Taynuilt Hotel, Taynuilt

This up-market hotel has a bar which is open to the public, although not really what I'd call a public bar. Plush and expensively decorated, it seemed geared more towards eating than drinking and the handful of other customers present on the weekday afternoon I called in were all having meals. Amazingly, there was no draught beer of any kind available, which obviously wasn't a temporary situation as there were no fonts on the bar counter. I had to settle for a bottle of Furstenberg, costing £4, which had its positive side as I'd forgotten how good it is. The hotel is redeemed greatly by the two lovely small beer gardens at either end of the building, one enclosed and the other open to the pavement and road. As it was a hot and sunny day, I enjoyed my Furstenberg al fresco in one of them.