Swannay Brewery

Swannay Brewery operates from a former farmstead at Swannay, on the north-west tip of Orkney's Mainland between Birsay and Evie. Rob Hill bought the site in 2004, originally trading as the Highland Brewing Company before the business was renamed Swannay Brewery in 2015, around the time his son Lewis joined the operation. The brewery produces cask, bottle and keg beers including Scapa Special, Dark Munro, Orkney IPA and Orkney Blast. Scapa Special has been voted Champion Beer of Scotland in blind tastings organised by fellow brewers and licensees, and the core range has collected national and international awards over more than a decade of brewing. A taproom and shop on site sell the full range direct to visitors alongside brewery merchandise. The brewery remains family-run and independent, supplying pubs and bottle shops across Orkney and further afield rather than running its own chain of outlets. Its exposed coastal setting, regularly hit by Atlantic spray in winter, sits beside working farmland.