Going to Edinburgh, Stirling and St. Andrews Scotland any suggestions?

[stlblues5010]

Going to Edinburgh, Stirling and St. Andrews, Scotland in July any suggestions? I've done the Ale Trail & Scotch Experience in Edinburgh. I was wondering if there is anything else I should do or see? Definitely going to hit Brew Dogs in Edinburgh(again) and Stirling.

 

[stlblues5010]

Shocking no suggestions?

 

[catdaddy66]

Golf of course!

And they usually have beer at the 19th hole...

Also the site of the Battle of Stirling is something I would love to see.

 

[coyotebrew]

Should find plenty of KT gravesites

 

[stlblues5010]

Golf of course!

And they usually have beer at the 19th hole...

Also the site of the Battle of Stirling is something I would love to see.

I don't golf, but a friend going with us is golfing in Stirling and going to try and get on as a walk on in St. Andrew's.
I'll be waiting for him at the 19th hole.

 

[IchLiebeBier]

Never been, unfortunately. But my Whiskey book talks about the Speyside Whisky tours. I don't know how convenient that would be from where you'll be, but that's what I'd try to do.

 

[Bradlo]

The wife (from Glasgow) suggests castles, the Wallace (Braveheart) monument in Stirlining and whiskey tours. There's tons of museums, loads to do. Check the Scotish tourist board. She's not a beer drinker although she did work at a distillery. I have my second wee heavy going but she won't try it - more for me!

 

[jmark]

Back when I was an undergrad at St. Andrews (way back 1989-93), there were around 30 drinking establishments within the bounds of the city, which is all of about 2.5-3 miles end-to-end - made for some good pub crawls. Anyway, there's apparently a brewpub on South Street called St. Andrews Brewing Company that gets good reviews from my old friends, so that might be something to try.

 

[rappinduke]

The Hanging Bat and Holyrood 9A are a couple of good craft beer bars in Edinburgh.

 

[stlblues5010]

Thanks for the ideas.

Speyside will have to be on our next trip. A bit too far north. But the whiskey tour sounds cool. We're going to try to hit a distillery outside of Stirling.

I wish I would have studied overseas. I'll have to check out SABC.

I'll look up The Hanging Bat and Holyrood 9A(which sounds familiar) may have been there on my last trip.

 

[SteveH aka shetc]

The Jolly Judge

 

[stlblues5010]

The Jolly Judge

Thanks, I will definitely check it out, looks cool. Although all the bars are cool in Edinburgh.

 

[ncbrewer]

I just got back from a trip to Scotland last week. The highlight was Dunnottar Castle.

I made a surprising discovery. Fully expected to see lots of Scottish Ale(the style, not just beer brewed in Scotland) in pubs. I asked 8 local people, including 4 bartenders about it. Only one of them knew what I was talking about, and never found it in a pub. Apparently, Scottish Ale must not be tremendously popular in Scotland. I easily found some in the grocery store. I tried Broughton Exciseman's, which is an example of Scottish Ale as per BJCP. I liked it a lot and recommend it. But you might have to get it in a grocery store.

 

[Northbank]

Dunnottar is a great place. Almost home for me, my family live about 40 miles inland.

 

[stlblues5010]

I just got back from a trip to Scotland last week. The highlight was Dunnottar Castle.

Thanks we might not have enough time to run up there, but might try. We are only going to be in St. Andrews for a day.

I made a surprising discovery. Fully expected to see lots of Scottish Ale(the style, not just beer brewed in Scotland) in pubs. I asked 8 local people, including 4 bartenders about it. Only one of them knew what I was talking about, and never found it in a pub. Apparently, Scottish Ale must not be tremendously popular in Scotland. I easily found some in the grocery store. I tried Broughton Exciseman's, which is an example of Scottish Ale as per BJCP. I liked it a lot and recommend it. But you might have to get it in a grocery store.

Sounds like Australia. Went to Sydney and Cairns never saw Fosters. On the last day found a bar with a Fosters sign went and asked for one, just to say I had one. Bartender said we don't drink that stuff.

 

[SteveH aka shetc]

Thanks, I will definitely check it out, looks cool. Although all the bars are cool in Edinburgh.

It's owned by some friends of mine 😆

 

[stlblues5010]

I will definitely check it out then. I'll be celebrating my B-Day over there.

 

[Hanglow]

Scottish ale is a bit of an american/BJCP invention Pale'n'hoppy have been the most popular scottish ales for two decades, older 60/70/80 etc almost died out along with most of the brewing industry as the big boys took over and lager was so popular


My favourite pubs in Edinburgh are

The Stockbridge Tap - good modern cask and keg
Cloisters - ditto
Bow Bar - good whisky too

More trad pubs - Kays, Old Bell, Blue Blazer, port o leith, Cafe Royale (more for the decor than the beer) Guilford Arms, Abbotsford, Bennets, The Cambridge bar and the Oxford bar



Newer ones that might not have been there last time you were there
Salthorse - this will be new for you, opened a couple of months ago, shop+bar
Ushers - modern craft kegs

Other places - Jeremiah's Taproom, OX184, The Southern, Red Squirrel

edit, mentioned most but theres a few other places in these lists
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

probably a bunch of others too, I don't live there anymore and only visit every few months

CAn't help you with the other places.

Have a good trip

 

[stlblues5010]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I think we will be busy hitting all of these.

 

[sonofred]

The best advice I can give is don't buy any whiskey at the distillery. Go find an ASDA or Safeway and buy it there. You'll save up to 50% on the price.

As for real ales, check out the Blue Blazer while in Ediburgh. They serve some local Scottish brews. they've won CAMRA'S bar of the year multiple times. http://www.theblueblazer.co.uk/

We were lucky to stumble in one week while they were in the midst of a Scottish cask week where they had new casks every night, all from Orkney. It was a good trip!

 

[serum]

Traditional Scottish ale is pretty hard to find in Scotland but not impossible. If you can find Traquair house it's incredible. Orkney skull Splitter is good too. Traquair house would be a great place to visit.

 

[Photopilot]

My mom is a Glaswegian and I have visited the home country twice before.

The one tip I can suggest is a technique where you can double fist with one hand. The glass whiskey is served in will fit under a pint glass. You can hold a whiskey and beer in one hand.

 

[Radboud]

Non booze related: if you have a day to burn in Edinburgh you can go on a 'free' (as in 'pay what you think it was worth') trip of the surrounding area with The Hairy Coo, including the Wallace monument. I was there in '12, nice guys. Looks a bit scammy but look them up on Tripadvisor, they're bonafide.

 

[stlblues5010]

Went to Scotland couple weeks ago. We had a blast. The weather turned out better than we expected. Unusually warm there. All the locals were complaining about how warm it was.

In Stirling we made several stops at BrewDog, tried the Settle Inn (oldest bar in Stirling I believe), Cold Beer Co was cool, Nicky Tams was good. We did the Deanston Distillery tour it was ok, the tour wasn't much once you've seen breweries brewing equipment all looks the same. The tasting was good and informative. Did Stirling Castle, Doune Castle (Monty Python, Outlander filmed there) and the Wallace monument.

Next was St. Andrews. Even for a non-golfer it was cool to see. We got there on Sunday so the course was closed to golfing but open to the public to walk around on. St. Andrews brewery is good. Jigger Inn right on the course. Walking around St. Andrews is easy.

Then on to Edinburgh. Edinburgh Castle is interesting. Went to the Jolly Judge had a quick pint. Scotch Whiskey experience is just that an experience and you get to learn about and taste Scotch. Innis & Gun has a nice place. Wish we had more than a day in Edinburgh. Love that city.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

 

[jplowe]

When i was over in Scotland, i drank my weight in Tennents.

 

[jplowe]

Oh and IRNBRU!

 

[TheDudeLebowski]

Went to Scotland couple weeks ago. We had a blast. The weather turned out better than we expected. Unusually warm there. All the locals were complaining about how warm it was.

In Stirling we made several stops at BrewDog, tried the Settle Inn (oldest bar in Stirling I believe), Cold Beer Co was cool, Nicky Tams was good. We did the Deanston Distillery tour it was ok, the tour wasn't much once you've seen breweries brewing equipment all looks the same. The tasting was good and informative. Did Stirling Castle, Doune Castle (Monty Python, Outlander filmed there) and the Wallace monument.

Next was St. Andrews. Even for a non-golfer it was cool to see. We got there on Sunday so the course was closed to golfing but open to the public to walk around on. St. Andrews brewery is good. Jigger Inn right on the course. Walking around St. Andrews is easy.

Then on to Edinburgh. Edinburgh Castle is interesting. Went to the Jolly Judge had a quick pint. Scotch Whiskey experience is just that an experience and you get to learn about and taste Scotch. Innis & Gun has a nice place. Wish we had more than a day in Edinburgh. Love that city.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

You didn't answer the most important question: Was your friend able to walk onto St Andrews?

 

[stlblues5010]

Yes. He got there at 4:30 in the morning and got a 2:00 tee time. It was a beautiful day and he loved it.

 

[SteveH aka shetc]

Went to the Jolly Judge had a quick pint.

:thumbup::thumbup:

 

[stlblues5010]

Oh and IRNBRU!

Oh and we had the IRNBRU. Wife loved it, would be cool to be able to make here. She liked how it tasted like bubblegum.

 

[jmark]

Depending where you are (can't see your location on the mobile app) you can sometimes pick IrnBru up in Publix.

 

[jplowe]

Oh and we had the IRNBRU. Wife loved it, would be cool to be able to make here. She liked how it tasted like bubblegum.

It does taste like bubble gum! i talked to a Scot in an Indian Takeout about IRUBRU because drunkenly i exclaimed what the heck is this, it tastes like bubblegum. He just responded, what the heck does cocacola taste like. I just said fair enough and that was the end of that conversation. haha

 

[Photopilot]

The first post that mention IRN BRU motivated me to get some. I immediately ordered a case on Amazon. My wife says in taste like rust. Maybe rust flavored bubble gum.

 

[Hanglow]

The first post that mention IRN BRU motivated me to get some. I immediately ordered a case on Amazon. My wife says in taste like rust. Maybe rust flavored bubble gum.

Which is funny as the old adverts for it claimed it was "made from girders"

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SD3LippIN40[/ame]
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4PxuFQCDis[/ame]

 

[stlblues5010]

The first post that mention IRN BRU motivated me to get some. I immediately ordered a case on Amazon. My wife says in taste like rust. Maybe rust flavored bubble gum.

Maybe it's like Heineken, Stella and Guinness. They just don't travel well and taste so much better from their origins.

 

[stlblues5010]

The first post that mention IRN BRU motivated me to get some. I immediately ordered a case on Amazon. My wife says in taste like rust. Maybe rust flavored bubble gum.

This may also explain why it doesn't taste the same. FDA

United States

Irn-Bru and Diet Irn-Bru have been formulated since 2002 by A.G. Barr plc to meet the regulations for food colouring of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Ponceau 4R, used in the UK formulation, is prohibited by the FDA. Barr uses alternative food and drink colourants manufactured by a U.S. company approved by the FDA. The product labelling also meets U.S. labelling standards on nutritional information and bar code. Compliant Irn-Bru is solely imported by Great Scot International in Charlotte, North Carolina, who supplies distributors and retailers throughout the U.S. It is only supplied in 500 ml.

 

[jmark]

It's supposed to taste that way! In Uni it was the go-to hangover cure if another beer wasn't available!!!

 

[SteveH aka shetc]

Went to a wedding in Edinburgh where the preferred drink was Irn Bru and vodka. Very classy affair.

 

[Hanglow]

We used to load up on that as students. Take a four pint pitcher, put a bottle of vodka in it, top it up with irn bru and that would set two of us on our way to a cheap night