Black Isle Bar: Inverness has proved its appetite for craft beer

Looking back, it seems strange to think there was ever any doubt that a craft beer bar devoted to selling its own stuff could work in Inverness.

But in the summer of 2016, the people tasked with making the Black Isle Bar’s new home in Church Street a success didn’t consider it an open goal.

The brewery’s popularity was soaring and its output was being readily drunk across the Highlands and beyond.

But was Inverness ready for the kind of bar that seemed a lot more at home in Scotland’s biggest cities?

The Black Isle Bar’s general manager, Andy Simpson, has been with the company since the pub opened.

The Black Isle Bar’s interior. Image: Sandy McCook/DC Thomson

He said: “To start off with it was a case of: if you’ve heard of it, we don’t have it.

“If we do have it, you’ve not heard of it.”

It doesn’t sound like a winning formula on paper.

But in reality, business boomed.

The bar quickly established itself among the city’s favourites and pretty soon, it was being regularly packed out.

Andy added: “As soon as people gave it a go, a lot of them realised this stuff they hadn’t heard of, they really liked.

“And they liked it better than what they’re used to. Soon, we had a lot of people coming back frequently.”

Pizza had a big role in the Black Isle Bar’s success

Word spread quickly.

The bar’s big windows and its prominent position on the corner of Church Street and Post Office Avenue meant it was hard to ignore.

Walking past, you’d often see a place that looked a bit different to the norm. And it was invariably busy.

Those first couple of winters were tough.

But these days, the bar has built up a loyal following that is sustaining them through the leaner months after the tourists have packed up and gone home.

Along the way, it has picked up awards and a raft of happy customers on Trip Advisor.

Its rooftop garden – which is considerably larger than it was when the bar first opened – is a big selling point.

The bar has a distinctive look. Image: Sandy McCook/DC Thomson

And one of the other major factors in its success has been its pizza menu, which some claim is the best in Inverness.

In the summer of 2022, the bar was shifted an incredible 2,500 pizzas a week.

It was never going to be the focus of the operation.

But Andy’s background – he’d been Zizzi’s general manager and worked with Pizza Hut before that – meant he had a good handle on it.

The bar’s original head chef, Tim Ashwell, was recruited from Zizzi’s too and had previously run his own pizzeria in Portugal.

That combination meant the bar had the right know-how to succeed from the start.

Andy said: “It’s a craft beer bar but we knew had to do some sort of food.

“But I don’t think we anticipated the volume that we ended up doing at all.

“Tim and I obviously knew a thing or two about making pizzas and they became rather popular.”

Bar’s resurgence in post-pandemic Inverness

Of course, the bar’s success was temporarily halted by the pandemic.

The hospitality industry suffered mightily as we dipped in and out of lockdowns.

And many worried we’d never get back to where we were before – the staff of the Black Isle Bar included.

But with the era of worrying about what vertical drinking is now mercifully behind us, the bar recaptured its earlier success.

And it has built on it.

An important next step for the brewery is the relocation of its base – on the Black Isle itself – to its new home close to Inverness Shopping Park.

Andy Simpson has been involved with the bar since it opened in 2016. Image: Sandy McCook/DC Thomson

The company’s planning application to build a new brewery and distillery, a shop, visitor centre, bar and restaurant has been approved by Highland Council.

“It’ll be in keeping with the Black Isle brand,” Andy said. “We always try to connect the organic culture of the brewery and farm into what we do at the bar.

“We use a lot of organic produce grown at the farm and organic meat reared there in our food. And it’s mirrored in the decor around the bar and the greenery in our beer garden.”