The 'Craft Beer Clan' is an initiative set up in 2014 by wholesaler JW Filshill which aims to promote Scottish craft beers throughout the UK and further afield, focusing on Asia as the first port of call for export markets.

Its aim is to follow the 'whisky trail', basically promoting Scottish craft beers to markets where Scotch whisky has been a success. Chris Miller, who has been in the beer industry for over 20 years and is one of the key Clan members said, "The aim of the Craft Beer Clan is to promote Scottish brands both domestically and in the export market. The ethos of the clan is 'local going international.'"

The Clan originally started with four members - Williams Bros, Eden Brewery, Inveralmond and Deeside - but has just taken on 15 more members to bring it up to 19. These include:

Black Wolf Brewery, Brewmeister, Broughton Ales, Caledonian Brewery, Drygate, Fyne Ales, Jaw Brew, Knops Beer Company, Lerwick Brewery, Loch Lomond Brewery, Loch Ness Brewery, Speyside Craft Brewery, Stewart Brewing, Tennent Caledonian and West

Beer is often traditionally seen as something of an 'English' product (think English bitter or London porter, for example) so I think it's great to see an initiative specifically promoting the fantastic range of breweries that Scotland has to offer. Scotch whisky contributes such a huge part to the Scottish economy, following the success with a range of premium craft beers seems like a natural progression and, hopefully, it'll prove to be a great success.

As well as a key focus on international exporting, the Craft Beer Clan will be installing shelves into their chain of Keystores, to which JW Filshill currently already supply, as well as various independent retailers across Scotland. They are also working hard to promote the Clan members throughout the rest of the UK.

I thought I'd recommend some beers from some of the breweries taking part, so that you can give them a try if you see them in a store near you. I tried to include a variety of different styles of beers, so there's something for everyone.

Fyne Ales

Sanda Blonde is a lovely, easy drinking IPA. With an IBU of 45, it isn't overly bitter and certainly doesn't leave that clawing feeling in your mouth that some heavily hopped beers can. The hops they use are the famous Citra and Nelson Sauvin, which give it a lovely refreshing, fruity flavour, in particular grapefruits and peaches. There's also a smooth maltiness in the background so you can taste the toffee and biscuit flavours alongside the floral, fruity hoppiness. With an ABV of 5.5% it isn't too strong, as modern IPAs go.

Stewart Brewing

New Zealand beers are big news right now, and Ka Pai is a great example of how Scottish breweries can also do an excellent job of producing an interesting take on New World beers. Ka Pai is a South Pacific Pale Ale which is a hazy golden colour and uses four types of New Zealand hops. It has a moderate ABV of 5.2%. Drinking this beer is almost like being transported to a tropical island. Lots of mangoes, oranges and zesty flavours but, like the Sanda Blonde, a nice malty backbone to tie it together. There's also a slightly bitter finish which I really liked because it wasn't too overpowering, and balanced well with the initial juicy hit. The perfect accompaniment to booking your summer holiday!

Knops

We've been to India and New Zealand for the first two beers but now we're back at the heart of the matter, with Knops' malty Scottish ale. The recipe is an interpretation of a recipe from an old Scottish beer book, so it's a very traditional ale. It's a completely different style to the en vogue hoppy beers - it has a much bigger focus on the malt flavours due to the four different types of malt used; Pale Ale, Crystal, Chocolate and Roast Barley. The malt combination gives an interesting colour, halfway between a stout and a pale ale but with a red tinge. It's quite an earthy beer, with toffee, biscuit and wood flavours coming through which, combined with a moderate ABV of 4.5%, deliver a very easy drinking beer, perfect after a long day at work.

Speyside

Speyside and whisky go together like Marge and Homer, you can hardly think of one without thinking of the other. However, as well as whisky, there is also a fantastic brewery based in the heart of whisky land. Speyside Craft Brewery was started by the very enthusiastic Seb, who names his beers after Moray's iconic landscape and geography. Randolph's Leap Lager is named after a gorge at the river Findhorn. It's an ale take on lager and is very light and refreshing. It certainly has a lot more flavour than a lot of lagers. You can taste biscuit malts combined with a citrus fruits - predominantly lemons and oranges and a slight bitterness behind it. A true summery 'mowing the lawn' type of beer.

Loch Ness

Dark Ness has won a SIBA regional gold in 2013 and bronze in 2014 and, in my opinion, these are very well deserved awards. It pours very dark, with lots of big, roasted flavours hitting your palate straightaway. There's coffee, chocolate, liquorice and some smokiness in there too. I expected the ABV to be much higher (it's 4.5%) considering there's so much flavour packed in. A very good stout.