Back from Cheltenham without losing the Hotel on a horse race – in fact making a small profit on the betting front – and had a wonderful time in Bath. I stayed at the Griffin Inn and can wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone visiting that area. My favourite ales I encountered were those from the Bath Ales brewery.

Cask Ale Week begins on the 29th March and we will be participating by highlighting what we feel have been our locals favourite breweries over the last year. This means that we shall be selling ales predominantly from Fyne Ales and Rob Hill’s Highland Brewing Company. There will also be a special guest reappearance for Foxfield’s Dark Crystal Mild which was so popular at the last Beer Festival.

We also had an intrepid band of cyclists staying with us this week. 4 young lads cycling from John O’ Groats to Lands End to raise funds for The Eve Appeal. They’re doing a great job for a very worthy cause so we wish them luck and many congratulations. Their appeal page can be found here for anyone wanting more information.

Mother’s Day comes around once again this Sunday. And we’ll be doing our usual fabulous Sunday Roast for a Fiver. So you can treat Mother and not break the bank! Then again, they are all broken already. We’ve already taken quite a few bookings so it looks like we’ll probably be full by Sunday.

Beer-wise we have our usual excellent selection. Dark Moor, Red Smiddy (both from Kelburn) and Spring Mist from Traditional Scottish Ales are on at the moment, with Skye Light about to go on. After them we have Red MacGregor, Black Gold, Trade Winds, Celtic Corker, and Kildonan. We’ll see how many of those we can get through before I disappear off to Cheltenham next week.

Steve’s Pub Quiz is set to rear it’s ugly head again next Friday. That’s the 5th March @ 9pm. The finest quiz night in the Loch Ness area, well, this part of it at least.

In a new feature we’ll list the fabulous ales we have in our cellar each week so you know what to expect.

Currently we have the Sneaky Wee Orkney Stout from Rob Hill, Hurricane Jack from Fyne Ales and Apres Ski from Roosters. And still to come in the cellar we have Red Cuillin, Black Cuillin, Young Pretender, Cloud 9, Vital Spark and An teallach Ale.

Congratulations to the Castle Tavern in Inverness for securing the title of H & WI Pub of the Year for 2010. Sadly we didn’t manage to win it this year but we’ll be back to challenge next year! Also many thanks to Jim Anderson of The Anderson in Fortrose for hosting an excellent beer tasting evening last night.

We’re delighted to announce that we have once again been voted the Inverness & District (North) Pub of the Year for 2010 by the local CAMRA branch. Thank you to everyone who voted and of course to the branch for all their support during the year.

Also a big well done to the other area winners :- Castle Tavern, Bandstand Bar, Grog & Gruel, Scourie Hotel, Cairn Hotel, Applecross Inn, Plockton Hotel, Plockton Inn and the Stein Inn.  All are deserving winners and the overall Highlands & Western Isles Pub of the Year will be announced in the next couple of weeks.

Exciting news indeed. Having got over Andy Murray’s disappointment it’s time for another Steve’s Pub Quiz. Hurrah!

Saturday 13th February is the date for your diaries, start time 9pm. Entry £1 per person, maximum of 5 to a team and the cash jackpot will be approaching the whopping £200 mark. Well worth winning, and the “Guess Question” will be easier than normal.

We’ll also be putting some special Italian dishes on the menu that evening but due to the Quiz dinner has to finish at 7.30pm sharp so get here early and treat your loved one to a lovely dinner for Valentine’s Day, followed by a thrilling Quiz. What more could anyone wish for?

As Allan & I are both from Dunblane, we are now putting the Benleva forward as the Highland Andy Murray Fanclub venue. We’ll be cheering him on when he plays on Sunday morning. Anyone in the area feel free to come along and join in from 8.30am. Good Luck!

The snow has pretty much all disappeared – but more is due this week apparently. Still plenty of snow – indeed too much snow – at Cairngorm & Glencoe for the skiers. Looks like there will be plenty of skiing this year up until Easter.

Hotel is fairly quiet just now but the usual enthusiastic locals are keeping the real ale sales high. Skye beers have been on particularly good form recently. The poker nights on a Monday continue to be well attended which keeps us entertained.

Willie’s 40th Birthday has dawned and, at the crack of dawn, we’re all off to Aviemore to experience the wonders of proper Scottish skiing. Sadly this means that the pub won’t be open until about 6pm this evening so apologies for any inconvenience.

Photos will be posted in due course.