The Old Inn, An Ard, Gairloch

A lovely old building by a disused crossing of the river, now bypassed by the A832 to the south of Gairloch, near the pier at An Ard. There's a garden by the river and a dining room next to that, but the bar entrance is to the side of the building and opposite the neighbouring art gallery. They brew their own beer here, Flowerdale 3.8%, but when I ordered a pint it was so cold I couldn't taste a thing. I took it back and was told that they always served this from their "cold" pump - can't understand why, unless they're worried about the taste - and was promptly, graciously and enthusiastically offered a replacement, from the range of seven hand pumps altogether. To be fair, there were only four on, still that's four real ales on offer: four more than in some pubs around here! (The other three were all from Scottish breweries: An Teallach Ale, Orkney Dark Island and Cairngorm Trade Winds.) The wood panelled bar is in the first part of a double room with mixed wood and stone on both floors and walls, leading through to a huge painting of a Scottish mountain scene at the far end. There's a juke box perched incongruously on one wall, and it had obviously been programmed to play a random track if not fed any coins, which one of the barmen would then reject if it was dire enough, or simply not to his taste. However, one of the other customers was obviously less enamoured of peace and quiet than I am - or perhaps he thought I was eavesdropping his conversation - because he made a couple of selections which were admittedly less horrific than the random choices previously played, but bad enough to have me sinking my pint and leaving in a hurry.

Official site of The Old Inn, contains real ale details - www.theoldinn.net

Official site of The Old Inn, contains real ale details - www.theoldinn.net