Highland craft brewer Uile-bheist is retracing centuries of history to bring a rare red lager to the Scottish market. Rare Bird (5.2% ABV) launches today.
The distilling and brewing company — one of the most sustainable ‘brewstilleries’ in the country — joins only a handful of small-batch brewers in Scotland producing red lager. This reprises a Bavarian beer style stretching back to the Middle Ages.
The bottom-fermented lager is based on Nuremberg rotbier, or red beer, which is undergoing a revival in Germany after declining in production following its zenith in the 15th and 16th centuries.
It has been a labour of love for Uile-bheist’s head brewer, Lukas Pretzer, who hails from the town of Bamberg in Upper Franconia, the region at the heart of the renaissance of red lager.
To signify the new product’s uncommon status in Scotland, the lager depicts the capercaillie in its branding, a bird now rarely seen in Caledonian woods.
It’s a malt-forward lager with a deep red/orange hue and a caramel or biscuit sweetness and lightly-hopped flavour. With slight ale complexity, the distinctive red colouring comes from a mix of three malts, one base malt being one of the oldest certified German malting barleys for flavourful, unfiltered lagers.
Rare Bird is now available in the Uile-bheist taproom for visitors, and has been kegged for Highland distribution as a seasonal autumn beer.
“Red lagers are quite rare in Scotland,” said Lukas. “It is a connection to my roots in brewing. It will be appealing to both ale and lager drinkers.
“Apart from being rare in Scotland, it combines a malt-driven flavour with the crispness and drinkability of a lager. This unique flavour profile targets craft lager fans as well as ale fans.
“What we wanted to do with this was create something new and autumn-related for our customers. The red, slightly orange hue fits that autumnal feel perfectly. Its high drinkability is important in order to be approachable and reach a wide customer base.”
In 1597, Nuremberg, ‘the home of Rotbier’, had 35 working breweries producing red lager. In recent times, in the region, producers such as Tucher and Schanzenbrau have brought the tradition back, with great success and popularity.
Glasgow brewery West produces an award-winning Munich Red lager, and Uile-bheist are hopeful their new take on the Rotbier style taps into drinkers’ curiosity.
The red lager is conditioned for 10 weeks and has a nose of roasted malt, caramel, honey, pine, and hay. The flavour is crisp and floral, with light caramel notes, resin, and honeydew melon.
