Real Ale and Cask Beer, Good Food, Pub Grub | Bo'ness, Linlithgow, Falkirk, Edinburgh, Scotland

Kinneil Brew Hoose

Brewing has a long history with Bo'ness

Kinnieil village was sited to the west of Kinneil House, once the seat of the Dukes of Hamilton. As the its main street or causeway it used the base of the Roman rampart.

In the 17C the main occupation of the villagers was malting and brewing. At the time brewing was not done on a commercial scale and the Kinneil villagers would have brewed in a small dwelling or hoose.

When Bo'ness became a village, the early inhabitants were bound by their title deeds to have their barley malted at the Brewlands of Kinneil.

What did the Romans ever do for us?

A question we might remember from the Monty Python film, The Life of Brian, and it transpired that they actually did quite a lot! The Romans may have even brought brewing to our shores.

If they did bring brewing to our shores then that's something we should thank them for; they weren't all bad then!

There might not be any hard evidence that they brewed at their fortlet at Kinneil but its fun to think of the Centurians quaffing the odd pint or two of an evening when they weren't on duty guarding the Antonine Wall or subduing the unruly local natives!

The name of the Kinneil Brew Hoose marks the presence of the Romans on the Antonine Wall as well as reviving the tradition of the ancient Kinneil brewers.

And, maybe on day we will find their recipe and be able to re-create one of the own brews.

Until then we'll concentrate on using the finest local ingredients wherever possible and delivering to the local area just like they did!