The Grog & Gruel, Fort William

Decent pub and restaurant halfway along the high street, a single square room reached via a short corridor with stairs to the upstairs restaurant. Counter to the left, seating at taller tables, a cask and shorter tables and chairs at the front of the building, there’s banquette seating in a corner and in a booth at one end. Decor is mainly distilling related. Six pulls and six keg solos, the casks comprising a Loch Lomond beer and two from Cairngorm brewery in good condition. A good quality place in a busy tourist town so it gets very busy and is touch pricey at £5.50 for a 4.5% beer but that level seems average for western Scotland.

This place is under the same ownership as the legendary Clachaig Inn at Glencoe. It's a fairly ordinary long narrow room with a wooden floor and the bar on the left. There was plenty of space on a Thursday afternoon. Of the eight hand pumps five were in use with Williams March Of The Penguins, Loch Lomond Southern Summit & Bravehop, Strathaven Clydesdale IPA and Cairngorm Stag. I mwnt for the March Of The Penguins and Bravehop (both £3.20) which were excellent, particularly the Bravehop. Prices here are less than a pound a pint dearer than the JDW (85p a pint to be exact) but with a far better range on my visit. £3.20 for a 6.0% abv beer is good value especially in Scotland. I would definitely return here.

A long lobby entrance leads to a fairly long and narrow single room, done in a basic alehouse style. Embossed wallpaper and a ceiling painted nicotine plus look out for the antler light fitting. Some booth seating to the right of bar, else it’s pretty much standing room only. Live music advertised. WiFi. Long bar with 8 pumps, dispensing 5 Scottish micro ales and some Scottish cider. My River Leven IPA and Loch Lomond Southern Summit were both in good nick. The best ale pub in the town, although to be honest Spoons does run it close.