Edinburgh Beer Weekly 24/03 – 30/03

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 24th 8:00pm
Beer and Cheese at Appellation
Appellation Wines, 43 Dalry Road
Appellation Wines website tickets £10

Beer and cheese is the classic food pairing (with the exception of dry roasted or a packet of crisps), and last year Appellation ran an evening matching Scottish beers with everyone’s favourite dessert course. Well, on Monday, cheese pairing returns to Appellation, except this time they’ve gone global (for both the beer and the cheese). Head down to Dalry and see what new classic combos Ash and the staff have come up with.

Monday 24th [to Saturday 19th Apr]
Nicholson’s Spring Beer Festival
The Haymarket Bar, 11-14a West Maitland St; The Mitre, 131 High St; The Conan Doyle, 71 York Place; The Kenilworth, 152 Rose St; Deacon Brodies, 435 Lawnmarket; The Last Drop, 74 Grassmarket; Greyfriars Bobby’s Bar, 30 Candlemaker Row,
Further Details

We’re officially into that time of year now, and this Monday sees the beginning of the Nicholson’s Spring Beer Festival across their Edinburgh pubs. Fifty cask ales and ciders will be on offer throughout the next four weeks, including an IPA brewed at Truman’s to celebrate the launch of a new book by Danny Wallace. Head down to one of Edinburgh’s seven Nicholson’s pubs (or a combination thereof), to get with the festival spirit. With that in mind, loyalty cards will be available which you can redeem for a free ‘bar snack’ for every four pints you drink (see link above).

Tuesday 25th 7:30pm
Meet the Brewer – Redchurch
The Hanging Bat, 133 Lothian Rd
Further Information tickets £25 available here

This month’s Hanging Bat Meet the Brewer involves the most approachable brewery I can think of – Redchurch. From their Bethnal Green base, they have quietly built up one of the best core ranges of beers in London – which is saying something, given what’s going on there. I looked around the brewery just over a year ago, and it’s great that Gary and Owen are back up in Edinburgh. Astonishingly, tickets are still available – so get booking and find out exactly what this hugely under-rated brewery are up to.

Wednesday 26th 7:00pm
Redchurch Beer dinner
Blackfriars, 57-61 Blackfriars St
Further Information Tickets £tbc. Phone 0131 558 8684

As they’ve travelled some distance to be here, Gary and Owen are hanging on for another night following their Bat-based meet the brewer. The next evening, they will be at Blackfriars for a beer pairing evening, the menu for which will be added to the link above in due course (it wasn’t available at the time of writing). As ever, it will be a fantastic event, though – book early!

Thursday 27th 7:30pm
Stewart Brewing tap takeover
Clerk’s Bar, 74-78 South Clerk St
Further Information / Stewart Brewing Twitter feed

On Thursday, Newington’s newest bar turns their taps over to beers from Loanhead’s Stewart Brewing. On offer; Solas, Cascadian East, Edinburgh No3, Hollyrood and Pentland IPA. Head down to Clerk’s Bar for tasters and prizes, and to chat to members of the Stewart Brewing team, who will be on hand from 7:30pm.

Thursday 27th 6:00pm
Meet the Brewer – Elixir Brew Co
Oddbins Bruntsfield, 176 Bruntsfield Place
Oddbins branch website / Twitter feed FREE

Also on Thursday, the Bruntsfield branch of Oddbins are hosting a meet the brewer session with the new darling of UK gypsy brewing; Ben Bullen of Elixir Brew Co. As Oddbins local beer buyer Sarah says – “We look forward to trying Benjii’s meticulously created and highly inventive ales. Amongst the range will feature the infamous Benedictine Groove.” Be sure and head up to Bruntsfield to try that range for yourself, and find out how Elixir are since ‘that’ day when the internet said ‘enough’.

Thursday 27th [to Sunday 30th]
North Riding Brewery Showcase
The Guildford Arms, 1 West Register St
North Riding Brewery website / Twitter feed

Finally for Thursday (but continuing all weekend) – the Guildford Arms will be featuring beers from Scarborough’s award-winning brewpub, the North Riding brewery. On the bar – Peasholme Pale Ale and the intriguing IBU-less Centenntial, Mosaic Extra and Motueka. All the beers will be on at £2.50 a pint, while they last. Don’t be surprised if they don’t last long!

Friday 28th [to April 13th]
Wetherspoons International Beer Festival
Standing Order, 62 George St (and other locations)
Wetherspoon’s website

As with Nicholson’s at the start of the week, early Spring means it’s Wetherspoons Festival time again, as their innumerable branches roll up the sleeves and start dishing out the pints to even larger crowds. Over the next seventeen days, fifty beers will be on offer, including ten brewed with overseas’ producers (including New Zealand’s Yeastie Boys, Nøgne Ø from Norway, and Floridians Cigar City). Third pints will be on offer throughout, with a flight of three being available for the price of a single pint.

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. Cheers!