Champion

Happened to be browsing the Mountain Bike tabloids, scanning the bike porn for more sexy (and very expensive) bits of kit that are a must have for all avid bikers, when I came across another little feature on The Grog & Gruel's favourite World Champion, Steve Peat. Check out the digital magazine here and pay particular attention to the bottle of malt on the spread over pages 5 & 6.

We thought it would be a little fun to create a Peaty Malt in homage to our hero when the World Championships came to Fort William a couple of seasons ago.


Apart from Nick's rather embarrassing spelling of the word 'Whisky', it turned out a treat! Unfortunately it didn't inspire Steve to put in a win on home ground. Cheer Steve on when the Mountain Bike World Cup come back to Fort William later in 2010.

Mountain Bike World Cup

As expected, another busy weekend in Fort William, as the Mountain Bike World Cup came to town. The weather gods smiled upon us, keeping it dry and midge free for the weekend. Great to see another huge crowd at the event, and great to see the High Street busy, busy...

The atmosphere at The Grog & Gruel was great. Live music provided by Sandra MacBeth and the Shoogle Sisters on both Friday and Sunday nights helped. As did a dazzling array of beers, with the rarely seen William Bros. Grozet (Gooseberry ale) selling faster than hot cakes (and the Venison & Grozet Pie on sale in the restaurant).


The highlight of the weekend was again the men's downhill, but mention should be made of the British Trials Championship too. Whilst that pic above of the chap about to commit cycle suicide by jumping off the log is impressive, spare a thought for the juniors tackling the slightly easier course along side. Big respect!


Great weekend!

Party in the Fort

In case you've been living under a rock recently, its World Cup Mountain Biking weekend in Fort William. We expect another busy weekend at The Grog & Gruel and were ready for it.

On the off chance that you can be drawn away from the town's favourite watering hole, there is a bit of entertainment going on this Saturday. Here's the blurb... (click on it to make it grow bigger!)I bet their burgers aren't as good as ours!

We'll be up at Nevis Range on Sunday, cheering on Downhill Champ Steve Peat. Hot on the heels of his most recent win in Andorra, here's hoping that he can turn on the magic for the home crowd in Fort William.

WI-FI at The Grog

Recent years have seen people not wanting to be too far away friends, family, the mass media and the internet. As if mobile phones were not bad enough, giving rise to 'the crazy frog' and bad spelling and punctuation via text messaging. Now people wish to contact the internet via mobile phone or lap-top while on the move.

Now at The Grog and Gruel we have made this marvellous feat achievable. With our recently acquired 'WIFI box' and some super duper 'interweb connectors' people will be able to connect to emails, Utube, World of Warcraft while supping a pint of cask ale or cappucinno.

We have already had a great response to this installation. However I cant help thinking that the local alehouse used to be an escape from the fast pace of modern times. At least a trip to the locals hills and glens will provide the escape we still need.

Fort William MTB World Cup

Another hectic weekend at The Grog & Gruel this weekend as up to 20,000 mountain bike fans descend on the town for the 2008 Fort William round of the Mountain Bike World Cup.


We caught the action on a hot sunny Sunday afternoon as the finals of the downhill event got the crowds roaring. Once again, the event atmosphere was fantastic. And once again, good to see Steve Peat wining and dining in the Grog over the course of the weekend. Sales of our 'Fat Tyre Ale', courtesy of the Isle of Skye Brewery, and Peaty Malt Whisky, our little homage to the winner of 14 previous World Cup downhills. Perhaps Steve had a Grog Dog too many as he could only manage 3rd this year!

Despite the Fort William crowd having adopted Steve as one of their own, it was great to see several other 'local' riders doing so well, including a stunning 8th for young Scottish rider Ben Cathro, and a great result for Fort William rider Joe Barnes. See y'all again next year?

Mountain Bike World Cup

Not long now till the Mountain Bike World Cup comes back to Fort William. Expect to see lots of lycra clad types wondering round a forest near you over the weekend of the 6th - 8th June. As ever, the full programme and lots of info is on the web site at www.fortwilliamworldcup.co.uk

Having caught the 4X (That's four cross to you non bikers) last year I can thoroughly recommend it. Great atmosphere and as its in the (Friday) evening you don't need to spend all day. Having said that, the Cross Country on Saturday and the Downhill on Sunday are also crackin' events. Its all highly recommended, even for non bikers.

Naturally, The Grog & Gruel will be welcoming all biker types. We've ordered some more Fat Tyre Ale which was a huge hit at the World Championships last year. And we may yet have some more of the exclusive Peaty Malt, our very special homage to the man himself.

And finally, a picture of someone mountain biking...