I believe the children are our future.

I believe the children are our future, teach them well and let them lead the way. So, after much discussion with our lisencing board and paperwork, The Grog and Gruel will now welcome children into our Alehouse during the day in the company of a 'responsible' adult. We hope this is something our customers will find of benefit and also allow parents to enjoy our range of food and drink without having to tie their children up outside.

Although children have always been welcome into our restaurant, getting the green light from the lisencing board to having children into our alehouse took a change in the law to come about. Although under 18's will never be allowed alcohol whilst in The Grog and Gruel a fine range of soft drinks and and excellent hot drinks menu is available as well as a children's menu. We also have a high chair for those tiny wee Grog and Gruel customers. So a trip to the Grog and Gruel will no longer be reserved for the older generation it can be a grand day out for all the family.

Lochaber's Favourite Watering Hole

A big thanks to all the CAMRA members who have recently voted for The Grog and Gruel to be crowned winner of the Fort William and Lochaber Pub of the year 2010. Although we are regular winners, every year there are more folk selling cask ale which makes the competition even tougher. As far as we at The Grog and Gruel are concerned the CAMRA good beer guide is the bible for ale drinkers and awards given by CAMRA are the only ones to be taken seriously.
Our formula for success has never changed. Take only the highest quality local cask ale(and the odd cask of Tetley's..(I do like the odd pint of Tetley's), treat it with love and care and sell it in relaxed, comfortable friendly surroundings. Nice to see our customers agree with our philosophy and chose to vote us winners again. We have a great line up of local, seasonal cask ales over the next few weeks, there is no better time to visit the award winning Grog and Gruel.

West Highland Way Gains a Mile !

People travel to Fort William for many reasons, mostly to take part in some kind of outdoor activity in the wonderful natural surroundings in and around Lochaber. One of the most popular activities is walking and by far the most popular route is the West Highland Way. For those who don't know the West Highland Way is a 95 mile walk from Milngalvie, North of Glasgow, to Fort William. The walk uses old Drovers paths, military roads and coaching routes to take you through some of the most spectacular scenery Scotland has to offer.
Since its official opening in 1980 the walk was 95 miles and terminated at a roundabout at the end of Glen Nevis about a mile out of Fort William. Not the best end to a hard 95 mile walk. So, after many meetings and discussions, the end of the West Highland Way has moved 1 mile to terminate at the end of Fort William High Street at Gordon Square (pictured here on a cold January morning). Not only is this a much more central location for the 85,000 walkers who use the path every year but also leaves you seconds away from The Grog and Gruel and a hearty welcome. We think this will prove to be a great move and when the "iconic feature" is unveiled for Gordon Square I'm sure you'll agree.

Japanese Whisky ?

With over 70 bottles of single malt whisky on the shelves at The Grog and Gruel, we try to feature whisky from every area available. As whisky gets a lot of its flavour from the water of the area it is produced in, regional variations give each whisky a distinct unique flavour. We have a couple bottles of Irish whisky hidden away for those who wish to drink whisky from our celtic cousins and now we have a Japanese whisky available also.



YAMAZAKI single malt whisky is made from the purest natural ingredients distilled through the art of Japanese craftsmanship in perfect harmony with nature. The whiskies are handcrafted at Japan’s oldest distillery, built by Suntory founder Shinjiro Torii in 1923. The distillery is situated in the Vale of Yamazaki on the outskirts of Kyoto, an ideal environment for whisky production where the same exceptionally pure waters used in Japan’s most esteemed tea ceremonies are used to produce YAMAZAKI whiskies.



So if you are looking for a good dram in Fort William, The Grog and Gruel is the place to go. Choose from our massive selection of great Scottish whisky or for something more unusual, why not try Japanese whisky?? Maybe one day we'll be brave enough to stock English whisky too (but probably not :))

Fort William Mountain Festival 2010

The big freeze is here. Fort William is covered is frosty snow and Scottish skiing conditions haven't been so good for years. Attention is being turned to the winter mountain sports like skiing and sledging (when I was young it was plastic animal feed bags instead of sledges, sore on the bum but a much greater sense of danger). So just a quick reminder to folk that Fort William will be hosting it's annual Mountain Festival from February 11th - 15th.


Although this is a festival for those with a keen interest in the outdoors, most of the lectures, workshops and events are entertaining for anyone and well worth supporting. A full list of events can be found here. You'll also find events to keep the children amused. Over the past few years Fort William Mountain festival has made a great reputation for itself.


Hopefully you'll find something at the festival you'll find interesting and maybe pop into The Grog and Gruel for a pre-event meet up or post event discussion. I hope I'll get a chance to see some of the festival myself

October is Cider Month

We at the Grog and Gruel not only like to supply you with very best local produce but also seasonal produce as well. This can sometimes mean going a bit further a field than we would like for products. Sometimes even venturing South of Glen Coe. One harvest that is in full production at the moment is cooking apples for cider. This is why CAMRA have nominated October to be Cider month.


So for the whole of October we will be selling Traditional Cask Conditioned hand pulled Thatcher's Cider. Although in England Cask Cider is in abundance it very rarely travels North of the border. This is something that is changing and with a 13% increase in cider sales in Scotland this year it seems that it maybe something customers are looking for also. At 6% Thatcher's Heritage Cider has been produced in Somerset for over 100 years on a family farm. Originally made to top up workers wages on the farm and now 100 years later it is available in most Supermarkets and now at the Grog and Gruel.


Again I had a small taste (hic!) of the cider once it had settled in the cellar and can say it is very drinkable. It has also proven a great ingredient in the kitchen featuring in our own "Pork and Cider Pie" which sold out the first lunch service it was on sale. Well worth dragging yourself out the house for on a cold October night.

The Tail of Sven

The countdown to our Easter Ale and Pie Festival has begun, only 5 days to go and we are very excited. The ale is settling in the cellar, The final touches are being made to our pie recipes and the staff are undergoing long tasting sessions. With all this hullabaloo going on it's not surprising that some folk have missed the new 'face' at the Grog.














Let me introduce to you Sven the wild boar. Isn't he beautiful? Sven is a gift from our local supplier of wild boar which we use for our sausages, Burgers and Chilli. He was raised on a farm in Beauly, home of Boars of Beauly. In fact The Grog and Gruel and Clachaig Inn buy all the boar meat Beauly has to offer. Sven had a harem of 9 female sows he serviced. He is a reliable 'producer' of large baby boys,the record holder weighing in at 96.4kg at 14 months. Sven's estimated weight was in the region of 250-300kg during the rutting season when they can put on up to 25% extra weight.

We feel very proud to be the home of Sven now that his working life is over. It's nice to be able to show our customers exactly where their Boar Burgers, and Chilli have come from. It's also very nice to receive such a nice gift from one of our local suppliers, another great reason to keep things local. So next time you pop in for a pint in the Grog raise a glass to Sven as he peacefully he enjoys his retirement.

And the award goes to ....

Things seem so bleak just now, global recession, costs rising, and a dwindling Fort William High Street dwindling. Good news items are few and far between. Imagine my delight when I received word that The Grog and Gruel had become "CAMRA pub of the year Fort William and Lochaber 2009". The award is voted for by CAMRA members for pubs who are dedicated to the highest quality cask conditioned ale sold in the best quality surroundings. As this years has seen more entries to the competition and a lot more votes it really is something to be proud of.


So how did we manage to win such a prestigious award? Well, we rely on the top quality Highland ales from our local suppliers. An alehouse can only be as good as the ale it sells. Luckily we are surrounded by great brewers working hard to provide great ales for our cellar. We work closely with the local breweries giving feedback and taking suggestions so a good partnership is created and the ale being sold is in the top notch quality. We have also been graced with good staff working hard to keep and serve ale in the best possible condition.


Finding new ways of selling cask ale is also something which we work tirelessly on. This April will see our first Easter 'Pint & a Pie' festival. We take the finest local cask ales, add some great music and entertainment, and create a great selection of tasty and imaginative pies and from this a festival is born. This is just one of the ways we hope to tempt customers to go for a pint in Lochaber newly crowned "Pub of the year 2009"... woot !!

Easter Festival Headlining Act !!

After a lot of missed phone calls, and diary planning, we are pleased to announce "Sandra MacBeth and the Shoogle Sisters" as our "Pie n a Pint"festival opener on April 2nd 2009. Sandra is one of Scotland's hardest working and prolific Singer/Song writers and has been a popular favourite in The Grog for many years. She is always in the company of some of Scotland's best musicians too.

To sample her work check out her myspace site http://www.myspace.com/sandramacbeth or check out her song "Moon Eyes" on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmlXftHAyNc, the full video was too big to upload here. She is the favoured artist on my ipod at the moment. So if you wanna have an exceptional evening of great ale, a hearty pie and some of the best music around you know where to be on the 2nd of April.

Quiz Night Announced !!

Yes indeed !! We have finally confirmed our quiz nights for the weeks over Easter,during our "pie n a pint" Ale festival. On Tuesday April 7th and on Tuesday April 14th we will be featuring quiz nights as part of our Easter celebrations. Probing questions are being stolen from various sources as I type on a whole range of topics.

We have even found knowledgeable and fully qualified local celebrities to host the evenings In exchange for a few pints and a good feed. Folk will do some crazy things for a pint of ale and a good Grog n Gruel pie.

We have so many amazing prizes, yet to be confirmed, we couldn't list them all here. We can however guarantee that it is well worth popping along.

As always these are evenings in the Grog and Gruel are not to be missed. A great selection of cask ales, top notch food, and great company.... But will any of you be able to beat the local yacht club quiz team. The local "egg heads"....best start revising now.

'Open Mic' for Valentines

On Saturday the 14th of February The Grog and Gruel will be teaming up with Oxjam to host an open mic night. The aim of Oxjam is to raise money to help end poverty by way of music. Most of us have seen the efforts of our local Oxjam group in the High Street over the last few months, if you have wondered what it's all about or how to help this initiative then Saturday night will be a great opportunity.



Our past open mic nights have been a great success and we have always been 'surprised' by the talents hidden away in Lochaber. We've had everything from beat boxing, guitars, singing and (everyone's favourite) the German poetry. The German poetry was the only act to clear the pub. So don't be shy and come show us what you can do this weekend. Or just pop along for a listen and a pint.

Bar Humbug ??

As many folk will have noticed Christmas will soon be upon us. We only have about 5 weeks until its time for the turkey, tree and tinsel. Hard to believe that it has been a full year since Santa last visited us and we had to endure the weeks of turkey sandwiches.



It's not only our own family Christmas we have to organise but many of you will also have to organise evenings to celebrate the yuletide cheer with social, leisure and work groups. Sometimes I think by the time Christmas actually arrives I will be sick of the sight of turkey and those little sausages wrapped in bacon... though it hasn't happened yet.

For all of you who have the daunting task of organising a group outing or group meal we would like you to keep in mind the Grog and Gruel. As always we give Christmas our own unique touch. Although we generally don't have a set Christmas menu ,due to our standard menu always proving to be far more popular, our chefs will be preparing festive specials for your delight. A copy of our menu can be downloaded from our main site. If more information is needed a quick e-mail or phone call to Neil or Sarah Louise on 01397 705078 will answer any questions.

With our town centre location, massive drinks menu, great dining and bags of festive cheer The Grog & Gruel is a great choice for your evening out this Christmas.

Probably The Worst Decision in the World

Last week it was announced that in 2011 Carlsberg UK plan to close its iconic Tetley Brewery in Leeds. Independant consumer group Camra are reeling, blaming Carlsberg for failing to promote this epic ale in a time when interest in cask ale is booming.

Although questioned by many locals The Grog and Gruel, and its manager, have always been proud to supply Tetley's on draught and have done so for the past 14 years. Rarely do we pick ales outside our local area, even more rare is picking an ale from south of the border. In order to provide Highlanders with a true 'classic' Bitter it is necessary to take a trip to the ionic waters of Englandshire. We have in the past featured other famous bitters.. Ind Coope Burton, Greene King IPA, Marston Pedigree to name a few.

Though when most breweries merge, increase/decrease business size or change the nature of their business, the main priority is to keep the brewing done in the original site. Carlsberg seem not to see this as important. CAMRA is seeking a meeting with Carlsberg in order to discuss the future of Tetley's cask ales. We will keep you informed.

Yes We Are In It !!

The CAMRA Good Beer Guide is out for 2009 and once again The Grog and Gruel is one of the few Lochaber entries. We have now been featured in the Good Beer Guide since 1995 as we continue to keep a great range of local cask ales from around the area. In order to get a mention in this "real ale enthusiasts hand book" requires a dedication to serving a continued range of top quality cask conditioned ales and for the last 15 years that's exactly what we've been doing.

As always our entry is written by our local CAMRA group. For us that is the Inverness based group. Although we'd like to be mentioned for our strong links with small local breweries, our menu of Local produce including Highland wild boar, Salmon and Aberdeen Angus steak... maybe even a mention of our very popular upstairs Restaurant or our 60+ Malt Whisky selection.. it seems that CAMRA choose to cherish some other features. As always our "church pew seating" is noted. Also for the first year Our webcam has had a mention which we had removed in 2000. Maybe someone got confused with our high speed customer WIFI service which we now offer?!

For anyone wanting to see The best pubs in the UK while travelling or to learn more about beers and your local breweries the Good Beer Guide is a must. Many a traveller arrives on our doorstep clutching a copy and using it to make an informed choice as to which Ale to try. Well worth a read and a copy is available for browsing in the Grog right now. Go have a read today !

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.