BrewDog Edinburgh opens

The latest addition to the growing BrewDog empire arrived quietly last night, with the laid-back opening of BrewDog Edinburgh. Following the original in Aberdeen, the second branded bar for the Fraserburgh operation opened with a very unBrewDog-like ‘soft’ launch – primarily to check everything worked before the official launch in a few days. The BeerCast were there to check it out of course, it being on our home patch – and a quiet Tuesday night turned into a marathon eleven-beer session. It’s what BrewDog would have wanted.

Situated in the rough and tumble Cowgate the first impressions are that it’s smaller than I was expecting – and a good deal colder with the crazy aircon maxed out. It looks a treat with all the exposed pipes and reclaimed brickwork, very much the North American brewpub feel about it. BeerCaster MrB – who has also visited the Aberdeen bar – told me it’s very similar in layout and despite what I was saying, is actually larger than their flagship.

There were a few opening night niggles – the card machines weren’t working, and some of the beers on the menu hadn’t arrived – but everything considered the launch went really smoothly. Speaking of the beer – there’s a lot of choice on offer. Five BrewDog beers on keg font, including the new Punk IPA and the Belgianified Punk Monk – plus three guest imperial stouts (more on them later) and a whole host of bottles.

Laid out behind the bar – which is unadorned by any cask handpumps, of course – a selection of imported brews from the US, Europe and some select British brewers (such as the Kernel, which unfortunately hadn’t arrived as yet). Priced by the bottle – starting at £4 for a 330ml – some of them really weren’t cheap, the larger 22oz American beers will probably (depending on how scarce they are) set you back £8-£12. MrB picked up three beers and it cost him £30.

I don’t think this is a real problem, however – these are all pretty rare beers not available in any other Edinburgh bar. BrewDog pride themselves on being different, and they have achieved this in spades here – so much so that they totally changed the way we drink. Usually in a round, one of the four of us goes to the bar and buys four pints. Last night, we were buying one drink and getting four glasses. It’s like having a tasting session, in a bar.

The beers were awesome – in order, I managed to put away Mikkeller Vesterbo Kaffestout (on keg), Nogne Pale Ale, Nogne Red Horizon, Port Brewing Hop-15, Mikkeller Coffee IPA, Nogne Imperial Brown Ale, Mikkeller Spontankriek, Mikkeller 10, Three Floyds Jinxproof, Alesmith Yulesmith and Cantillon Vignerone. My goodness. I challenge anyone to have a better beer night than that yesterday in Edinburgh. It was like being at Craig Garvie’s house (except without the sci-fi artwork).

The picks of that particular bunch were the pummelling Nogne Red Horizon – a 17% sake-yeast infused monster, Alesmith’s Christmas Double IPA which was magnificently hopped, and pretty much all of the Mikkeller beers (which is why we tried so many). Spontankriek was just fantastic, tongue-curlingly sour, but still so drinkable – and the 10 was like drinking a blend of tuck shop Fruit Salads. And the Cantillon – just lovely.

So our verdict on the new BrewDog bar? They were after somewhere different, not wanting to copy the many great pubs Edinburgh already has. Well, they have certainly achieved it. It’ll get very busy because of size and location, so there won’t ever be a shortage of customers. The bar looks a treat, very much in keeping with the BrewDog ethos. Some will balk at the prices – but this, unfortunately, is the way these beers are going. You can get Punk IPA or 5AM Saint for £3.20 a pint, which is pretty standard these days. However, the bottled selection alone makes it worth the visit.