Edinburgh Beer Weekly 21/01 – 27/01
Welcome to the latest Edinburgh Beer Weekly! Every Sunday we’ll be posting a preview of all the beery happenings in the city for the next seven days – so you won’t miss a thing. You can sign up to our subscription service, ensuring you’ll get a notification every Sunday when the Edinburgh Beer Weekly is published. Just enter your email address in the panel on our front page. Also, follow us on Twitter (@thebeercast) to keep right up to date throughout the week. There are so many great beery things going on at the moment – stay tuned to the BeerCast, and enjoy each and every one of them!
So – what’s happening in the Edinburgh beer scene over the next seven days? Quite a lot, as it turns out…
Monday 21st [to Sunday 27th]
Battle of the Brewers
The Foot of the Walk, 183 Constitution St
Website
The fun begins almost immediately, on Monday. Start the week with a bang at the Wetherspoon’s at the Foot of Leith Walk, where for the next seven days the JDW pub will be hosting a three-pronged Battle of the Brewers. Taking part are Williams Brothers, Isle of Skye and Cairngorm Breweries – so head down, sample beers from all of the three producers, and pick a winner.
Tuesday 22nd / Wednesday 23rd
Meet the Brewer – Harbour
The Hanging Bat, 133 Lothian Rd
Further Information tickets SOLD OUT (see below)
Following evenings with Summer Wine and Magic Rock, the third Meet the Brewer event to take place at the Hanging Bat features Cornwall’s Harbour Brewing Company. Due to the enormous success of the other events (and, probably, distance travelled), Eddie and Rhys from Harbour are running two MtB nights this week. Unfortunately, tickets are sold out for both – but, if you don’t have one, the beer they are supplying for the events will be on at the bar, and you’ll be able to chat to the brewers before and after they start the talk in the downstairs section of the Hanging Bat. One of the treats on offer will be the launch of their 20% iced pale ale. No, really.
Thursday 24th [to Sunday 3rd Feb]
Bow Bar Winter Beer Festival
The Bow Bar, 80 West Bow
Beer List part one / part two
The Bow is a great place to be on pretty much any night – but from Thursday onwards there’s the extra, added incentive of the start of their Winter Festival. Over the subsequent ten days, a huge range of beers will be flowing out of the Aitken founts, including such notables as Arbor Oyster Stout, Dark Star Hophead Galaxy, Black Isle Black Run and Loch Ness Prince of DarkNess. Look for our full preview of the festival next week!
Thursday 24th [to Sunday 27th]
Great Heck Showcase
The Guildford Arms, 1 West Register St
Great Heck Twitter feed
Also starting this Thursday (and continuing all weekend) – the Guildford Arms will be featuring beers by the excellent Yorkshire brewery Great Heck. Expect the beers to fly out, particularly as they are being served at £2.50 a pint. On the bar – Angel, Five, Blonde, and Peace & Love. Great Heck have plenty of fans in their ale-loving heartland – head down to the Guildford to see what the hype is all about.
Thursday 24th [7:30pm]
Beer and Burns (featuring Innis & Gunn)
Salisbury Arms, 58 Dalkeith Rd
Further Information / Menu Tickets £22.95
As we get towards the end of the week, the Burns Night events begin to appear on the calendar. Although the bard of Ayrshire is usually associated with Scotland’s other drink, he enjoyed a beer as well. On Thursday, the Salisbury Arms are hosting a full-on Burns Night, complete with piper and poetry. Alongside the food, samples of Innis & Gunn beer will be on hand, so head along to Dalkeith Road and toast the Rabbie B in style.
Friday 25th [from 7:00pm]
Bavarian Burns Night at the Southern
The Southern, 22 South Clerk St
Further details. Free Entry – to book a table email james@fullerthomson.com
The next evening, Burns Night swings into gear, with at least three related beery events across the city (and, in reality, probably many more). The Southern Bar on South Clerk St are hosting a Burns supper with a difference – they are going Bavarian style. At least ten German beers will be on offer, from both Bavaria and those brewed here (Glasgow’s WEST brewery will be supplying several). Alongside this, beer and whisky tastings will be going on, there’ll be suitably themed food – and, traditional German/Scots music…
Friday 25th
‘The Year of Scottish Beer’ at the Hanging Bat
The Hanging Bat, 133 Lothian Rd
Further Information Free entry
At the same time, the Hanging Bat are holding their third night of beer this week – they are putting on a night dedicated to the modern wave of Scottish brewing. Burns Night is all about getting together and celebrating, after all – and whether it’s haggis neeps and tatties with a whisky or haggis tacos with a 6.6% beer infused with bourbon chips, the important thing is the celebrating. That particular beer – Alechemy Innocent Pun, will be joined by several others, including a rare appearance of Harviestoun’s Export Strength Old Engine Oil on cask and Elixir Brewing Co’s haggis-spiced Imperial Oatmeal Stout. Aye lad!
Friday 25th
9A Burns Whahay! [6:00pm]
Holyrood 9A, Holyrood Road
Further details
As the Southern goes all Teutonic, their cross-town stablemate Holyrood 9A pulls towards the more traditional direction of Burns Night, and on Friday offers up a pairing the Bard could surely not resist. For £12, diners at the 9A can enjoy a haggis (regular or vegetarian) burger, a half pint of Loch Lomond’s Burns-themed Meg’s Tail Ale, and a nip of whisky. To keep you there afterwards, twelve Scottish beers will be on offer, from the Holyrood’s taps.
Saturday 26th [7:00pm – 3:00am]
Ceilidh at the Ghillie Dhu
The Ghillie Dhu, 2 Rutland St
Further Information Tickets £25
To put Burn’s Week (as it seems to have become) firmly to bed, there’s nothing better than a post Burns Night ceilidh. As a proper, traditional, Burns event there’ll be dancing, piping, whisky, addressing the haggis, and all sorts. Admittedly, it’s not exactly beer-led, but they do serve beer at the Ghillie Dhu, so after Dashing the White Sergeant until 3am, grab a quick pint before heading home. Make sure and leave room for the Sunday lunch in your local the next day…
The Edinburgh Beer Weekly will be published every Sunday here on the BeerCast. If you have an event in or around the city that you’d like to feature – please get in touch at the usual email address. If anyone manages all of the events in this edition, I will personally buy them a pint of their choice when they are discharged from hospital. Cheers!
