Sinclair Breweries Limited is the parent company for Orkney and Atlas ales. Orkney Brewery was founded in March 1988 at the old schoolhouse in Sandwick,

Orkney Orkney (; sco, Orkney; on, Orkneyjar; nrn, Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north ...

, one mile from

Skara Brae Skara Brae is a stone-built Neolithic settlement, located on the Bay of Skaill on the west coast of Mainland, the largest island in the Orkney archipelago of Scotland. Consisting of ten clustered houses, made of flagstones, in earthen dams t ...

and was one of Scotland's first microbreweries. Atlas was formed in 2002 and merged with Orkney Brewery, where both beers are now brewed. Owned and run by Orcadian, Norman Sinclair, Orkney Brewery is Orkney's oldest brewery. The brewery operates all year long brewing and supplying beer to the UK, Europe, Australia, Canada and the USA with the Visitor Centre running from Spring to Autumn. The visitor centre is equipped with a Tasting Hall offering a full menu and Orkney Brewery Ales as well as shop where local crafts, merchandise and the beers are sold.

History and development

The brewery is located in the former west mainland Victorian school in Quoyloo, which was founded in 1878. When Norman Sinclair took over in 2006, he made sure the school was preserved as much as possible while the brewery grew, especially since it was the very school his father attended as a boy. In 2010 Norman rebuilt it into a new 30 barrel brew plant. The old school part was turned into a visitor's centre and tasting hall. The visiting centre was awarded five-star status by the national tourism organisation

VisitScotland VisitScotland, formerly the Scottish Tourist Board, is a national tourism organisation for Scotland. It is an executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government, with offices in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Inverness, and other ...

, just weeks after opening to the public. 128-Orkney-Brewery-CMcGC

Availability

The cask ales are available in various

pub A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

s around Britain and at British

beer festival A beer festival is an event at which a variety of beers are available for purchase. There may be a theme, for instance beers from a particular area, or a particular brewing style such as winter ales. Asia * Singapore holds an annual Beer Festiva ...

s. The filtered bottled ales are sold throughout Europe, North America, Canada, Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, and most of the European countries. Bottled beer can also be found in supermarkets across the UK such as

Waitrose Waitrose & Partners (formally Waitrose Limited) is a brand of British supermarkets, founded in 1904 as Waite, Rose & Taylor, later shortened to Waitrose. It was acquired in 1937 by employee-owned retailer John Lewis Partnership, which still se ...

Sainsbury's J Sainsbury plc, trading as Sainsbury's, is the second largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, with a 14.6% share of UK supermarket sales. Founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company wa ...

Tesco Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, England. In 2011 it was the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues and the ninth-largest in th ...

Lidl Lidl Stiftung & Co. KG (; ) is a German international discount retailer chain that operates over 11,000 stores across Europe and the United States. Headquartered in Neckarsulm, Baden-Württemberg, the company belongs to the Schwarz Group, whi ...

, Co-operative and

Asda Asda Stores Ltd. () (often styled as ASDA) is a British supermarket chain. It is headquartered in Leeds, England. The company was founded in 1949 when the Asquith family merged their retail business with the Associated Dairies company of York ...

Beers

The Orkney brewery produces

cask ale Real ale is the name coined by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) for beer that is "brewed from traditional ingredients, matured by secondary fermentation in the container from which it is dispensed, and served without the use of extraneous car ...

and

filtered beer Filtered beer refers to any ale, lager, or fermented malt beverage in which the sediment left over from the brewing process has been removed. Ancient techniques included the use of straw mats, cloth, or straws, and frequently left some sediment i ...

in bottles, and since October 2005, a lager. ''Dark Island'' a rich, fruity, vinous dark ale, is the biggest seller. Dark Island has won Champion Beer of Scotland on several occasions. ''Red MacGregor'', a 4%

bitter Bitter may refer to: Common uses * Resentment, negative emotion or attitude, similar to being jaded, cynical or otherwise negatively affected by experience * Bitter (taste), one of the five basic tastes Books * '' Bitter (novel)'', a 2022 nove ...

has won the World Cask Beer Gold Medal (BIIA 2001). The same name is used for a 5%

premium bitter Bitter is an English style of pale ale that varies in colour from Golden ale (UK), gold to dark amber, and in strength typically from 3% to 5.5% alcohol by volume. History The term "bitter" has been used in England to describe pale ale since th ...

available filtered in the bottle. Orkney brewery uses

isinglass Isinglass () is a substance obtained from the dried swim bladders of fish. It is a form of collagen used mainly for the clarification or fining of some beer and wine. It can also be cooked into a paste for specialised gluing purposes. The E ...

in the production of all of its beers, making them unsuitable for

vegetarians Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetarianism may ...

. Atlas Brewery was originally based in

Kinlochleven Kinlochleven () ( gd, Ceann Loch Lìobhann) is a village located in Lochaber, in the Scottish Highlands and lies at the eastern end of Loch Leven. To the north lie the Mamores ridge; to the south lie the mountains flanking Glen Coe. The village ...

and situated in a

category B listed This is a list of Category A listed buildings in Scotland, which are among the listed buildings of the United Kingdom. For a fuller list, see the pages linked on List of listed buildings in Scotland. Key The organization of the lists in th ...

former aluminium smelting facility. It later closed in 2010 with operations relocated to Orkney. Among its beers are Nimbus Pale Ale, Latitude Pilsner, and Three Sisters

Scotch Ale Strong ale is a type of ale, usually above 5% abv and often higher, between 7% to 11% abv, which spans a number of beer styles, including old ale, barley wine and Burton ale. Strong ales are brewed throughout Europe and beyond, including in Engl ...

which are available on tap and in bottles throughout

Lochaber Lochaber ( ; gd, Loch Abar) is a name applied to a part of the Scottish Highlands. Historically, it was a provincial lordship consisting of the parishes of Kilmallie and Kilmonivaig, as they were before being reduced in extent by the creation ...

and Scotland. They also produce a number of

seasonal beer A seasonal beer is a beer that is typically brewed during or for a particular season, holiday or festival period. Many breweries and microbreweries produce seasonal beers. Seasonal beers may be produced when fresh ingredients are available during ...

Skull Splitter

''Skull Splitter'' is an 8.5%

abv Alcohol by volume (abbreviated as ABV, abv, or alc/vol) is a standard measure of how much alcohol (ethanol) is contained in a given volume of an alcoholic beverage (expressed as a volume percent). It is defined as the number of millilitres (mL) o ...

wee heavy Strong ale is a type of ale, usually above 5% abv and often higher, between 7% to 11% abv, which spans a number of beer styles, including old ale, barley wine and Burton ale. Strong ales are brewed throughout Europe and beyond, including in Englan ...

''Skull Splitter'' won the award of Supreme Champion Winter Beer of Britain 2001 at

CAMRA The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) is an independent voluntary consumer organisation headquartered in St Albans, England, which promotes real ale, cider and perry and traditional British pubs and clubs. With just under 155,000 members, it is the ...

's national winter celebration of beer. ''Skull Splitter'' takes its name after Torfinn Hausakljuv who was nicknamed "Skullsplitter". Hausakluif was the 7th

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

Earl of

sometime around 950 AD.SkullSplitter at Legends Ltd.

References

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External links