Lucy B.
Yelp
This review is for the Master Brewer's tour and event.
We started the tour in their visitor centre, where we learned about the history of Tennent's and how it all began, saw the collection of 'lager lovelies' cans, and examples of their past advertising campaigns. It's a beautifully branded and kitted out centre and shop, and you can buy various pieces of merchandise. They have an interactive display where you can do your own lager lovely pose and their plan is at some point they'll be able to produce a personalised can for you - it's all very nicely tongue in cheek. I would have stayed and nosed about a lot longer - I love all that kind of stuff, and I might go back to do just that.
We continued the tour through their plant, covering areas such as the bottling hall, and canning line. It was fascinating! The strong branding continues throughout, with some incredible graffiti art, such as the giant vats that have been painted to look like cans of Tennent's.
And then came the tasting. My word. We were lucky enough to be taken through a tasting of 12 Tennent's products by Keith, their Master Brewer, who pointed out what flavours and scents to look out for, and was generally excellent chat. He also passed around jars of various hops and malts as we tried the various beers, to help us identify the flavours.
We started with some standard Tennent's - the stuff that you get in every pub in Glasgow. I'd never thought I liked it, but Keith explained that you shouldn't actually drink it ice cold straight from the tap - you should let it warm a little to let the flavours develop. I really enjoyed it! That was the first revelation of the night - that I like a pint of good old Tennent's. I don't think I was the only one in the group who at that point, saw Tennent's in a whole new light.
We then worked our way through the following:
Black T
Caledonia Best (on draft)
1885 Lager (gluten free)
Menabrea
Tennent's Extra (9%)
Scotch Ale
Scottish Beer (aged with whisky oak)
Tennent's Stout
Heverlee Witte
Hee Haw (alcohol free)
Lemon T
Quite a few of these are for the export market only, and you can't buy them here, so it was a real treat to be able to try them out. And a few of them had us wanting to move to Spain or Italy :-) It would be a perfect final touch if you were able to buy some of them at their visitor centre, or perhaps if they were offered exclusively to those who had done the tour.
Second revelation of the night - my favourite was the Stout! It was rich, malty and chocolatey, and I absolutely loved it. It's Keith's favourite too, so I'm in good company.
There were then some 'nibbles' put out. Super posh nibbles! I didn't try any but it looked like little chunks of brie, smoked meats, salmon, olives, and some fancy looking Scotch Pies. We were allowed to have another drink of whichever beer we fancied, or pour ourselves a pint from draft. Keith stayed about to chat and answer all of our questions - and we had a LOT of questions.
At about 10 pm, we realised we really should let Keith and the other very nice chap get on with their evening, and weaved off down the road. A few of us were certainly left scratching our heads and wondering why we pay so much for craft beers, when there's such good quality being produced by Tennent's.
A fantastic event, I would heartily recommend it.