A taste of Orkney

FullStopNextChapter

We recently visited Orkney and had a brilliant week exploring. We stayed in Quoyloo (about two minute walk away from Orkney Brewery) and discovered some amazing food and drink is produced in Orkney. 

If you love food then you should read my blog post. 

 

VisitScotlandLiam

Looks great @FullStopNextChapter, what else did you get up to on your visit?

FullStopNextChapter

Thanks @VisitScotlandLiam. Plenty of walking - to work off all that food! 
We visited Skara Brae, ring of Brodgar, Brough of Birsay, Italian Chapel, Broch of Gurness, St Magnus Cathedral, Scapa Flow...... I will be writing about it all very soon. 

VisitScotlandLiam

Fantastic!  Sounds like you had a great time! @FullStopNextChapter

Horizons

Great blogpost!! A bit sad to see you missed out on the Orkney Wine company and the Swannay Brewery (the latter is in the north of the mainland). I've had a lot of beer from a number of Scottish breweries and Swannay is one of the very best, much better (in my opinion) than the Orkney Brewery (which is a solid choice by itself).

Lovely indeed to see that you chose to visit Scapa, it is definitely my pick of the distilleries. If you do want to try out the Orkney Wine company's products, I have bought bottles in Edinburgh from Cranachan & Crowdie (check with them if they have any in stock).

FullStopNextChapter

Thanks @Horizons. We stopped off at Orkney Wine Company twice and both times they were closed. After looking at their website I have my eye on some port from them for Christmas. 

We drove out to Swannay Brewery and the shop was closed and we didn't get a chance to go back. Great building they have though. However, something good did come from the trip out to them, we found Broch of Gurness (which is amazing). 

spoots

Hi @FullStopNextChapter.  That post was great to read!  I'm glad to hear that you had a good time.

Next time you're in the isles I'd recommend trying some of the Orkney Dairy's Smoked Cheese.  Delish.  And definitely Orkney Ice Cream, as well - you can find that across Scotland (I saw a newsagents selling it in Melrose, for example).  I certainly love Orkney Fudge!

One of the best places to go for Orcadian food is to have dinner at the Stromness Hotel.  And anywhere that does Orkney fudge cheesecake, really.

Swannay Brewery is located in Birsay Parish.  Nearby is the Barony Mill - where they produce beremeal that you can buy.  You can visit the mill in the summer, and there are tours too.  Production takes place in the winter.

Beremeal is a traditional Orcadian flour made from bere, an ancient, six-row version of barley that is unique to the county.  You can use it like normal flour - it's unique, tasty, and healthy too.

You did an awful lot!  I look forward to reading about it.