Scotland Travel Advice

I assume you allready have accommodation for Edinburgh as it's during the Festival? If not book now if you can

Edinburgh has loads of great pubs and for good beer . It'll be absolutely heaving . My favourites are
Stockbridge Tap
Cloisters
Hanging Bat
Bow Bar

most pubs there sell some cask beers even if they aren't craft beer focused. There's a bunch more places like Ushers and so on, I'm sure you can ask around at those bars and get more recommendations .You won't be short of things to do during the festival

Glasgow is where I live so I can give you more detail for here
Six Degrees North - about 30 taps, no cask although this being run by the belgian brewers of scotland might not interest you so much But they do have other scottish/british brewers on tap too
Three Judges -cask, traditional
Bon Accord - cask and great whisky pub
Pot Still - Great whisky pub and some cask
Tennents - cask pub, traditional
The State - always good modern casks beers, try some Oakham as they tend to have some on
Lauriston - couple of Fyne ales on cask, looks dodgy from outside but its a nice pub with 60s decor inside
Brewdog have two bars, the one in merchant city has a bottle shop, loads of beers on tap etc
Inn Deep - owned by williams bros, some cask+keg
Blackfriars - good cask+bottles
Macgregors Pie & Ale Howf - this is new but ale+pies? I hope it has all the success in the world I like pie.
Drygate - Brewery, restaurant + bottleshop . It's well placed if you visit the Cathedral and Necropolis as it's at the bottom of the hill
WEST - german themed brewery and restaurant, also has a pub in the west end called WEST on the Corner.
There's a couple of other off licenses called Valhallas Goat (nr inn deep) and Hippo Beers and a new place that's about to open called Grunting Growler. These are all in the west end. Plus a few other delis etc have small selections, like Peckhams



Benleva Hotel on Loch Ness is owned by the people who run Loch Ness brewery. Not stayed there myself though it looks good
The Anderson in Fortrose is a well known beer destination . There are a few good breweries around that area, like Black Isle and Cromarty

If you want to stay somewhere between Skye and Islay then I recommend the Clachaig Inn in Glencoe. Great location and lots of good beer/whisky and it's a great place to do some walking. Also the A82 is a nice scenic drive

This site is really handy for walking in scotland .
http://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/fortwilliam/glencoe.shtml

On your way back from Islay to Glasgow if you go up Loch Fyne then Fyne ales have a taproom at their brewery. There's also a really good restaurant half hour down the road called Inver

Buy this too . Midges can ruin a nice day in scotland
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Smidge-Midge-Insect-Repellent-75/dp/B00413715E

Enjoy your trip and don't hesitate to ask about anything else

 

That's almost exactly what I was gonnae say Hanglow , but would add for Edinburgh,

Holyrood 9A,
Ushers,
OX184,
Guilford Arms,
Jeremiah's Taproom,
Bert's Bar,
Devil's Advocate.

Genuinely can't think of anywhere in Glasgow you've missed, perhaps Munro's, The Belle or The Cave on Great Western Road, but that would be nitpicking. Counting House in town?

 

Really great info in Haglow's and Kozel's posts. Just want to point out a couple places in Glasgow specifically since they were great spots.

For Inverness, The Castle Tavern was a nice place (but very very busy) and Number 27 had good food and casks.

 

I was going to say that I travel to Glasgow quite a bit for work, but after seeing the post from @Hanglow, I'm not sure what else there is to say. Those first 4 places he mentions are all great spots. He's also given me some good ideas the next time I go up.

 

I absolutely 2nd this suggestion