At the beginning of the 20th century our branch region teemed with breweries, especially in Edinburgh itself, with its unique geography allowing a very favourable water supply of good quality for brewing. By the 1970s, as a result of commercial concentration and so-called market forces, this once thriving industry had shrunk in size. For real ale the situation was even worse, with only a handful of businesses continuing to produce traditional beer.

However, breweries such as Caledonian (now sadly defunct) and Belhaven continued brewing real ale during all the ups and downs of the Scottish brewing business, and Traquair House revived small-scale brewing in the 1960s, after a long absence.

In the early 21st century, a new generation of microbreweries, such as Stewart and Tempest, transformed the brewing map of Scotland, and many more have followed.

(Some of these breweries may only produce cask-conditioned ale on an occasional basis)