The Glasgow Real Ale Festival 2015 brought together an impressive range of Scottish and UK craft ales in The Briggait, Glasgow’s spectacular Victorian fish market turned cultural venue. The festival has a long tradition of supporting independent breweries and celebrating the best of British cask ale, and the 2015 edition was particularly strong — a sign of how rapidly the Scottish craft beer scene had matured and grown in confidence by the mid-2010s.
Highlights
The range spanned everything from classic Scottish heavy ales to modern pale ales and IPAs, with porters, stouts, and experimental one-offs filling in the gaps. Fyne Ales, Cromarty, Williams Bros, and Stewart Brewing were among the Scottish contingent, while guest breweries from across the UK added further variety. Sampling in halves is the right approach — you cover far more ground and arrive home on two feet, which has to be counted as a win.
Verdict
The Glasgow Real Ale Festival remains one of the most enjoyable beer events in Scotland — well-organised, friendly, and full of genuinely excellent beer. If you have any interest in craft ale and find yourself in Scotland in late June, this is the event to build a trip around. The atmosphere in The Briggait is wonderful and the quality of the pouring is consistently high. Essential for any serious ale drinker in Scotland.
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