Pint Pleasures: Eleven Breweries and Pubs in Edinburgh

CoffeeBeer >> Pint Pleasures >>Edinburgh 11

Last year in September, I went up north with my friend Mike to spend a few days in Edinburgh. The capital of Scotland and the second most populous city (after Glasgow), Edinburgh is a beautiful city with a very interesting history, as evidenced by its castle which stands high above the city like a fortress, and it’s also a historic centre of higher education and finance. It’s home to countless museums full of culture and the arts, and it’s probably most famous these days as the home to its annual Edinburgh International Festival and Fringe Festivals.

But enough of all that, because it’s also home to a hell of a lot of good breweries and beer venues. Mike and I covered quite a few while we were there, so let’s get started.

Our accommodation was just off Holyrood Road, between the majestic Arthur’s Seat and Edinburgh Old Town. After getting the car parked for a few days and settling in to our accommodation, we headed out for our first pint, which was at Salt Horse Beer Shop.

With the feel of a micropub, this is a modern beer tap and bottle shop with two small rooms and a young clientele. We perused the draft menu on the wall which listed 14 beers, ordered our pints, and sat at a table in the small front room. I went for a pint of Pintle Pale Ale (4.3% ABV, Burnt Mill, Ipswich, Suffolk), which was light, hazy, and mildly hoppy. Mike had a pint of Tariq IPA (4.2% ABV, Newbarns Brewers, Leith, Lothians), which was not quite as hoppy as I felt like at that moment, but it was very good. Named after a Saluki named Tariq, owned by Joel of Salt Horse, this was brewed with East Lothian malt from Crisp Malt and hopped with Hallertau Blanc and Nelson Sauvin.

Gradually the place started filling up with a group of young men who appeared to be a group, so we moved from our larger table to the tiny table in the centre of the room so that they could sit together. Before we moved on we had half pints of the Baltic IPA (5.3% ABV, Cold Town Brewery, Edinburgh, Lothians ) cold fermented IPA with mosaic hops. It was quite happily what I was missing: zippy, sparky hops with that grapefruit character.

Having opened in 2016, Salt Horse features an upstairs area and a hidden beer garden which we didn’t see. Apparently the name is an old term for salted meat, which makes sense, and it references the bar's charcuterie offerings.

We decided to have another pint somewhere else before deciding on a place for dinner, so I suggested Brewhemia. Unfortunately we hadn’t realised that Edinburgh streets tend to be on two different levels. This is due to a glacier that swept through the area millions of years ago, leaving a very challenging topography on which to build a city. We first considered the two pubs to be a short walk from each other; but as we turned and walked down South Bridge, we realised we were way, way above a lower part of the city near Waverley Train Station. So to get to Market Street, we had to descend down 104 steep marble steps, along with a surprisingly dense and fast-moving crowd of other descenders. These are the Scotsman Steps, recently restored as a public art installation by Martin Creed, with each individual step clad in a different sort of marble. So when we finally got to the bottom and looked up to see just how deep down we had come, we felt we really earned that second pint.

In contrast to the cosy Salt Horse, Brewhemia turned out to be quite a large, spacious venue, feeling very much like a German beer hall. Most of the beers on tap were Eastern European lagers, pils, and helles, with a wide selection of different types of Scottish beers. Since the only IPA I spotted had a higher ABV than I was willing to risk before dinner, I went for a safe pint of Craft Lager (4.0% ABV, Stewart Brewing Company, Edinburgh, Scotland). It wasn’t bad for a lager, but I’m just not a lager drinker.

On this particular evening the place was quite busy. They feature all sorts of live bands, choirs, immersive cabaret, brass bands, drag kings and queens evenings, and other types of entertainment evenings; and at the time we visited they were obviously getting ready for their Oktoberfest celebration. They offer all kinds of food on their menu, from German-style breakfasts (including a vegan version), all day meals, cocktails, you name it. In fact there were quite a few good options for pescatarian Me and vegetarian Mike; but nothing currently on tap attracted us enough to stay for a meal, unless we both wanted to get completely blattered. And we still had all those steep steps to climb back up.

(Actually, we walked down the road in the other direction to Calton Road, which was a mildly steep climb back up but much more appealing than scaling 104 steps. I mean we’d already been there, done that, variety is the spice of life, and any other trite platitudes about climbing, whether mountains or marble steps, that one can think of.)

The next day after breakfast, we took off walking through Old Town and ended up in Greyfriar’s Kirkyard, where I was excited about seeing the gravesite of Greyfriar’s Bobby, the Skye Terrier famous for guarding his master’s grave for fourteen years after John Gray died in 1858. (For animal lovers like myself, the statue behind the grave of the little dog is surprisingly moving.) We then moved on to the National Museum of Scotland to browse the exhibits for a couple of hours.

By this time we were hungry, so we headed further down the road to Cold Town House for a bite of lunch--and a pint, of course. As this would be our first beer of the day, and we had plans for several more beer stops, I went for a half pint of Baltic IPA (5.0% ABV, Cold Town Brewery, Edinburgh, Scotland), and Mike had a half of XPA Nitro (5.3% ABV, Cold Town), brewed with Sultana, Motueka, and Mosaic hops and malted with Extra Pale, rolled oats, and wheat. We also intended to share two small plates, but our server insisted it was a better deal if we got three items instead. So we went for the Halloumi Fries (with charred jalapeño mayo), the Frickles (crispy fried pickles with blue cheese dip), and the Buffalo Mozzarella (with marinated rainbow tomatoes, basil pesto, garlic bruschetta, and balsamic vinegar). And I have to say the halloumi fries and the frickles were to die for, absolutely gorgeous. (We both thought the mozzarella dish was okay but completely unnecessary.)

Both of our halfs were really good as well: mine was grapefuity and zippily sparky, and Mike’s XPA was interesting, like dark peach with a touch of vegetable soup. (And that’s not a bad thing: years ago I described the excellent Rother Valley Level Best as similarly vegetable-soup-inspired.)

When we were finished, we each went off to use the toilets, passing by Cold Town’s very own customised photo booth. (I mean, I was tempted to jump into the booth and do something amusingly arty; but emptying my bladder seemed a bit more urgent.) Inside the Womens I found old metal kegs used as the sinks, and Mike said the urinals in the Gents were also used out of brewing parts. When we discovered there was a Rooftop Terrace upstairs we went up to check it out, and naturally we had to get another half up there. A lot of people were enjoying the al fresco view of Edinburgh Castle that towered over them, and there were two old cable-car gondolas used as intimate table seating. And the bar itself is one of those converted minivans often used to sell espresso at events.

We did return to Cold Town for dinner on another evening, after a full day of walking and seeing things. The place was absolutely jammed, but we did manage to finagle a couple of stools at a side counter for an hour before the party with a reservation showed up. Once again I had a pint of Baltic IPA, and my fish and chips were tender, juicy, and delicious, reminding me that we were very near the sea. Mike had a pizza, which is a Cold Town House speciality, and he said it was really good.

As it was Freshers week, and there are four universities in Edinburgh, that’s probably why the place was so crowded this evening. But I suspect it’s pretty popular in general, because everything is great about this place, including the fact that they also have live music nights.

Cold Town House opened in 2019 in the site of a former church, and since opening it has won awards for both its beers and its pizzas. The name comes from Calton Hill, located just a mile northeast, which offers a great view of the city. But who can really beat a rooftop beer terrace with a view?

Later that afternoon we stopped at the Wee Vault, which is the taproom for Vault City Brewing, which specialises in sour beers. The Wee Vault rates as being one of the smallest bars in Scotland, as there are more taps than actual seats. Besides Vault City sours, the 24 taps also feature rare guest beers, meads, and ciders.

After having a quick taste of Mango Gose (5.0% ABV, ) Mike and I decided to go for a flight of three beers. The first was Orange Creamsicle Smoothie Sour (4.8% ABV, Vault City), brewed with oranges, vanilla, and a sour fermentation base. This reminded my British friend Mike of an Orange Creamsicle Ice Lolly, but to me it was like an Orange Julius, which only us lucky Californians of a certain age can remember. I also suggested a mixture of orange juice, vanilla, and Tiger’s Milk, which my California friends and I used to have sometimes and which possesses that same sort of childhood nostalgia. (Mike didn’t understand the concept of Tiger’s Milk, and I was having trouble describing it, so I finally gave up. It doesn’t actually come from tigers.) Our small taster of this was quite enjoyable, but it did start to get a bit sweetly cloying, which is odd for a sour beer.

The second beer in our flight was Sunspill Fruited Gose (5.0% ABV, Overtone Brewing Company, Glasgow, Scotland), brewed with strawberry and Alphonso mango purée with a touch of blackthorn sea salt and coriander. This was a very pleasant Euro-style fruity sour. And last but not least was Peach & Blueberry Clouds Sour IPA (6.5% ABV, Vault City), with blueberries, peaches, and a touch of vanilla, dry hopped with Citra, El Dorado, Rakau, and Subzero Hop Kief. The aroma of this was sort of wowie!! But in my opinion, blueberry is always a good idea in a sour beer, especially with a touch of vanilla. This was definitely the best of our three beers, which were all high-quality. And it’s always better to share a flight of sours with a like-minded friend, because then you don’t have a chance to get too overwhelmed by just one.

Having opened in 2021, The Wee Vault is also dog-friendly, and they offer a few snacks. There is a fridge full of Vault City cans, suggesting all kinds of crazy ideas (Granola Fruit Bowl? Coffee Lemonade?) So naturally we had to take a few cans back with us to drink later.

Before heading back in the direction of our accommodation to find somewhere for dinner, we made a final pint stop at the Hanging Bat. On the bar we didn’t spot any beers we fancied that were new to us, so I just went for a pint of Eternal (4.1% ABV, Northern Monk, Leeds, West Yorkshire), and Mike had a pint of Faith (5.0% ABV, Northern Monk). Both of our beers were refreshing IPAS that helped clear the weird sour buildup on our palates.

We stepped up a level or two and found a table against a wall where we could count three split levels--no, it was four split levels. No, actually there were five-count-em-five levels! As we happily sipped our beers, the place rapidly filled up, even though it was only 6pm on a Tuesday. And we both mentioned how the place has a really good feel to it, and we both really liked it. Naturally Mike had to show me the famous picture of a bat cave inverted to look like a trendy club. I think everybody’s seen that by now. But if not, here it is.

Although we didn’t have the chance to try any of their own beers, the Hanging Bat’s onsite brewery produces some really weird, experimental, and pretty outrageous beers. The brewers are extremely experienced and have worked with an impressively long list of other breweries, and apparently their plans just get wilder and wilder. Originally started by Johnny Horn, the brewery’s motto is “Hail the Bat”, to which I should be proud to doff my hat. (I suppose that could be a poem…)

On our next day in the city, our plan had been to visit Edinburgh Castle. We approached the castle by climbing the 70 Lang Steps, which until the 17th century were the primary way to get to the castle from the lower city. But once we were at the top, we decided that we really didn’t want to pay £30 apiece just to be able to walk around the grounds, as I had done for free back when I first visited the castle in the 1980s. So we strolled down the Royal Mile for a bit, checking out the sights while dodging all the tourists, until we finally decided it was time for lunch and a pint. So having already ascended the Lang Steps, we descended halfway down the 109 steep stone steps of Advocate’s Close, passing original 16th Century buildings, many with modern renovations, until we reached our destination, the Devil’s Advocate. On the way we passed a woman who was struggling with getting her two large suitcases up the stairs, and I certainly didn’t envy her.

Situated in an old Victorian pump house, the Devil’s Advocate offers beers from their own Pilot Brewery, and also over 300 whiskies, and the meals feature seasonal and Scottish ingredients. The place was quite dark inside with low ceilings. Apparently the pub and the steps were named after the Lord Advocate James Stewart, who in 1696 prosecuted the blasphemy case against Thomas Aikenhead.

Mike and I sat at a table in the dining room where we both went for half pints of West Coast Pale IPA (6.2% ABV, Pilot Brewery, Edinburgh). Hopped with a welcome mixture of Centennial, Chinook, and Citra hops, the beer was a just reward for our efforts. For our meal we shared a Small Sharing Board, first asking if we could substitute the two meats on the board for two more cheese selections. The board also included pickled onions, sourdough bread, and Scottish oat cakes, and it was very tasty and just enough for a light lunch.

After lunch we took a very pleasurable walk through Princes Street Gardens, where the leaves were beginning to display this year’s autumn colour scheme. And then it was on to the National Portrait Gallery, which both of us thoroughly enjoyed.

As we were both property natured and cultured out, it was time to start exploring a street famous throughout the decades for its density of pub-crawl venues. Rose Street was originally constructed in the late 1700s as part of Edinburgh’s New Town, which was intended for local artisans. By the mid 19th century it had established itself as a drinking oasis, as it remained throughout the 20th century and, according to everyone I know who has known Rose Street, it still is.

The pub that I insisted we had to visit first, simply because of the name, was the Black Cat. It was quite a quiet afternoon when Mike and I entered, and as there were two empty stools at the bar, I insisted we sit there. And what a brilliant decision that was, as it nearly always turns out to be. We both started with a taste of a cask ale, Nomad Hazy Pale (3.8% ABV, Campervan Brewery, Leith, Scotland), which was brewed with Idaho 7 and Bru-1 hops. But both of us went for pints of Leith Juice Session IPA (4.7% ABV, Campervan). This keg craft offered us a nice hoppy haze, perfect for the late afternoon. While we were sipping our pints, Emily the barmaid was chatting with an older glove-wandering couple from Florida who were sitting to our left, and she brought them a flight of three whiskys to taste. When I heard her speaking with such knowledge and authority, I asked if I could have a chat with her when she finished. (I wanted to get some recommendations for a whisky I could take home to Andrew back in Sheffield, because Edinburgh’s whisky shops are so full of choices it’s completely overwhelming.) Mike and I ended up having a lot of fun chatting and joking with Emily and her bar mate Robbie, who finally presented me, very quietly, with a tiny plastic black cat. He obviously recognised that I’m the type of person who would love that; and I instantly named the little cat Eddie, after Edinburgh.

Mike and I ended up returning the next afternoon for more pints of the Leith Juice. It was quite crowded this time, so we couldn’t sit at the bar. But I was sure little Eddie probably felt comfortable knowing that he was back where he spent his kittenhood.

Our second Rose Street stop of the day was just across the road: Fierce Beer. This is a proper brewery which produces all different types of beer, from IPAs to sours to rabblers. Behind the bar was a proper video display of the current beers on. I went for a pint of Fierce IPA (5.0% ABV, Fierce Beer, Aberdeen, Scotland) and Mike had a pint of Trial Shift NEIPA (5.2% AB, Fierce Beer). And they were both very good. As the afternoon wasn’t too cold, we sat at a table outside so that we could watch the Rose Street pedestrian traffic amble by. We both felt that we had done enough Rose Street beer tasting for the day...but there was always Tomorrow.

Besides this Edinburgh pub, there are three more Fierce Beer pubs in Aberdeen, including one in the Aberdeen FC Stadium and another in the Event Complex.

As we expected, and as Little Orphan Annie has predicted ad nauseum, Tomorrow was only a day away, and the next morning it had indeed arrived. As it was our final day in Edinburgh, we headed back to Rose Street. This time our first stop was the Rose Street Brewery, where we were hoping to taste some of their own beers. This Victorian-style pub was a popular drinking spot in the mid-19th century, and in 1983 it became the site of a malt extract brewery. Sadly in 1999 brewing ceased, and the pub is now part of the Nicholson’s pub chain, with a limited selection of cask ales and no crafts. So Mike had a pint of 80 Heavy (4.4% ABV, Stewart Brewery, Edinburgh, Scotland), and I had a pint of Holyrood (5.0% ABV, CamperVan Brewing, Edinburgh, Scotland), which was perfectly okay. I did feel a bit frustrated that there were no actual Rose Brewery beers.

The next bar we stopped at was Dirty Dick’s I mean, with a name like that, we had to stop in. It turned out to be a dark, funky saloon of a place. Once again there wasn’t really anything exciting on the taps; so we both went for half pints of Maltsmiths IPA (4.6% ABV), which was really quite shit. Apparently Maltsmiths IPA used to be brewed by the defunct Caledonian Brewery, but now it’s just another brand produced by macrobrewery Heineken. Oh, well...

There was quite a bit of interesting junk hanging from the ceiling of the place: a scary clown figure, drums, mugs, tin buckets, a mobile made of hanging golf clubs, and some vintage iron candle fixtures. But I’m afraid our beer was nothing to write home about, and we were sitting at the only table available which was directly in the middle of the dark, chaotically decorated place. Just before we left, I suddenly noticed the Harviestoun Bitter & Twisted handpump at the other end of the bar. Damn, why didn’t I see that first? Oh, well, not every place in Rose Street can be a shining Black Cat.

On our last night in Edinburgh, we walked down South Bridge and Nicholson Street, through throngs of drunk but happy students, clinging to each other in pairs and triplets, until we reached the Summerhall Arts Venue, which is part of the University of Edinburgh. We were a bit confused as to where there would be a brewpub here; but we finally walked through the main entrance of the venue and were directed toward the back doors, where we walked out and found ourselves in what is one of the largest beer gardens in the city, The Royal Dick. To the right was a small building housing the actual pub and their own Barney’s Brewery.

Inside the tap room we perused the beers on offer, including a pale ale, a porter, a lager, and a milk stout, proving that Barney’s is a typical modern brewery offering a beer for every taste. I mean, if you’re going to have a brewery called Barney’s, it should be for the people. Both Mike and I decided on pints of Volcano IPA (5.0% ABV), with a distinct malt setting over which an eclectic mixture of Pilgrim T90, Lubelski T90, Cascade T90, and Incognito Chinook hops suggested a tromp through some slightly tangy flowerbeds. We took our pints back outside to a table in the middle of the garden, just as the sun was setting.

Contrary to what it might suggest, the Royal Dick’s name is in reference to the historic Royal School of Veterinary Studies which was founded on the site in 1823 by William Dick. From our table we could see that the university’s Anatomy Lecture Theatre is directly next door, and there was also a sign in the corner for Pickerings Gin Bar, where Pickerings gins are distilled and served. Although it was nighttime when we visited, kids are welcome in the earlier hours and, as one might hope and expect, the pub is dog friendly. I assume cats would be welcome, too, but sadly not that many cats fancy hanging out in pubs. I mean, I suppose I can understand why...

In the end, although we tried our hardest, Mike and I barely made a dent in the pubs and breweries that Edinburgh has to offer. So perhaps a return visit at some point will be necessary--or at least desirable.