Neil Morrison, Macgochans, Tobermory
• What’s pouring at your pub at the moment?
We currently have 12 taps on: three local cask ales, Magners and Blackthorn, Tennent’s, Heverlee, Stella 4, our house lager, McEwan’s 70/-, Caledonia Best and Guinness.
• What’s your best selling pint?
It’s a fight between our local ales and Tennent’s lager. We sell about 18 kegs a week of each.
Our locals tend to lean towards Tennent’s whereas our tourists will go straight for the local ales.
• How important is a quality pint to your customers?
This is massively important these days, it’s all about quality. Every pint must be exactly the same and this is all about staff training and cleanliness.
Starting from the glassware, this has to be spotless along with the glass washer and the correct chemicals used. The lines need to receive weekly cleaning and the tap nozzles cleaned daily. The cellar needs to be as clean as your kitchen.
• Where did you have your first pint?
I think it was McEwan’s 80/- tops in the Macdonald Arms Hotel in Tobermory.
• Where did you pour your first pint?
I poured my first pint in the Mishnish Hotel in Tobermory, which is now funnily enough one of my competitors.
Lora Ashwood, Three Judges, Glasgow
• What’s pouring at your pub at the moment?
We have 20 taps (including eight cask and one cask cider – these change every day).
We have Deuchars, Tennent’s and Tennent’s Extra Cold, Guinness and Guinness Extra Cold, St Mungo, Stella Artois, Magners Golden Draught, Caledonia Best, Weihenstephan, Peroni Nastro Azzurro, and also two craft beers: Caesar Augustus and Schiehallion.
• What’s your best selling pint?
Tennent’s – a great pint, number one lager in Scotland.
• How important is a quality pint to your customers and what steps do you take to meet their standards?
Beer quality is the most important thing in a bar. Clean lines give you a good pint and no wastage or fobbing.
All glassware gets renovated every Tuesday and all pipes are cleaned on a Friday for the weekend.
• Where did you have your first pint?
The Park Mains in Erskine. It was a pint of Strongbow and I loved it – mostly because I had to hand over my ID first and felt like I deserved it.
• Where did you pour your first pint?
The Columba Club in Renfrew. I remember it scared me slightly when it ended up with a big head and I didn’t know what to do. I picked it up quickly after that.
