The Inverness brewery that's really crafting a name for itself

Dog Falls Brewing is a relatively new Inverness brewery that’s really making a name for itself in the world of Scottish craft beer.

Instead of the usual old-fashioned stuff typical of many Highland breweries, Dog Falls have been brewing up some really out-there creations, like 10.5% beers aged in white wine and tequila barrels.

On a recent trip to Inverness, I found myself drawn to a fridge jam-packed with a colourful kaleidoscope of Dog Falls cans at the Moonshine bottle shop in the Victorian Market.

Here’s my review of three which I was most interested in trying from the Inverness brewery…

Rasparilla, a raspberry flavour sour beer

The beer in question, poured out into a glass next to the can. — This raspberry beer was super flavourful and pleasantly zingy.

5%
£4.20 a 440ml can on the website
Dog Falls Brewing Co, Inverness
Style: Fruity Berliner Weisse

If you’ve never heard of a Berliner Weisse before and think it’ll be like your Erdingers or Weihenstephans, it’s actually probably nothing like any German beer you’ve ever had.

They’re a sour, spritzy, tangy style of beer, perfect for summer day drinking in the garden, and usually come with a fruity flavour.

This particular one from Dog Falls is an absolute belter of an example of the style.

It pours BRIGHT red and cloudy, almost radioactively so, with a fizzy pinkish head.

Combining local raspberries from Wester Hardmuir farm with wheat makes this taste almost cranachan-like in taste.

Of the three I tried, this is the best one by far, although it’s a touch on the pricey side.

Rating: 4.5/5

Konventional Wisdom, a Kolsch-style lager

A glass of the Dog Falls kolsch beer, next to its can. — The Kolsch beer from Dog Falls in Inverness is exactly what you’d get if you looked up a dictionary definition of the word “beer”.

4.8%
£3.00 a 440ml can on the website
Dog Falls Brewing Co, Inverness
Style: Kolsch lager

Another German-inspired beer here, but much more typical of what you think of when you hear the word “beer”.

In fact, this style tastes pretty much like whatever is in the beer emoji 🍺.

Yellow, fizzy, malty, lager — but unlike your mass market lagers, a Kolsch tries to be much more crisp and less cloying.

Inverness brewery Dog Falls’ Kolsch, Konventional Wisdom, definitely fits the billing.

However, I found that as time went on, and the beer went from fridge-chilled into room temperature, my enjoyment dropped significantly.

I think if it was in a smaller can, it would have been tasty all the way down, but for me it was just the first half of this beer that was really enjoyable, once it was approaching room temp it sadly dipped for me.

So it’s a good beer, if you drink it cold and fast!

Rating: 3/5

Five Horizons, an oatmeal milk stout

A dark Dog Falls stout beer inside a glass, next to a can from the Inverness brewery. — Their stout poured with a light, Americano coffee-type head.

4.8%
£3.40 a 440ml can on the website
Dog Falls Brewing Co, Inverness
Style: Milk stout

The first thing that really grabbed me about this beer was the unbelievably cringe-inducing description on the back of the can.

“As we chafe beneath the clouds, this transcendent milk stout reveals an innate order sustained in the ultimate chaos.

“Momentarily unmasking a velvet highway to omniscience, we can but revel in its enigma as the full nature of the universe is briefly grasped…”

The back of the can of stout from the brewery. — The emotional rollercoaster of a can description.

Thankfully, the Inverness brewery was just having a laugh, as this was followed up with: “Yeah, well, maybe not: It’s just a beer, but we do think it tastes damn fine all the same”.

I definitely agree with the Dog Falls description writer here, this is one of the best Scottish stouts I’ve tried in ages.

Unlike your more tame Guinness or Black Hearts from Brewdog, this dark beer is full-on flavourful, seriously sweet and sticky.

In fact, the closest thing I could compare it to would be sticky toffee pudding.

And at £3.40 a can, it makes for a very affordable brew that’s basically dessert in a can.

Rating: 4.5/5

Where can I pick up some Dog Falls Brewing Co beers?

You can find cans of the Inverness brewery’s beers for sale on their website, although at time of writing, many are sold out.

You can also find them at the Inverness Farmers’ Market selling their beer on the first Saturday of every month, as well as other markets, bars and bottle shops across Scotland.

If you’re in Inverness, however, I can definitely recommend picking up some, as well as plenty of other craft beers from across Scotland, at the previously mentioned Moonshine in the food court section of the Victorian Market.

Only here for the beer? Then read on…

Kieran is a former craft beer barman and publishes his beer column every Tuesday online. You can also read his column in the P&J’s Food and Drink magazine, which you can find inside your Press and Journal newspaper every Saturday.