The Bowsing Ken

Harviestoun Brewery Ltd :
Old Engine Oil Black Ale

     I love a good brewery story. Let's face it - we would all love to do it. If you are a beer fan - and you must be if you are here - you have probably said to yourself, as you take that first wonderful drink out of a mug of good beer, I would really like to make this stuff. Some of us - myself included - have taken this desire to the next level by making our own beer. Many of us, as we sample the fruits of our labor, then think to ourselves: "I would really like to make this stuff for a living." Yes, it is the natural progression, but that, my friends, is a huge leap, and it takes guts to move this desire in to the realm of reality.
     A friend of mine, who I used to work together with years ago, did just that. We both worked at reasonably good, reasonably stable jobs. They were good jobs that we enjoyed doing and at the time there was no cause to think that we both would not enjoy long tenures with this company, up to point where we eased in to blessed retirement. But my buddy decided to go for it, he quit the company to run with his dream and start his own brewery. That took a lot of guts. That was ten or twelve years ago, and through his hard work and tenacity his brewery has grown quite successful, and is still growing to this day.

     Although personally I have never taken that intrepid jump from making beer for myself to making beer to sell to other people, I can tell you that when I am making up a batch, a few of my beer-drinking neighbors will tend to wander over to my garage brewery just to see what's in the kettle. Of course, I will bring out some bottles that are ready to go, and it is always interesting to note their reactions to my homemade beer.
     So it was back in the early 1980s, when Ken Brooker began making his own beer out back in his garden shed. He would invite friends over when the beer was ready, and would insist on them giving their opinion of his beer. According to brewery lore, the Harviestoun Brewery was born on 5 October 1983, at one of Brooker's beer sampling get-togethers.
     Of course, a back garden shed would never do, so Brooker got the go-ahead from the local government to set up his brewery in an old steading - which is Scots word meaning a farm, farm house or building - near the village of Dollar, Scotland - about 50 or so kilometers northwest of Edinburgh. So, on a 200-year old farm, Brooker and his team built a small brewery with bits and pieces of second hand equipment. Nothing was new. The first beer - Harviestoun Real Ale - came out in 1987. The beer was quite popular, demand grew, more varieties were added to list, beer contests were entered and awards were raked in, and in 1999, the Harviestoun Brewery began to ship some of its beer to the United States - hurray, good for us!
      As mentioned, the Harviestoun Brewery began as an idea in 1983, and actually took form in 1986, in an old farm building with used equipment. By 1989, growth was steady enough to demand more equipment, which was purchased new, and the old steading was expanded again and again.  In the early 2000s, it was clear that the farm property had grown about as big as it was going to get. So, in 2004, a new purpose-built brewery was built just a few kilometers to the west of the original.
     And, of course, it is difficult to produce such a catalog of well received beers as those produced by the Harviestoun Brewery without attracting a lot of attention. Two people - Donald MacDonald and Sandy Orr of Caledonian fame - bought out Ken Brooker in 2006, thus bringing Harviestoun under that brewer's umbrella. Then - of course again - Caledonian was itself scooped up by Scottish and Newcastle Breweries in 2008. But here's the twist, MacDonald and Orr retained the Harviestoun Brewery, it was not included in the deal with Scottish and Newcastle. So in 2008, Harviestoun was again an independent brewery - hurray again, good for us.
     Today, the Harviestoun Brewery make a wonderful variety of wonderful beers, and along with their regular offerings, they are always willing to experiment with new ideas. At the time I penned this, I had only found one - Old Engine Oil Black Ale - here in North American, but then again I live in the back woods of the Florida Panhandle. On my travels I will keep an eye out for more. Stay tuned.

Now for a Little History Lesson:
(Don't worry, there won't be a test.)

      As noted in one ancient book, the name Harviestoun dates back "to some time ago." Well, yes it does. Please refer to the inset below for a more in-depth explanation of just one of the possible origins of the name. Another possibility is that it is a development of the archaic phrase "Hervyisdawac" or "Hervy’s davoch," dating from the 1400s, and meaning a large unit of land assessment belonging to a dude named Hervy. This sort of makes sense when compared with the explanation in the inset below.

     In another olden book, namely the "Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland - A Graphic and Accurate Description of Every Place in Scotland," edited by Francis H. Groome in 1881, there is a description of Clackmannanshire, noted as the smallest county in Scotland. Within the boundaries of this smallest of Scottish counties are such towns as Alloa, Tillicoultry and Dollar, as well as many estates known by names like Schaw Park, Tullibody House and Harviestoun Castle. The population of the shire in 1881 was 25,677. Although Mr. Groome does not go in to it, there appeared to be a pub or two in the area. As the Right Reverend Anderson noted in 1841:

     In this same volume, Harviestoun is described as an estate in Tillicoultry Parish of the aforementioned Clackmannanshire. (By the way - Tillicoultry is thought to be of Gaelic origin - Tullich-cut-tir - meaning a hill or rise at the back of the country.) That there had been some human habitation going on at the site of the Harviestoun Castle for hundreds of years is evidenced when in 1796, workers digging a drain near the main house unearthed a double-edged Roman sword. On nearby lands there is evidence of a Druidical ceremonial circle. Mr. Groome notes that the present castle - the one then extent in 1901 - was built in 1804, by a man named Crawfurd Tait. The estate was bought in 1859, by Sir Andrew Orr (any relation to Sandy Orr?).
    Let's jump forward a bit. Harviestoun Castle, since its purchase in 1859 by Sir Andrew Orr, has changed hand a few more time - it was even owned by an insurance company for a while. By the 1960s the main house, which had been used for a time as a school, was in pretty bad shape. Although there were various plans for restoration, all came to an end in 1965, when a fire gutted most of the structure. In 1973, the remnants of the house were torn down. Today, a few of the farming outbuilding remain.

     Fun Fact:  Records indicate that the noted Scots poet Robert Burns had visited Harviestoun at least once in his life. His inspiration for the last song he penned - 'Fairest maid on Devon banks, Crystal Deven, Winding Devon' was a lady by the name of Charlotte Hamilton (later Mrs. Adair), who he met on Harviestoun estate back in 1787.
     Here's another little tid bit about Burn's stay at Harviestoun: