Scottish beer culture?

You'll be well catered for in Edinburgh whether you want trad cask ale or craft beers.

 

'Craft' Brewers have made inroads into national supermarket chain ranges and national pub chains but it tends to be the pale hop forward beers on offer. Specialist bottle shops such as Cornelius Beer and Wine, Growler Beers will be your best bet for more 'interesting' beers to take home. As for pubs there are a plethora of places to suit whatever you have a taste for.
Crafty bars
The Hanging Bat
The Southern
Brewdog
Red Squirrel

Trad ale
The Bow Bar
The Abbotsford
the Guildford
Blue Blazer
Cloisters

In fact it's been a while since I've been for a swolly up in Edinburgh so I'll leave this here...
http://thisisedinburgh.com/blog/top-10-craft-beer-bars-in-edinburgh/
https://www.timeout.com/edinburgh/bars-pubs/the-best-craft-beer-bars-in-edinburgh
http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2014/aug/01/top-10-craft-beer-pubs-in-edinburgh

 

Edinburgh is a great pub town, you'll have a good time. I assume you are doing your degree at Heriot-Watt? As you are there for a year, you can take your time.

Most breweries do modern IPAs, you do still get quite a few that would perhaps be called APAs in the US. But the likes of Tempest, Fyne, Cromarty, Brewdog etc all do bigger ones. There's about 130 breweries in scotland at the moment, from nano breweries up to the big ones like Tennents and the caley

 

Isn't trad cask craft beer? It was what started the whole thing.

 

Speaking as someone who has visited several places in the UK, ranging from Edinburgh and Heriot-Watt to small towns in the English mid-lands I'd say that to think about the generic difference in UK pub and US bar cultures, think about the difference between being in a darkened, dimly lit room with multiple television sets and lots of individuals sitting solo, staring at a screen while sipping a beer. What couples or small groups there are are busily talking loudly to each other over the general noise, and often checking their phones and messages.

Now think about being with a small group of your friends clustered around a large table talking about the things that interest you and having little or no difficulty hearing, seeing and responding to each other as the conversation ranges from events of the day to a recent excellent meal to the quality of the cask ale on offer. What couples or other small groups there are there are chatting with each other about various things that interest them. Some of the solo people may be chatting with the staff or quietly enjoying one of the cask ales on offer as they've just stopped in for a quick pint before moving on to something else.

Naturally there are exceptions in both areas and you'll find a pub-like experience can be had in the US and a bar-like experience can be found in the UK. But in the US one often has to deliberately look hard for the pub-experience and in the UK one may have to deliberately look to find or avoid the bar experience but its much easier to avoid the bar. In Edinburgh itself it will be easier to find the bar than in the area of Heriot-Watt but the city itself does offer both. However, my guess from what I've seen on a few visits to Heriot-Watt is that you'll mostly find the pub-experience at the Uni and as a Master's student there you'll probably not be going all that often into the center of the city except to go sightseeing. (Some of which I highly recommended as well as taking a few bus tours. )

 

Apologies marquis, I meant craft™

 

Good to have the chance to talk about it and I noticed nobody had address that yet. For me it's the UK Pubs that are always one of the simple pleasures of a visit. I've spent more than one Sunday afternoon with a few good friends sitting outdoors at a picnic bench and sharing a pleasant, relaxing time just chatting and sipping through a few pints.

(BTW, when you and a group go out for a few pints, be sure that at some point in the evening, preferably early on, you get in a "I'll get the next round" and then take the requests and buy a beer for the folks in your group.)

 

Here are some good video you might want to look through

And if you cant remember, just download them using this soundcloud downloader tool

 

Lots of good info there Aye, you could also include...

Stockbridge Tap,
Holyrood 9A,
Devil's Advocate,
Jeremiah's Taproom,
OX184,
Ushers (my personal favourite).

Pilot Brewery at the bottom of Leith Walk,
bus from the city centre to Stewart Brewery near IKEA,
Appelation Wine in 2 locations,
even a pub crawl in Rose St. or The Grassmarket is an experience.

Enjoy your time in Edinburgh thepenguin.

 

It depends who you're with too though. I've never been in a situation where there's someone buying rounds! Simplifies things though.

 

Yeah, I'd guess the people you are with make a difference. But on most of my visits (25-30) I've either been solo or meeting/working/socializing with a group where I already knew at least a few folks and it seemed to be the normal thing to do. Didn't see as much of it when/if I went solo to a pub, etc but there were sometimes small groups where that was going on. I've certainly had folks I didn't know offer to buy me a pint they thought I might enjoy and want to chat because they spotted early on that I was from the US. (I figure the cue was some combination of the accent and asking the person doing the pouring for "the best local Bitter" rather than for a specific beer. )

 

During my numerous trips to the UK I figured they ID'ed me as an American by simply noticing I was wearing sneakers. The Brits tend to not wear sneakers as everyday footwear (at least during the timeframes I was traveling there).

I still remember the time the owner of a pub in London came up and spoke to me and a colleague and during the conversation he was emphatic in explaining to me that his pub was an Irish Pub. There were no 'signs' of this from the name of the pub or anything within the pub that I could notice.

Cheers!

 

Instead of tipping the bartender with every round, you'll want to just tell them to 'pour one for yourself' near the end of your stay. It's doubtful they will, but they will add the cost of that beer to your tab and take that as their tip. None of the messy money-drop.

 

He probably just meant most of his locals were Irish. I drank in several Irish pubs in Leeds that looked just like any other Tetley's. What made them Irish were the people who went there, not the name or décor.

 

Hoping to revitalize this thread. We're going to be in Scotland in May.
Edinburgh from 5/25 to 5/27
Inverness on 5/27
Gairloch on 5/28
Skye-Portree from 5/29 to 5/30
Callander on 5/31
Fly home on 6/1

Tentative stops - Traquair House; The Bow Bar; The Cloisters; The Hanging Bat; Andrew Usher and Co.

Generally looking to enjoy Real Ale, but am also curious about any must-do stops to make during our travels (not just beer-related). We'll be renting a car.

Thanks in advance!

 

I'm based in England, and only get up to the highlands a few times a year, so take the following with a pinch of salt, but...

Be aware that real ale culture died back a lot further and grew back a lot less in Scotland than it did in England. So while you'll still find great stuff, it's a lot more common for pubs to serve nothing but awful macro keg bitter, or for the one or two ales to be in barely drinkable condition. CAMRA's Good Beer Guide (or the app version) is useful, if not definitive, for finding places that serve at least some cask in decent condition. Pub food is a bit variable, too.

There's a lot of small breweries in the highlands and islands, but not all of them are great. The bottled stuff can be hit and miss if they aren't great at packaging, the cask stuff can be hit and miss if it isn't well kept. Fyne Ales, Loch Lomond, Loch Ness and Williams Bros all seem pretty reliable.

A few specific ideas below.

> Edinburgh from 5/25 to 5/27
Dunno much that hasn't already been said.
> Inverness on 5/27
Castle Tavern is nice. Black Isle Brewery now have a bar, although I've not been. Their brewery might be worth a visit, too. Velocity Cafe is a nice cafe for a light lunch.
> Gairloch on 5/28
Dunno. The drive down through Glen Torridon to Skye is amazing though.
> Skye-Portree from 5/29 to 5/30
Talisker distillery. The pub in Carbost near the distillery is good, too. The Sligachan is the famous Skye pub, but is a bit of an atmosphere-free barn these days. Quirang is an amazing place to visit. I remember the Isles Inn in Portree being decent.
> Callander on 5/31
Again, don't know the town but the drive down via Glen Shiel and Glen Coe is amazing.

If you like seafood, the West coast of Scotland is one of the few areas of the UK that's genuinely good for that, so that might be worth seeking out. But you still have to do a bit of homework.

 

By the way, the BeerCast is a good blog / website about all things Scottish and beery:
http://thebeercast.com/

 

Many thanks for the thoughtful response and the intel.