williamsbrosbrew [dot] com A long time ago, in a home brew shop not too far away......
A lady of Gaelic descent came into the Williams owned homebrew shop in Partick, bearing a
translation of a 17th century recipe for 'Leanne Fraoch' (Heather Ale), Inherited from her
Gaelic family. It was her goal to try to recreate recipe made famous by the old legend of
the Pictish king who supposedly threw himself off a cliff after the English king captured
& tortured his son in an attempt to coax the recipe from the Pict King. This translated
recipe was developed in homebrew size quantities by shop owner Bruce Williams to the
recipe that is used today.
The company started life in 1988 with Bruce brewing our flagship beer Heather Ale, in a
tiny brewery in Taynult, where we could producing no more 5 barrels per batch, just
enough to supply 5 pubs across Scotland; 2 in Edinburgh, 2 in Glasgow & The Clachaig Inn in
Glencoe. As demand grew the project expanded & a bigger brewery was needed to brew
the larger quantities required. So the recipe was taken to the old Maclay's brewery in the
traditional Scottish brew town of Alloa. Along with Heather Ale, 4 other historic Scottish
ales were developed using natural Scottish produce such as elderberries, the shoots of
Scots pine, seaweed & gooseberries. In 1998 the Heather Ale brewery moved its
production of cask ales & office to Craigmill outside Strathaven where we remained for 6
years before taking over the New Alloa Brewery at Kelliebank, Alloa, where we are the last
remaining brewery in the old Scottish brew capital.
After taking on the brewery we decided to expand our range to include some classic beer
styles under the new company name Williams Bros Brewing Co. To this day we have stuck to
our guns & kept using the best local ingredients, malt & water to create high quality beers
with true Scottish character. We have had a great deal of success doing so & have gained
praise & a great deal of respect from the Great British ale drinker, not to mention plenty
of awards from the likes of; CAMRA, SIBA, Tesco, Sainsbury's & The World Beer Cup.
