Life goes on....... 04/26/2011
It's been almost a month since my last blog entry, sorry ! I have been busy with work and family. I was working in Barcelona at a pharma conference at the end of March for eight days. As I was working for a company based in the south of England I was the only Scottish person on the crew ! This leads to a lot of ribbing about my accent but its great working with these guys. The picture below was taken in the "Berlin bar", which was half way between our hotel and the place we were working at. As you can imagine we did like to have a pint on the way home from work and this was the best place. The bar itself had a limited selection of drinks but the beer was cold and not too expensive, the old bar maid was pretty grumpy with us until she saw how much money we were spending, then she started to look out for us coming in - she even gave us some tapas one night !  I got back from Barcelona on the first of April and was working in Gleneagles Golf Resort on the third. I was there for three days with one other technician working at a conference. We stayed in Auchterarder and managed to drink in every pub in the town ! there are reviews of two of the pubs, The Glendevon Hotel Bar and The Niblick. The other two bars in town, I can't remember their names, weren't that good. If you are in Auchterarder I would recommend The Niblick as I think its the best bar in town. Check out the reviews by clicking on the names above.  As many of you may already know, I work as an Audio Visual project manager / technician at events, conferences, road shows, etc - Check out my other web site www.BigRedResources.weebly.com if you wold like to know more about this. Most conferences are pretty dull but every now and again I work at one I really enjoy. This happened in mid April when I worked at "The World Whiskies Conference" in Glasgow. This is run by a whisky writer called Ian Buxton. I met and talked to Ian and many other influential people in the drinks industry from companies like Diageo, all the way to to companies based in Taiwan, namely the King Car Distillery which produces Kavalan whisky. I had the pleasure of speaking to Mr Ian Y.L. Chang, head blender of Kavalan, a very nice man who is passionate about his work. I didn't take any photo's at the conference but the image below is of the King Car Distillery - which gets about a million visitors a year and you can blend a bottle of your own whisky when you are there !  The main reason that the blog has been on hold is that my father passed away a couple of weeks ago. There has been a lot of family time and arrangements that had to be made over the last couple of weeks. My father has now been laid to rest and life goes on. The picture below was taken by my eldest daughter on her mobile phone about a month ago.  There is lots to look forward to in the next blog. I have managed to get hold of some great beers from some of the more remote breweries in Scotland and will be tasting them with a few friends. We will of course film this and put the results on the blog and appropriate brewery pages. Its also coming into the season for beer festivals and I will be going to as many as I can, starting with the Paisley beer festival which is this weekend coming, i.e. Saturday the 30th of April. If you can make it then I'll see you there, if not, then I'll take a few photo's and tell you all about it. See you soon, Alastair. Add Comment The Burns Supper 03/14/2011
Most of the people in Scotland will not only know what a Burns supper is, but will probably have been to one. For those of you out there that don't know what a burns supper is, here is a quick description. It is a night when people get together to celebrate the life and works of Robert burns, poet and song writer. The meal that is served is usually Haggis Turnips and potatoes and the drink will include whisky. At the start of the meal the host recites the Burns poem, address to the Haggis. This is what James is doing in the picture below.  The Burns Supper that we have is a very informal affair. During the meal we each have to do a Burns piece. It can be a poem or a song. There is no order to when we do our piece, you do it when you feel it's the right time. Christine and me did our piece quite early in the night as we were playing the song "Green Grow the Rashies o'". I played the guitar and sang and Christine played along on the violin.  We were enjoying a single malt that James had bought. It was The Glenrothes Select Reserve. This was a smooth whisky with a dry finish, I think it is a Speyside Malt - if it isn't then it tastes like one ! We also started the night with a McEwan's Champion Ale. This is a great ale, with a chocolate, caramel overtone. It also has a kick as it's 7.3%. There were various other drinks during the night, the Arran 10 year old made an appearence, (its worth a try as its an unusual island whisky as it's not at all peaty).   As the night went on other guests did their party piece's, Gillian Grant sang "Aye Fond Kiss", my brother Steven recited a poem about whisky. I'm afraid that I not sure what the other guests did as the drink was beginning to take to take its toll on my memory. It was a great night out with friends and family, James and Gillian were very good hosts and have set the bar for next year. I believe next year it's Mine and Christine's turn to host the Burns night - I'm looking forward to it already. A Busy couple of weeks 02/10/2011
It has been two weeks since my last post, sorry !!! As the title of this post is "a busy couple of weeks" you might understand that I've just not had the time to get organised. I have gone from full time employment, (I was the senior audio visual technician at the RBS conference center, Gogarburn), to being freelance again and I'm busy but enjoying the work. I have managed to fit in a few visits to a brewery and some pubs over the last two weeks. One of the highlights was a visit to Stewart Brewing, at their brewery in Loanhead on the outskirts of Edinburgh. I was visiting another company in the area about freelance work and took the opportunity to pop in. I met Jo Stewart, co owner of Stewart Brewing, and she was kind enough to give me a guided tour of the brewery, which I filmed. Check out the clip below: Last weekend was the start to this years six nations rugby. Scotland were playing France, (in France), so I decided it was a good excuse to go for a few beers with my mate John. We decide not to go into Edinburgh this time as there would be no rugby supporters there, so we went to South Queensferry. This small town has a lot of history behind it, with some of the pubs dating back to 1683 and others being mentioned in famous novels by the likes of Robert Louis Stevenson. We started at one end of the old high street and steadily, (well steadily at first), made our way to the other side. The first pub we went to was the "Hawes Inn". Check out the clip below: After the dissapointment of the Hawes Inn we moved along the high street to a small pub, (its a snug really), called the "Anchor Inn". This bar was small, its about the same size as a large living room from an ordinary house, but I liked it. It was full of locals talking, reading the paper and relaxing. There was no music but it had a decent sized screen for watching the sports and the bar maid was very helpful. I ordered the round, spoke to john and just as I was taking my jacket off she brought the drinks over to us. We only had one drink here, (I wanted a few screens to watch the rugby), then moved onto the "Ferry Tap". Check out the clip below: The rugby started, we watched the first half, Scotland were not playing well - at all. We then decided to go to a bar with smaller screens as we didn't want to see the game in any detail. We went to the bar at "Orocco Pier", (this is also a restaurant which is well worth a visit). It was a different atmosphere all together, more up market and aimed at coffee drinkers during the day and couples at night. It was also by far the most expensive round of the night - not a problem to me as it was John's turn to buy !!! Check out the clip below: We stayed here for a while then moved onto two other pubs in the high street, the "Stag Inn" and the "Moorings". The Stag is very much a down to earth locals bar with the standard range of drinks and a friendly enough feel to it. The Moorings was OK but a bit run down. I believe it is about to close for refurbishment. There are clips filmed in both of these pubs, but as it was now quite late in the evening they were not very good, even I can't make out what I was saying !!! I am looking forward to next weekend as Scotland is playing Wales at Murrayfield - Anybody fancy a pint in Edinburgh ? A Sunday Afternoon in Edinburgh 01/20/2011
It's Sunday, the working week is over, family commitments have been fulfilled. I have an afternoon that I can enjoy ! So I went into Edinburgh with a good friend, John, and we spent the afternoon in four great pubs. They Were - "The Halfway House" - "The Guildford" - "Cafe Royal Bar & Buffet" and "The Voodoo Rooms". We had a great afternoon just chilling out, drinking some great ales and soaking in the atmosphere from these beautiful, traditional Edinburgh pubs. To help show you more a bout the pubs We took along a video camera and filmed a little in each of them, the films are below. There is also a pub review page for each of them on the Pub Reviews page. The first pub we went to was "The Halfway House". This is halfway up the steps, ( that's why its called the halfway house ), on Flesh Market Close, just across from the Waverly train station. I have passed this pub many times and wondered what it was like on the inside, especially as it has a large sign outside telling us it was "Edinburgh pub of the year 2009". Well I can tell you it is SMALL ! but cosy and serves some great real ales from Scotland's new breweries. It also serves traditional Scottish food such as haggis, oatcakes, etc. I can see why it was pub of the year as it makes a real effort to provide an excellent selection of food and drinks which is constantly changing. Check out the video: We then moved onto The Guildford Arms, which is on West Register street. This is on the other side of the Waverly train station, behind the Princess Street Burger King. We came here because I had been in contact with the person who writes the web site www.goodbeergoodpubs.com and they were astonished that I didn't have it on the site already. This gave me a brilliant excuse to come back here, (not that I needed much encouragement). This is one of my all time favourite Edinburgh pubs. It has been family owned for over a hundred years, it serves great cask conditioned ales, a large selection of whiskies and I have never had any bad service, even when the bar is full to bursting. Today however it was quite quiet and me and John just chatted over A couple of pints of Exciseman's Ale and took in the surroundings. I took a small video, (which is now on the pub review page for the Guildford Arms), then we tried to take another little video, have a look at what happened below: Round the corner, still on West Register Street is The Cafe Royal Bar & Buffet. This is a beautiful bar and is more than worth a visit for the decor alone, never mind the excellent service and great selection of food and drinks. This is a great place to take your wife, girlfriend, or in my case, John. It is just a great place to be, although I felt that we were a little under dressed. I've been here many times before, the last time I was here I was with my mate Donny and we both had the oysters - they were fabulous ! Check out the pictures on the pub review page, (the link is highlighted in brown above), and the video below: If you keep going round the corner on West Register Street then you come to The Voodoo Rooms, (as this was the fourth pub of the afternoon we were getting a little merry). The Voodoo Rooms is more than just a bar, it's a music venue, a cafe restaurant, a club, etc. The decor is black and gold and hits you like a wet leather glove, especially if you've had a few. Apart from that, I like this place and have seen many comedy shows here and spent a few nights at this bar during the festival. Well worth a visit, for many different reasons. Check out the video. We really enjoyed the time we spent that afternoon and no doubt will do it again some time soon. Cheers ! Alastair P.S. If you know of some good pubs, Please tell me !!! - I'm always on the look out for new places to go. New Year - New Start 01/14/2011
OK, the decision has been made, and action has been taken. I have handed in my notice at work, my last day at work is on the 28th of January 2011, I am now going to work as a freelancer. This is quite a scary prospect as there will be no regular wage at the end of the month ! I am currently the head audio visual technician in the RBS conference center, Edinburgh, but I hope to work with companies such as M.C.L., Metro, Production Bureau, West End Studios, S.E.C.C. Glasgow, etc at events all over the UK and abroad. I am already booked to work for nine days in March in Barcelona with West End Studios. It has been a slow week with not a lot happening at home. Most people are in the post festive season slump having eaten too much, drank too much and spent too much. The best day this week was Thursday as I took my family to see a musical called "The Secret garden". This was on at the Festival theatre in Edinburgh. I am not usually a fan of musicals but we were given the tickets as a Christmas present so off we went. I am really glad we did as it was excellent ! check out the video below: I hope to have more pub and drinking news for you next week as I am planning a day in Edinburgh reviewing some new pubs, probably this weekend. One of the pubs will be the Guildford Arms. This is because I was in contact during the week with the author of www.GoodBeerGoodPubs.co.uk, which is an excellent site for finding good pubs in England, and he was appalled that I didn't have a review of it on the site already. This will be sorted out this weekend. Until next week........... Bringing In The New Year 01/03/2011
It's the second day of the New Year and I find myself locked away in my garage, thinking about the last few days. My garage isn't that bad, I probably forgot to mention that it has a small bar, a digital progector, screen and 5.1 surround sound system and a lock on the door to keep my children out. This is where I usually write this blog, work on the web site and generally hide from the world. The last few days have been a mixture of really quiet, too much drink, large crowds of people and family get togethers. On boxing day we, (Christine, my two daughters and me), headed to Christine's family farm for a few days and spent time there eating too much, playing with lots of nephews, playing board games and watching lots of TV. On the Monday I decided to leave the farm and go for a walk, so I headed into the local town, Howwood, and met up with a old friend of mine, Andy. As you have probably guessed, we went for a few beers. We went to The Railway Inn, there is a review on the pub page, and settled in for a few drinks and a catch up. Unfortunately I didn't have much to eat before walking down to Howwood so the drinks went to my head almost straight away, you can probably hear me already begin to slur my words in the video below. Andy likes the occasional drink and always drinks faster than me. I should have learned by now not to try and keep up but I did exactly that and by the time I left the pub I was quite merry. I should have gone straight home but I decided to review a few more pubs so I got a taxi to Lochwinnoch and headed to the Corner Bar. I was a bit more unsteady on my feet than I thought so I only had one drink here and headed to the Garthland Arms. I had a couple of drinks here, talked with a few locals and then headed to the Brown Bull. At this point in the evening the amount I had had to drink, and the short time that I had drank it in, were really starting to make me feel quite drunk and I was having real difficulty walking properly. If you were in the Brown Bull last Monday at about 6.00pm then I apologise for drunkenly walking in, taking a few photos, not speaking to anyone, (that I can remember), and staggering back out again without even buying a drink. Sorry Unfortunately thats not the worst of it. I then decided to try and walk off the drink by walking back to Howwood, by castle Semple Loch, by the river, through the trees, along a completely ice covered cycle track, in the dark. As youve probably guessed, this didn't go too well. I got lost quite quickly and ended up in some fields, got stuck on a barbed wire fence, (completely ripping my jeans), and was very disorientated. Luckily I saw a land mark that I recognised, (it was an old folly on top of a hill), I knew that this was close to the track I wanted and I was heading in the right direction as it is also close to the Howwood road. At this point my phone went and it was Christine asking where I was, I told her, at first she went mad at me and then she calmd down and said she would drive along the road towards the cycle track. Half an hour later I was in the car being taken back to the farm, where I was sent to bed. The following morning I had a lot of apologies to make, I also had a hangover that could kill a horse. We left Howwood on the Wednesday afternoon and headed home. We had a restfull day on the Thursday as I was working on the Friday, hogmany. I am an audio visual technician, but I also work occasionaly as a camera man at large events. Edinburgh has the largest hogmany party in the world and I was working as camera operator No1 on the Waverly stage. There were four bands on this stage including "The Coral" and "Newton Fauklner". I love working at this event as I think I get one of the best seats in the house ! Check out the video below, this is how I brought in the new year. It Is a great way to bring in the new year and I really enjoyed working at this event. Although, I didn't get home till about 3.45 am and was tired on new years day. With the festive holidays nearly over and people starting to get back into a working frame of mind, I decided to go for one more night out. In my home town of Broxburn, at my local, The Masonic. Check out the video below, which was filmed at closing time just as we were leaving. Have a great start to 2011 !!! The run up to Christmas 12/22/2010
Is it just me ? or is every one in the same boat ? I know that Christmas comes at the same time each year, I know that there are a lot of things that need to be done, (Shopping, nativity play for the children, nights out, get the food ready, get enough drink for the entire family clan, wrapping presents, buy write and send cards........), but yet again the only thing that I've done is get the booze ready. Although for those of you that know me this is probably not much of a surprise I thought that I had the presents all sorted out, but the fact that I bought most of them on line and they have not yet appeared is making me very nervous. The thought of not having any presents to give out on Christmas day is quite daunting. I am not looking forward to the sad/angry looks on the faces of my daughters and my wife. I think that a trip to the shopping center at Livingston for some "backup" presents is a real possibility. As for the rest of the work that needs to be done in the run up to Christmas, I have once again left that in the capable hands of my gorgeous wife, Christine. This is probably the reason she is walking about the house with that "your bloody useless at this time of year" look on her face, which is probably well deserved on my part. Its not all bad though, I really enjoyed my works night out. This started at The Murrayfield Bar, (there is a review of this Bar on the Pub page). We all met at about 6.30pm and had a few drinks ans a laugh before moving onto the main part of the night out. This was "The Glitter Ball" and was held in the Presidents Suite at Murrayfield Stadium. The DJ was "Boogie" from Forth radio. The music was great !! The food was pretty good and the atmosphere was fantastic !! There was about nine hundred to a thousand people there and the place was jumping. Check out the short video below and please forgive my very bad attempt at dance, it was filmed towards the end of the night.  The start of the night at The Murrayfield Bar As I write this there are only a few days left until Christmas day, work is beginning to wind down, there is snow and ice on the ground and everyone seems to be focusing on getting everything done before the 25th so that they can relax and enjoy it. There are lots of events and family traditions that I'm now looking forward to, Christmas dinner, the giving of presents, catching up with friends, watching the Christmas specials on TV, ............ To everyone out there - Have a Great Christmas !!! From Alastair Author of "The Drinking Mans Guide To Scotland" What A Great Weekend !!! 12/08/2010
About 10 years ago Christine, me and another two couples decided to go for a Christmas night out. It was to be a proper dress up occasion with a meal and an over night stay at a good hotel. A real chance to be grown up and enjoy Christmas. I can't remember where we went that first year,but I remember that we really enjoyed it, we told all our friends about it and vowed to do it again next year. We did do it the next year, and the year after, and every year since then ! The only difference now is that there are about thirty of us that now go and the only rule that has been added is that all children remain at home and us adults get some quality adult time !!! This year we battled through the snow and ice and went to the Queen's Hotel in Perth. Saturday 4th / Sunday 5th Dec.  We arrived at about 4.00 pm and went straight to the hotel bar, which is where I was sure we would find a lot of our friends, I wasn't disappointed !!!   We had one drink here then I headed into town with David to catch up with some more friends at the "Sandeman". Christine decided to do some last minute shopping and said she would catch us there later. The hotel is quite close to the town center and the "Sandeman" is in the town center, so we thought it wouldn't take long to get there, but with deep snow and ice under foot we took about half an hour, slipping, sliding and cursing the weather all the way. However when we got there we were rewarded with a great pub !   In the picture above me, David, James and Kenny had had a couple of drinks and were joined by our wives. In the picture to the left Christine has joined us after her shopping trip, ( I still don't know what she bought but I'm sure I will be shown something expensive soon !) Sandemans itself is a great pub. It is a wetherspoons and is set in a large old ornate building with lots of space and light. It has a good selection of beers and spirits and the bar staff were friendly and helpful. As with all weatherspoons there is a large selection of food at reasonable prices. I also think it won Perth's pub of the year last year - there will be a review on the web site in a couple of days with more pictures. Christine and the other wives all headed back to the hotel. The boys however made one more stop, at The Perth City Sports & Social Club. This club was on our way back and we couldn't resist going in for a drink and a look at the place.   I would describe it as a Perth Institution ! I loved the old school atmosphere of working man's club with a jukebox that time forgot, (the only songs I heard being played were "Lady in Red" and "Come on Eileen"), and Tartan Special on draught. There will be a full review of this pub with lots of pictures on the web site soon. We only had the one here and headed back to the hotel for the party night.   The party night was great ! With lots of good food, dancing and great drink ! The next morning a lot of us met back in the Sandemans pub and relaxed with a few drinks and some food. Again the girls went shopping and the boys propped up the bar, then we all met back at the pub before heading back home    When we got home we picked up our children from my mum and dads then went to James and Gillian's for an India. The children played together, we ate, and had a glass of good Rioja. It was a great end to a great weekend. I'm already looking forward to next year ! Birthday and Rugby 11/15/2010
It's Monday night and I'm watching "around the world in eighty days" with Rachel and Hannah as Christine is out. The weekend is now long gone, but it was good one ! Christine and I went to the "Scotland - All Blacks" rugby at Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh. We went with some work mates and started our day out at the Corstorphine Inn, (there is a review of this pub on the pub page), where we had a few drinks and some lunch.  Christine and me at the Corstorphine Inn  The gangs all here !!! Later we moved on and headed to the Murrayfield hotel. We started to walk but ended up getting a bus as we wanted more time at the bar. When we got to the Murrayfield hotel there was no chance of getting to the bar as the place was absolutely packed ! Neil suggested we go to the bar at the Ice Rink so we moved on there.  The queue to the Bar at the Murrayfield Hotel  Neil, (on the right), at the bar in the Ice Rink A couple of drinks later the time had come to get into the stadium. The ice rink is right next door so it took us all of 5 minutes to get in and find our seats. It was very cold day and the wind in the stadium didn't help, but the atmosphere more than made up for it. For me, the best part of the day was before the game started, when the crowd sang "Flower of Scotland".  Kate, inside the Stadium After the game, (I don't want to tell you the score, too embarrasing), we all went our separate ways. Christine and me headed into the center of town, walking up the main road surrounded by thousands of other supporters. We went to one of my favorite bars in Edinburgh, Teuchters in William Street, (there is a review on the pub page of the web site). It was packed ! we had to try a few rugby tackles to get to the bar, but it was worth it.  Teuchters A little later we wanted a quieter pub so we moved onto The Oxford Bar. This is an old traditional Edinburgh pub that was made famous by the Inspector Rebus books, (written by Ian Rankin). We stayed there for a while and talked to some of the locals and had a few laughs then hunger kicked in and we moved on. I'd show you a few photo's of this bar but I forgot to take some, sorry. We went to All Bar One on George street and had a meal, it's an OK pub with reasonable food which we enjoyed. We were lucky to get a table as it was very busy but the service was still quick and friendly. After the meal we headed home via the bus, running along Princess Street to catch a No 22 !! A great day, which was followed on Sunday by my birthday and a family get together at home. Roll on next weekend and the next adventure !!! See you there - Alastair Definitely looking forward to the weekend. 11/08/2010
Its a bright but cold Wednesday morning in my home town of Broxburn, which is located in the central belt of Scotland in between Edinburgh and Glasgow. I've just taken my two daughters, Hannah (7) and Rachel (9) to school. We should have been there with plenty of time to spare, but because of the usual last minute finding of gloves and arguments over who carries what we got there just as the bell was ringing. My wife, Christine, who is a primary school teacher is already at work and I'm also trying to get out of the front door and get to work, but, the main thought I have right at this moment is :- I'm definitely looking forward to the weekend ! I have two tickets for the "Scotland - All Blacks" rugby at Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh on Saturday. There are ten of us going, Christine, myself and some friends from work. Rachel and Hannah are going to a friends house for a sleep over which gives us a whole day and night to enjoy ourselves !! I have some great pubs in mind that I want to go to, I'll be wearing the Kilt, drinking some excellent whisky and soaking up the atmosphere at the stadium. Then I will share it all with you ! Look out for the blog, which will hopefully have some great pictures, and if I get my act together, a few short video's. Ahh well, better get to work.......... | AuthorEnjoy the blog ! ArchivesApril 2012 CategoriesAll |
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