie was sensational.

You’ve never heard of our third pub, just north of Aviemore, I wager,

Carrbridge – Carrbridge Inn

but the packhorse bridge is one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen

and the village local is one of the very few GBG entries that is neither a) a Spoons, b) a posh £130 a night hotel with performative hand pumps, c) the only pub for 300 miles around at the end of a drovers track.

“Are you a CAMRA at all ?” said the nice landlady. Even looking at a handpump outs you as a CAMRA in Scotland.

Tartan carpets, doggies v humans, a cool Wahoo (NBSS 3.5). Lovely place.

There’s no great pubs called “Loch Ness”, sadly, but Inverness itself is a cracking pub town, the Chesterfield of the North.

Inverness – Castle Tavern

and the Castle is that wonderful mix of local and tourist, Old Boy and student,

all meeting to compare Nessie sightings over pints of dark beer.

The fifth of my five takes us about as far north-west as you can go and drink real ale in the UK,

Stornoway – Crown

and the Crown in the capital of Lewis probably wins an award for “least likely looking to sell real ale”,

as the bar filled up with the youth of Stornoway celebrating a cup win over a hamlet on Harris.

“Were any of them drinking the cask ? Of course not, but we did, superb pints of Ossian (NBSS 4) and Landlord, always a good test. To be fair, the young barman said “that Ossian is good, isn’t it ?”, so perhaps he drinks it all.“

Honestly, that Landlord is taking over the world.

Right, suggest a sixth. If you nominate Claddach Kirkibost you need to be able to spell it correctly.