Scourie Hotel, Lairg

In common with a lot of Scottish rural hotels, the public bar here has its own identity and is signposted the Eagle's Eyrie. There is indeed a golden eagle here, but it's stuffed and displayed behind a glass screen in the bar. Entry is through a pleasant courtyard on the right, where there are various benches and a smokers' shelter. Fishing nets adorn the bar, which has a small drinking area in front and a larger dining room and another area for pool and darts. There were three hand pumps on the bar, plus apparently another two through in the hotel bar. A list of beers and ciders indicates which are on, and there are also bottles of Orkney Red MacGregor, Cairngorm Tradewinds and Belhaven Thistly Cross cider. Two different strengths of the same cider were available on hand pump, and the ales were Isle of Skye Lord of the Ales (which had seen better days) and Black Isle Yellowhammer, which came on while I was there and was in much better condition. This hotel is the winner of local Camra (Caithness and Sutherland) pub of the year every year since 2005. To be fair, it doesn't have a whole lot of competition, but it's nice to see someone making an effort to serve some decent beer and cider in such a remote place.