Having
still not caught up on my Spring and early Summer goings-on here's
another belated blog post for consumption.
Two of Edinburgh's
finest
Up
until May I'd never been to Scotland, a travesty when accounting for
50% of my heritage. My father you see, hails from the land that
brought you: Scotch, the Highland charge, man-skirts and of course
prehistoric monsters hanging about in lakes. And whilst most
write-ups about Scotland would include the first item listed, it
isn't going to make much of an appearance here. Neither are any of
the others. Sorry to disappoint. What I'd rather tell you about are
two fantastic pubs in Edinburgh, both very different entities. Even
though both are relatively new to the Edinburgh pub scene, their
differences compliment an already great city for drinking. One
old-school and traditional, the other modern and industrial chic.
Both first-rate beer establishments.
The Bow Bar
Edinburgh
has some great pubs and any self-respecting boozer in the Scottish
capital will have countless single-malts shimmering from the shelves.
Bow Bar isn't any different, there's enough whisky to keep the
connoisseur happy, over 200 in fact. From eight air dispense pumps
flow real ales that were obviously picked by someone going out of
their way to provide the interesting
for the discerning. A pub so close to the touristy areas of the city
doesn't really need to do this and it's what makes Bow Bar stand out.
Their craft beer bottled range numbers around forty and is again
picked carefully to provide quality options. Their home-made pies
complete their offer of sustenance.
This Grassmarket based tavern is
also an atmospheric place, the décor captures that old world feel,
the memorabilia and ephemera on the walls remind us of an elegance
that's fading in our modern world. A good pub should aim to rescue us
from the banal, like all good pubs Bow Bar is the antidote of
most of life's problems.
Bow Bar can be found on
West Bow, Edinburgh, EH1 2HH
BrewDog Edinburgh
Ah
BrewDog... those Scottish, headline grabbing, controversially
marketing, ever conquering brewers have been planting flags all over
the UK recently. And when BrewDog Birmingham opens shortly it will
bring their bar chain to eight, Martin and James have engineered a
meteoric rise from their humble 2007 beginnings. BrewDog Edinburgh
was their second venture following on from the brewery's hometown
opening of BrewDog Aberdeen.
BrewDog
doesn't appeal to “everyman” and its Edinburgh outpost follows
this no nonsense approach. “No Tennents. No Carling. No
Smirnoff. No Televisions.” is BrewDog canon. On draught are the
staples you'd expect (Punk, Hardcore etc.) and other rarer BrewDog
creations. These sit alongside highly regarded beers from around the
world, beers at the forefront of the BrewDog entitled “Craft Beer
Revolution”. The fridges are also awash with bottled offerings from
far and wide.
BrewDog
Edinburgh is not an antiquated watering hole. There's exposed bricks
and steel girders, lots of steel and bricks in fact, and 1930s-style
filament light bulbs, there are also comfy leather sofas and board
games if such takes your fancy. And there's nothing wrong with
thrashing your drinking partners at Connect Four over a Tactical
Nuclear Penguin. This unconventional, avant-garde approach attracts a
much younger clientèle to the quality beer market and for that alone
BrewDog should be applauded.
BrewDog Edinburgh can
be found at 143 Cowgate, EH1 1JS
So if you're visiting
Edinburgh and get tired of single malts (heaven forbid) and the
regular tourist traps then those two venues are for you. Delightfully
different from each other, both equally magnificent.
