Otherworld Brewing: One of Scotland's funkiest modern breweries

I’m a simple man. I see a hippo spitting blood on the front of a beer can, I buy.

Otherworld Brewing from Dalkeith have been certainly been making a name for themselves in the Scottish brewing scene with their captivating Sailor Jerry old-school tattoo artwork.

And in this case, you should definitely judge a beer by its excellent cover.

I’ve started seeing them for sale in more and more places around the north-east of Scotland, and each time I’ve had a glassful in a pub or a can from a bottleshop I’ve been impressed.

Here’s three of my favourites from Otherworld Brewing, which I encourage you to seek out if you see their beer for sale.

Otherworld Brewing Beer 1: Crimson River, a hibiscus and pomegranate sour

The can of Crimson River beer from Otherworld Brewing poured into a glass. — Crimson River, by Otherworld Brewing.

4.7%
£4 a 440ml can on the website
Style: Sour beer
Brewery: Otherworld Brewing, Dalkeith

The side of this beer can reads like a perfume bottle.

Pomegranate, orange peel, coriander, hibiscus… in fact, it sounds more like potpourri.

A pint of lager this ain’t.

It’s one of the most complex, fruity and floral beers I’ve ever had, balancing the sweetness almost perfectly with the sour acidity of the base beer.

I thought this would be the best of the lot, until I tried…

Rating: 4/5

Otherworld Brewing Beer 2: Wild Table Beer, a barrel-aged low percenter

The can of Wild Table Beer from Otherworld Brewing poured into a glass. — Wild Table Beer from Otherworld Brewing, with an extremely lively head. Wild by name, wild by nature!

3.6%
£4 a 440ml can on the website
Style: Table beer
Brewery: Otherworld Brewing, Dalkeith

If you’ve never heard of a table beer before, they’re low percentage, typically inoffensive brews made for having in plentiful volumes alongside food.

However, this is not a typical table beer by any means.

Unusually for such a low percentage beer, this one is absolutely packed with flavour from its barrel-ageing, giving it a white wine-like dryness and a sour aftertaste.

This was by far my favourite, so much so I’m going to pick up a bunch more for my beer cupboard.

Rating: 4.5/5

Otherworld Brewing Beer 3: Solitude, a whisky sour beer

The Solitude whisky sour beer from Otherworld Brewing poured into a glass. — The Solitude whisky sour beer from Otherworld Brewing.

7.5%
£5.50 a 440ml can on the website
Style: Barrel-aged sour
Brewery: Otherworld Brewing, Dalkeith

There’s quite a few craft breweries who have tried their hands at recreating classic cocktails in beer form, but often they just sort of taste vaguely fruity with too much booze.

Solitude from Otherworld Brewing sets out to be a beer that tastes like a whisky sour, and it nails the brief.

It’s absolutely packed with flavour, and cheek-puckering sourness, which totally justifies and works great with its reasonably high alcohol percentage of 7.5%.

Rating: 4/5

Kieran is a former craft beer barman and publishes his beer column every Tuesday online. You can also read his column in the P&J’s Food and Drink magazine, which you can find inside your Press and Journal newspaper every Saturday.