Craft Beer in Aberdeen: Breweries and Taprooms Worth Knowing

What Aberdeen's craft beer scene is like

Aberdeen's craft beer scene is built around a handful of producers rather than dozens of taprooms. VisitAberdeenshire's drinks listings point to breweries including Fierce Beer, founded in 2015 and offering a wide range of brews across 20 taps, and Burnside Brewery. That is a modest number of names, so pick one or two properly rather than trying to tick off a long list.

Fierce Beer is one of the best-known names in Aberdeen craft beer; VisitAberdeenshire's listing describes it as a multi-award-winning brewery founded in 2015, with a wide range of brews across 20 taps. Its beers appear in pubs and bars around the city, so you can drink the range without committing to a brewery trip. If you specifically want to visit the brewery, confirm what is open to the public before you travel.

Bear in mind that this is a working city, not a tourist town. Breweries here are businesses first, so public access to their sites should be checked before you build a day around it. The reliable route to the beer is through the venues that serve it, which is why the taproom and pub sections below matter more than any brewery open-day assumption.

Breweries and taprooms, and where each sits

The OGV Taproom is worth knowing as a brewery bar rather than a distant brewery visit. It is run by the team behind OGV Energy and has a bar in Aberdeen and a second site in Newburgh; the website is the place to book and to see what is currently on. Treat the Aberdeen bar as a base for a beer-led afternoon, but check the current opening arrangements and exact address before you go.

Fierce Beer is one of the best-known names in Aberdeen craft beer, and VisitAberdeenshire describes it as a multi-award-winning brewery with a huge range across 20 taps. Its beers appear in pubs and bars around the city, so you can drink the range without committing to a brewery trip. If you specifically want to visit the brewery itself, confirm what is open to the public before you travel.

Burnside Brewery is another producer VisitAberdeenshire lists for the area, so it is worth knowing as a name even though its visitor arrangements are not set out in the same listing. Do not assume the site is open to the public: confirm directly whether it is open to visitors, and what transport and time the journey would need, before building a stop around it.

Taproom or city-centre pint?

Choosing between a taproom and a city-centre pub comes down to what you want from the session. A taproom gives you a brewery's own beer in one place and a focused hour or two of drinking. A central pub gives you a seat, a kitchen and the chance to combine beer with a meal, but usually a less specific beer list.

The practical cost of a taproom trip is travel: you need to plan how you are getting back, and you cannot drift between several venues on foot the way you can in town. The practical cost of staying central is choice. If you are only in Aberdeen for one evening, the central pub route is usually the safer bet; if you have a full afternoon and have confirmed the bar is open, a brewery taproom can be worth the trip.

A middle route is to drink Aberdeen's craft beer in town without chasing the brewery. For that, the best pubs in Aberdeen are organised by what you are after, whether that is a proper cask pint, a lively bar or somewhere to eat, so you can match the venue to your evening rather than the other way round.

CAMRA's Aberdeen listings are a useful starting point when you want a pub with a serious beer offer rather than a good-looking bar. They cover a spread of places across the city, including the OGV Taproom, so use them to pick one or two targets and then check the pubs directly for current details.

A beer-led day around a meal

A workable shape is lunch in town, an afternoon at a taproom once you have confirmed it is open, then a pint near your accommodation in the evening. Start with something substantial rather than a snack, because the beer side of the day is long and a taproom is a drinking venue rather than a restaurant. Get the meal out of the way early so the afternoon is free.

If you want the social side rather than the food, a beer garden gives you outdoor space and a more relaxed pace, and it works well as a buffer between the taproom and the evening. It also suits mixed groups where not everyone is chasing new beers.

Sunday changes the plan. Pub kitchens often keep shorter hours on a Sunday than they do midweek, so eat earlier than you would on a Saturday and let the afternoon carry the drinking. If a big lunch is the main event, book it and treat the beer as the supporting act, and check the kitchen's Sunday hours before you travel.

For something more ambitious than a pub plate, Aberdeen has gastropub cooking worth planning around, which lets you pair one good meal with a few good pints rather than eating badly all day. It also gives you a reason to stay central instead of hauling across the city for a taproom and back.

If your beer day is part of a wider weekend, it is worth knowing what else the city offers so you are not building the whole trip around one taproom. To compare the named places one by one, browse Aberdeen pubs and food landmarks.

Which styles to try first

Start with a pale ale or a session IPA to calibrate your palate against what the brewery does best, then move to something hoppier if the first round lands well. A wide tap list is there to be sampled, so ask for a small measure of two or three before committing to a pint. This is also the cheapest way to find out which styles you like.

Slow down and drink in halves, especially if you are catching a bus or driving later. A wide tap list rewards sampling across a few styles rather than repeating one pint, and asking what each tap is lets you choose your next round with some idea of what you are getting.

For a change of pace from beer, the wider Aberdeenshire area is prime whisky country and the city has venues that take it seriously. Splitting a day between a couple of beers and a couple of drams is a very Scottish way to spend an afternoon, and it stops the hop fatigue setting in.

Booking, groups and checking first

The OGV Taproom's site has a 'Book Now' function, and it is worth using it if you are bringing a group, so you have a confirmed slot rather than drifting in. For a couple on a weekday it may not be necessary, but it is worth checking the current arrangements before you set out either way.

On children and dogs, do not assume. Brewery taprooms vary widely in Scotland, some welcome families during the day and others are strictly adults only, and policies change. Ring ahead if you are bringing either, and treat any answer you get as valid for that week only.

Same goes for tours: not every brewery offers them, and those that do run them on set days rather than whenever you arrive. Confirm directly with the brewery rather than turning up and hoping, and check transport back before you start drinking.

If old buildings are part of why you drink in pubs, Aberdeen has a short list worth working in between the beer stops. The oldest pub in Aberdeen is a natural anchor for a central crawl, and it fits neatly between an afternoon beer and an evening meal.

Taproom trip or city-centre crawl?

If you have one evening, stay central: pick a pub from the CAMRA listings or the best pubs in Aberdeen and drink Aberdeen's craft beer there. If you have a full afternoon and have confirmed the Aberdeen bar is open, give the OGV Taproom the time it deserves and build the meal and the evening around it.

Either way, confirm what is open, when, and whether you need to book before you travel. The beer is good; the planning is what makes the day work.