Lade Inn, Callander

I hadn't planned on stopping here, but as I was driving past my eye was caught be the "Beer Shop" sign on the small building next to the pub, so I thought I might as well stop and see what they had. There is a tremendous selection of beers from breweries all over Scotland: I bought some from Skye, Loch Ness, Tryst (Kingdom of Fife) and a couple of specials from Fyne (20th anniversary barrel-aged barley wine 8.2%) and Harviestoun (Ola Dubh 8% - a stout aged in Highland Park whisky casks). Buoyed up by these finds, I put my box of beers in the car and popped into the pub for a swift half. The pub has its own beers, Waylade, Ladeback and Ladeout, brewed for them by Tryst. I went for Ladeback, but it was totally gone, as sour as anything sour you care to mention. I was offered a taste of Waylade, but with my taste buds still reeling I wasn't sure if it was a hazy lemony blonde or just another off beer, and ended up with Ladeout 5.1%, which was a bit strong when I was driving but I was only five miles from my destination and reckoned I'd be ok. If only the same could be said for the beer, which was murky and confused and not in the least bit a pleasant drink, though not so bad that I could summon up the ire required to ask for my money back. The woman who had served me had no idea about the beers, or very much else, so I didn't want to make a huge fuss when it clearly wasn't her fault that the beer was crap. I should have paid more attention to the fact that two locals sat at the bar were on Guinness and Tennents respectively.