Traquair is celebrating 50 years of brewing in the ancient brewery at Traquair, Scotland’s Oldest Inhabited House.
In 1965, Peter Maxwell Stuart, 20th Laird of Traquair came upon an extraordinary discovery in the eighteenth century wing of the house. A complete brew house and tun room had been left untouched for over a century and used as the family junk store. Having uncovered the vessels, cleaned and restored the equipment he decided to try his hand at brewing. Together with his friend Sandy Hunter, then owner of Belhaven Brewery, they came up with a recipe for a traditional “wee heavy”, the orginal Traquair House Ale. The beer was first brewed in 1965 and is still brewed at Traquair today.
50 years on, Traquair has a built a world wide reputation as an iconic Scottish Ale with a unique heritage and rarity value. It was even voted 20th best brewery in the world by ratebeer.com an American consumer website.
To celebrate this half century of brewing, Peter’s daughter, Catherine, who now runs the brewery has produced the TRAQUAIR 50, a limited edition ale (20,000 bottles only) packaged in a specially designed bottle.
With an ABV 9% this is not a beer to be taken lightly but promises to be a smooth dark and well balanced ale. Catherine Maxwell Stuart commented,
“We have had a tradition of producing “specials” down the years which have become real collector’s items and the Traquair 50 will be no exception. The oak fermentation gives our ales a depth and complexity that gives our beers their really unique character. With a guaranteed shelf life of 10 years, you can keep this bottle in your cellar for some time!”
The Traquair 50 will be available from Traquair House from the 20th April which is open daily until the end of October and from selected independent retailers.
Editors notes:
Traquair House Brewery is situated in the wing of Traquair House that was built in 1694. The original equipment includes the copper purchased for £8 10s in 1738 and the oak fermenting tuns made from Russian memel oak.
Traquair House Brewery produces 3 bottled Ales Traquair House Ale ABV 7.2% Traquair Jacobite Ale ABV 8% and Traquair Bear Ale ABV 5%.
Ingredients comprise Hops (East Kent Goldings), Malt, pure Spring Water and Yeast.
90% of the beers are bottled with only Bear Ale available on draught.
Traquair is sold to the USA, Canada, Japan, Finland, Denmark, Italy, France, Sweden, Russia, Brazil and China.
For further information, photographs and interviews contact; Catherine Maxwell Stuart, Traquair House, Innerleithen, Peeblesshire EH4 6PW catherine@traquair.co.uk
Innerleithen
Scottish Borders
EH44 6PW
Tel: +44 (0) 1896 830323
Email: enquiries@traquair.co.uk