Home   News   Article

Cairngorm Brewery strikes gold again with its well-loved stout





Pure gold... Scottish Champion Beer of Britain co-ordinator Lindsay Grant and CAMRA’s Scotland director Stuart McMahon with a pint of the award-winning Black Gold.
Pure gold... Scottish Champion Beer of Britain co-ordinator Lindsay Grant and CAMRA’s Scotland director Stuart McMahon with a pint of the award-winning Black Gold.

The Aviemore-based Cairngorm Brewery continues to strike gold with its famous stout.

Black Gold, a 4.4 per cent Session Stout, has been chosen by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) to be the Champion Beer of Scotland for 2024.

The staff at the Dalfaber plant have retaining the title that they won last year, as well as back in 2015 and 2005.

CAMRA held its Champion Beer of Scotland competition at the recent Ayrshire Real Ale Festival.

After a close competition, in which all the finalists are blind judged, it was Black Gold which outshone its rivals yet again.

Black Gold is described as having roast malt which dominates throughout, slight smokiness in aroma leading to a liquorice and blackcurrant background taste giving it a background sweetness.

The stout has a very long, dry bitter finish and no less than four colours of malt make the grist.

CAMRA’s Scotland director Stuart McMahon said “Cairngorm Brewery continues to brew a variety of tasty beers.

“Black Gold was a very worthy winner, despite the strong competition from the other category winners.

“It is a very good example of a rich stout with the strong roast and burnt malts to the fore but with a lovely smooth, bitter but sweet aftertaste.

“Since it was initially brewed, Black Gold has now received the most awards issued by CAMRA in Scotland.”

Five Kingdoms Brewery, Scotland’s most southerly brewery based in Isle of Whithorn took the Champion Beer of Scotland’s silver award, with Dark Storm, a 6.9% strong stout.

However, at a recent competition held in London the bottle-conditioned version of Dark Storm won CAMRA’s National Champion Bottled Beer of the Year – a testament and well-deserved award for the high quality of beers the small brewery is currently producing.


Do you want to respond to this article? If so, click here to submit your thoughts and they may be published in print.


This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies - Learn More