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Friday 24 August 2012

May 2012 Recap: Edinburgh

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.

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