Swannay Brewery
Microbrewery
in Swannay,
Orkney,
Scotland 🏴
Associated with 2 Venues
Established in 2015
Our brewery is located on the northwesterly tip of Orkney’s mainland, a wind-battered area known as Swannay. Brewing in a rustic farmstead we’re in a unique location: showered in spray from the Atlantic Ocean in the winter and surrounded by fertile farmland in the summer.
Our founder Rob Hill - ever the collector - first came to Swannay Farm in 2003 looking to buy the old time clock. One year later, after being let-go from his then current head brewer job, he somehow bought the whole building complex and started to think about how to make beer at Swannay.
With no means or desire to purchase shiny new brewing plant Rob went on the hunt for something that’d been used before. He ended up with not one but three kits(!): a five brewers barrel (BBL), a 20 BBL and a 100 BBL.
Already with twenty-five years’ brewing in his boots Rob knew exactly what the first beer needed to be: Scapa Special, our flagship pale ale that still accounts for around a third of all we brew today. It wasn’t long before the five BBL kit was up to four brews a week using just three fermenting vessels. This was no mean feat considering Rob was also doing all the delivering, cask washing, sales, admin - literally all tasks involved in running the company - himself.
Around about 2010 Rob’s son Lewis returned home from university and (perhaps foolishly) started helping out at the brewery. The 20 BBL plant was soon ‘commissioned’ and production volumes continued to increase. Today a team of six comfortably brew Swannay’s range of modern classic beers four to five times a week.
jerseyislandbeer (5899) reviewed St. Magnus from Swannay Brewery 1 year ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 7.5
500ml bottle from the Scottish Real Ale Shop. Pours light brown with a off white head. Aromas & tastes of caramel, red berries, butterscotch & malt. Medium body. Light bitter finish. Very enjoyable
JuanMartin (257) ticked Chance Your Arm from Swannay Brewery 1 year ago
Pint at Castle In The Air, Trafford. A bit thin but not bad for a lunchtime pint before a rugby match.
Cheeseboard (6269) reviewed Chance Your Arm from Swannay Brewery 1 year ago
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 6.5 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5
Cask at Kings Head, Bristol. Pours near clear gold with off-white foam. Pale malts, bready hints, mild citrus. Lightly dry. Towards medium body with fine carbonation.
Mr_Pink_152 (17201) ticked Chance Your Arm from Swannay Brewery 1 year ago
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 7
From the cask at the Stockbridge tap. Pours a deep brown with a white head. Aromas & tastes of chocolate, toffee, berries, earth & roasted malt. Medium body. Soft finish. Enjoyable
jerseyislandbeer (5899) reviewed Pale Ale from Swannay Brewery 1 year ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 7
500ml bottle from the Good Spirit Co, Glasgow. Pours a slightly cloudy amber with a white head. Aromas & tastes of fruits, citrus, biscuit & malt. Medium body. Soft light bitter finish. Enjoyable
ITFCfan (3577) reviewed Banyan from Swannay Brewery 1 year ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
Cask at the Peterborough Beer and Cider Festival 2024 with Grumbo and ITFCDan. Aroma is citrus, grassy, stone fruit, grapefruit floral notes. Decent body and light carbonation. Good.
ITFCfan (3577) reviewed Muckle IPA from Swannay Brewery 1 year ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7
Cask at the Peterborough Beer and Cider Festival 2024 with Grumbo and ITFCDan. Aroma is orange, citrus, marmalade, tropical fruit grapefruit, pine. Follows through to taste with very good body. Very nice bitterness to finish.
Harrisoni (26233) reviewed Chance Your Arm from Swannay Brewery 1 year ago
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 7.5 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 7.5
Cask handpull at The County Hotel JDW Ashford. Clear gold colour lasting cream head. Decent golden ale. Some dryness on the finish. Some pale malt flavour. Some pink grapefruit on the aroma. It's a pretty good golden ale. Yep drinkable.
dragnet101 (5184) reviewed Orkney Porter from Swannay Brewery 1 year ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 10 | Overall - 8.5
Bottle from Connolly's Wine Merchants. Pours black with brief beige head. Aroma of molasses, berries, roast, smoke. Taste of sweet malts, molasses, toffee, berries, vanilla. Sticky full body, low soft carbonation.