Brewery: Atlas
Location: Kinlochleven, Scotland
ABV: 4.2%
Version: 500ml bottle

Taking its name from a series of mountain ridges in Glencoe in western Scotland, Three Sisters is a reddish brown colour with a light and crisp aroma, citrusy with a hint of caramel in the background. The flavour is at first quite light, some malt initially with the hops held back, and quite dry. Some zing from the slightly excessive carbonation makes it a bit rough to start with but, as with their Nimbus, it pays to leave this one a few minutes to settle. The fizz dies down to acceptable levels, some more malt comes through, and brings with it an extra dose of citrus hoppiness. Overall, it stays quite subtle, crisp, zesty, dry but deceptive. Not a beer I would drink more than one or two of at a time, and not one that will be a regular buy, but I’ll give it an occasional revisit.

Brewery: Atlas
Location: Kinlochleven, Scotland
ABV: 3.9%
Version: 500ml bottle

Latitude is described on the bottle as Highland Pilsner, and not being a great pilsner fan I wasn’t expecting much from it, but as with some of the lagers I’ve had recently beer tasting can be full of surprises. In keeping with its pilsner tag Latitude is pale straw in colour, but has a surprisingly strong citrus grapefruit aroma with some floral notes. The aroma is more upfront than the flavour, which is more restrained than I expected it to be. An initial hit of light malt with a mild zesty citrus hop follow on, and only a hint of that grapefruit in the background. Later on, the malt fades to let the citrus take over. While quite complex compared with most pilsners I’ve had, and a fine example of how good the style can be, it’s not a beer I’ll be getting on a regular basis but one or two now and again will certainly be welcome.

Brewery: Atlas
Location: Kinlochleven, Scotland
ABV: 5.0%
Version: 500ml bottle
Source: Gap Wines, NI

Along with the Orkney Brewery, Atlas are part of the Sinclair Breweries Group of Cawdor, Nairnshire. According to their website they make 7 beers in all, several of which, Nimbus included, are available in 500ml bottles and 5 litre mini-casks, as well as the normal pub sized cask. Astute readers may notice that the accompanying pic is of the barrel label rather than the bottle, but I couldn’t find one of the bottle and mine are well on their way to being turned into something else.

Nimbus is Atlas Brewery’s take on the Kölsch beers of Cologne. Being a blonde ale it’s gold in colour, with a very light, almost imperceptible aroma. There’s quite a bit of fizz on pouring, giving a decent head which lingers for a short time, but the fizz very soon dissipates. Initial impressions on tasting were of not much, some faint malt and a light hop flavour. But pour and leave for a few minutes and there’s a great improvement as the hop flavours develop. Some caramel pushes through but the malt very much stays in the background, letting the citrus dominate. Orange, lemon and grapefruit notes are all present, but this is not an overly bitter beer, quite smooth and subtle and very drinkable. Worth checking out, I usually pick up a few bottles when I see them. (If you’re in my part of world Gap Wines might still have some left, and if in Scotland check Morrisons.)

…plus a few others.

There is generally a fairly poor selection of beer available in Northern Ireland from most pubs and off-licences but fortunately I have a couple of reliable independent retailers I can count on to put a fair amount of effort into obtaining stock that would otherwise not be available. The Vineyard on Belfast’s Ormeau Road has already been mentioned a few times here so I’ll make a quick mention now of Gap Wines, on the Antrim Road in Belfast and also recently, and even more conveniently for me, on the Belfast Road in Carrickfergus. Gap Wines just picked up an award for 2008 Off-licence of the Year in the Northern Ireland Neighbourhood Retail Awards, which they can add to their 2006 UK Community Off-licence of the Year. I suspect the award is more for the wine aspect of their operation but they do have some dedicated shelf space for beer. Just this week they’ve taken deliver of a new batch from some Scottish Breweries so off I went to stock up; well, the corner of the kitchen my beer is stored in was starting to look a bit empty.

Featured in the photo, from left to right are -

Highland Brewing Company – Orkney Blast
Black Isle Brewery – Yellowhammer IPA, Wheat Beer, Blonde and Red Kite Ale
Broughton Ales – Greenmantle and Scottish Oatmeal Stout
Atlas Brewery – Nimbus and Three Sisters
Isle of Skye Brewing Company – Red Cuillin

While I was there I picked up one of each of the other new ones I spotted on the shelf as well.

Again, featured from left to right, are -

Meantime – Wheat Grand Cru
Southern Brewing Company SA - Kross Pilsner
Dixie Brewing Company – Blackened Voodoo lager
Brothers Brewing Company - Soho Red and Freedom Organic
Les Brasseurs de Gayant – La Goudale
Cerveceria Patagonia Primitiva SA – Patagonia Blonde

No idea when I’ll get round to posting tasting notes on all these, but I’m sure I’ll have fun doing the research.