Edinburgh Beer Weekly 18/11 – 24/11
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?
Monday 18th [to 27th Nov]
Cloisters Beer Festival
26 Cloisters Bar, Brougham St Cloisters Bar on Twitter
Cloisters’ two-week Winter Beer Festival kicked off on Saturday, with a well-attended event featuring Tempest and Cromarty breweries. For the next week and a half, 50 cask ales and 8 kegs will be on offer at Tollcross’s finest, with treats including (but not limited to) Elixir Brew Co’s new 6.3%er Get It India, a lightning-fast appearance by the ever-popular Thornbridge Jaipur, and the humdinger that is Moor’s Old Freddy Walker. Keep all eyes glued Cloisters’ Twitter feed for details of what beers will be on, and then get down there.
Monday 18th 8:00pm
Williams Brothers tasting
Appellation Wines, 43 Dalry Road
Appellation Wines website tickets £10
This week’s Appellation Wines tasting takes place at the original Dalry Road branch, and features the beers from one of Scotland’s most successful independent breweries. Having recently announced a £1m expansion, Williams Brothers are set for a mightily exciting 2014. Head down and find out from one of the ‘Brotherhood’ what that entails exactly, and get to grips with a number of WB’s best-sellers.
Tuesday 19th
Hopcraft tap takeover
The Stockbridge Tap, 2-6 Raeburn Place / The Bow Bar, 80 West Bow
Hopcraft website / Hopcraft Twitter feed
On Tuesday, the Stockbridge Tap and the Bow Bar are holding a tap takeover, with the new Welsh wonders from Hopcraft. Pontyclun is the place, home to the Pixie Spring brewery; but also now their hop-forward sister outfit. Powered by Gazza Prescott (ex of Steel City), Hopcraft beers have never been seen in these parts before, so head over to the Tap and the Bow to see exactly what they are about – it should certainly be worth it.
Wednesday 20th [7:30pm]
Beer Geek Pub Quiz
Holyrood 9A, Holyrood Rd
Further Details Tickets £5
Doesn’t this just sound like the best night out you can have on a Wednesday? The Holyrood 9A are having a beer-themed pub quiz, with rounds of questions interspersed with blind tastings. Hosted by the ebullient Melissa Cole, the tickets are (as you’d expect) going extremely fast. Although I am not a beer geek, we will have a BeerCast table on the night. Our A-game has been booked to be brought along (assuming it arrives in time).
Thursday 21st 7:30pm
Meet the brewer – SIX°NORTH
Vintage, 60 Henderson St
Further Details Tickets: 0131 563 5293, £20
On Thursday, the Vintage is the place to be (which isn’t a bad default on most evenings). Robert ‘BrewBob’ Lindsay is in town from the Marine Hotel in Stonehaven, site of Scotland’s only bona fide Belgian-style brewery, SIX°NORTH. It seems a long time ago since I previewed their opening (it was, in fact, back in January) – but since then SIX°NORTH have established themselves as a truly fascinating brewery to watch, not least because of their range (and their fantastic bar in Aberdeen). Head down to the Vintage and meet Bob, discover his philosophy, find out why he opened a Belgian brewery in Stonehaven, and try five of his beers with paired charcuterie.
Friday 22nd 6:00pm
Meet the brewer – Brooklyn
Vintage, 60 Henderson St
Tickets: SOLD OUT
Oh, another meet the brewer at the Vintage, the day after? Well, book a hotel in Leith and make an early weekend of it, I say – particularly as following SIX°NORTH there comes the prospect of a night with the Brooklyn brewery. Yes, Williamsburg’s finest are in town for one night only, and are holding a tasting event at the Vintage – a perfect fit for both beers and charcuterie. Although the event was free, it is sold out, but head down afterwards (it starts at 6, so keep an eye out), and catch the Brooklyn guys in full flow – these guys are over in the UK so rarely, it’s a great chance to find out what they are up to.
