It was on a work trip to London last September, somewhere between exhibition halls and the bustle of city pints, that Stuart and Kenny first began to wonder what a beer festival in Dornoch might look like.
Kenny had asked what pubs in Manchester do during the quieter months to keep things lively, and Stuart explained how small beer festivals, a few casks, some decent grub and a band or two often pull in a healthy, happy crowd.
The idea sat quietly for a while, not mentioned again until early in the new year, when Kenny rang Stuart out of the blue to say he’d secured a site and that “they” were organising a beer festival.
No hesitation, no soft launch, just a pint-sized plan suddenly blooming into something much bigger.
The original location was the Sutherland Showground, with a single large marquee to host 600 guests under one roof, the bar stretching along the side and a stage tucked in the corner, straightforward, contained, achievable.
Planning began in earnest.
The event licence application went in, breweries were booked, and tickets started to sell before the first flyers were even printed.
Then came the blow.
The site was pulled, and just like that, the tent, the layout, and the sense of control disappeared overnight.
Most people would have parked the idea right there.
But Dornoch isn’t the kind of place where ideas get abandoned easily, and the community council stepped in with an offer, use the Meadows instead.
It was a smaller space, and not quite the blank canvas they’d imagined, but it brought something better: a sense of place, and a stage for something far more memorable.
With the main tent reduced in size, everything had to spill outward.
The bar grew, the music moved outside, and the quiet idea that began in London now had room to breathe.
What started as a 600-person beer tent has become a 2,000-strong open-air festival, with a 50-line bar, a bustling funfair, an inflatable zone for children and a headline act in the Red Hot Chilli Pipers ready to send the place roaring into Saturday night.
They’ll be joined by Highland favourites Scooty & The Skyhooks, Rhythm ‘n’ Reel and The Impact, with live music running all day from 11am to 11pm.
The bar will showcase over 100 beers and ciders from across the UK, with low-alcohol and gluten-free options to keep things inclusive, and a simple cashless token system to keep queues short and glasses full.
It’s a remarkable first effort from two men who’ve worked the length of the hospitality industry but never shouldered something of this scale, and by their own admission, it’s been a steep, at times chaotic, but ultimately exhilarating learning curve.
And yet, when you look at it, the lineup, the scale, the thought behind every part of the day, it doesn’t feel like a first-time event.
It feels like a festival that’s meant to last.
And perhaps that’s because it was never really about just beer and bands, but about creating something rooted in the community, shaped by momentum and carried by belief.
A Highland summer, reimagined by two men and one very good idea.
