The Old Forge, Knoydart Inverie, Mallaig

Will Larter left this review about The Old Forge

When I heard about a trip organised for committee members of the CAMRA Highlands & Western Islands branch to visit this truly remote pub and the equally hard to visit Knoydart Brewery half a mile away, I couldn't resist inviting myself along. This was always on my to do list in the days when I used to do cycling holidays in the Hebrides and in the western highlands, but I never quite got around to it. No bike this time, just trains and cheap hostels to get me to Mallaig and a ferry to get me to Inverie pier for a four hour stop on the Knoydart peninsula.

The committee men, who are spread from South Uist to Nairn via Fort William, hardly ever meet, except online, and they were a very friendly bunch. We had an hour at the brewery, which is in a disused church, and then a couple of hours here at the pub. There are two hand pumps, both on the go with beers brewed just along the shore: Seven Men (named after the WWII heroes who challenged the local landowner over entitlement to land after their service in the war, and lost), a 4.5% mid-amber easy drinking bitter, and the 5.2% Heavenly Blonde. I gather that there is more often just one cask beer on, so this was a special for the CAMRA visit. Local beers in keg format include a couple from nearby but hard to get to Isle of Eigg Brewery (see photos) plus a nitro-stout from Ossian.

The pub is community owned by the people of Knoydart, and run by a licensee who needs to be a jack of all trades, because of its isolation. All their supplies come by the small ferry, or via a landing craft that slides up onto the beach. (At the present, food orders are delivered on Thursdays, so there's no food served at Thursday lunchtime, the staff being occupied with taking in stores and preparing food for the evening; check with the pub via the website or Facebook if planning a visit.) He was very pleased to be presented with his copy of the new Good Beer Guide and regaled us with stories of the recent storm that had left many areas without electricity for several days. Inverie had recently had its cables buried so was ok, except that the internet is powered by places that were cut off, so while the pub remained open, he had to deal on trust with people's bank details rather than via card terminals.

It's quite an experience to visit this place and I'd recommend it to anyone who gets the chance.

On 15^th October 2025 - rating: 8
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