The Brewery

One evening in 1992, some schoolteacher friends met in a local pub – and conversation turned to the lack of good beer on Skye. Someone jokingly suggested that setting up a brewery would be the only way to remedy the situation.

At the time there were just six small independent breweries in Scotland – and none on Skye. Could it really work?

It could, and it did. Three years later, we were finally ready to brew our first ale – Red Cuillin. It was such a success, we still brew it to the same recipe today. Only the name has changed – we now call it Skye Red.

Getting noticed. And getting bigger.

In 1997, we won the CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) Champion Beer of Scotland. And we were shortlisted for the UK championship too. This recognition helped the business to go full-time in 1998. To date, we’ve picked up over 60 awards. Not bad for what started as a joke over a few pints.

Our brewers

Mags, Mark and Kieron are firmly in charge of every brew we create. Mags is a trained chef, giving her a unique insight into balancing flavours, to create ales that simply couldn’t be brewed elsewhere.

The place

If you’ve visited Skye, you’ll know the imposing grandeur of the landscape – walls of rock meet with ever-changing light and shade. Our brewery is set in the heart of this dramatic scenery, right next to the pier at Uig. And while this is the gateway to the Western Isles, it could just as easily be the ends of the earth.