Top five beers to try during Glasgow Beer Week

Glasgow Beer Week returns for its second year on Friday with a series of events throughout the city including a launch party, heritage pub crawl and live brew.

Beer Week aims to raise awareness of excellent beer in Glasgow, build relationships between beer drinkers, brewers and publicans, as well as promote venues and encourage people to try something new.

And just in case you don’t know your Bavarian from your Belgian, event organiser and self-proclaimed beer nerd Robbie Pickering has given us his list of top five beers to taste at this year’s festival:

1. Fraoch: “Williams Bros in Alloa have been making Fraoch, made with heather instead of hops, since the 90s and it’s become a classic with its lovely woody, floral flavours. Oddly enough no other Scottish brewer has tried to imitate it yet.”

2. Tryst Beer: “The Tryst brewery in Falkirk makes pale, intensely bitter cask ales. I always jump on them when I see them in a pub.”

3. Stone IPA: “Over the last thirty years, American microbreweries have reclaimed their country’s place as one of the great brewing nations. Stone IPA is typical of the new generation – redolent of piney, resiny American hops.”

4. Andechs Bergbock: “A strong Bock lager like Andechs Bergbock tastes of sweet, Ovaltiney malt. Proper lager is a wonderful thing.”

5. Orkney Porter: “You want a darker stronger beer when winter comes around and Orkney Porter from Highland Brewing Co on Orkney is rich and delicious. It’s also 9%, so they wisely put it in half-pint bottles.”

• Glasgow Beer Week runs 7-14 September. For more information, visit their online calendar at glasgowbeerweek.com