The Drinking Man's Guide To Scotland - A View From The Bar

The Video Revolution !

2/7/2014

Well here we are in 2014, with new places to go and new drinks to taste !

I have been spending all my money on shiny new video equipment, (much to my wife's disgust), and believe that I can probably film things and share them with you a lot easier than I can write about them. Therefore "A View From The Bar" will be much more video heavy and text light.

Well here we go then !

One night in Glasgow provided me with the following films:

1. Tasting Glenmorangie Single Malt Whisky at "The Pot Still", which is in Hope Street, Glasgow

2. Tasting recommendations from Frank, The Bearded Barman, at "The Pot Still"

Talking to John Henderson, Owner of the "Scottish Borders Brewery" at a meet the brewer night in "Munro's", Great Western Road, Glasgow.

I also recently filmed a Belhaven Black review at my local pub, "The Masonic Arms", Broxburn

And just for good measure, for no other reason at all - Here's a joke about a dog

If you would like to see more clips then please subscribe to my Youtube Channel: TheDrinkingMansGuide ToScotland.

Cheers

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A Great Summer

8/23/2013

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It has been a glorious summer of warm weather and refreshing cold beers !

At the start of the summer I was in Ireland working with some old friends for a few days. We were based in Dublin and we managed to take advantage of some of the great pub culture that you find all around this wonderful city. The first pub we went to was "The Hairy Lemon" which is just off Graffton street. This is a lively bar with excellent bar food, I vaguely remember the barman telling us about some awards that they had won for original Irish Cuisine, but we just stuck with the burger and chips !

Below are a few pictures of "The Hairy Lemon" and the beautiful people I was there with......

Later on we wandered a little further into town and ended up in "The International Bar" . I like this bar because there is a lot of traditional music played here. I've been here many times and listened to the singing whilst enjoying a pint of Guinness, this time I decided to join in so I borrowed a guitar and sang a few songs with the local's. I really enjoyed it and thought I sounded great ! But apparently opinions on my performance vary.

After this bar shut we went to the downstairs bar and listened to some jazz musicians giving it big licks until the early hours.........

After I got back from Ireland it was time for my family holiday and we decided that we would go to France and camp in the Loire Valley. We drove all the way from my home town of Broxburn, which is just outside Edinburgh, to France. We stopped over in Dover and then again in Rouen. I found out that Joan of Arc was burned at the stake in the ancient market square in Rouen, there is now a church there which has been named in her honour.

The large cross marks the exact spot where she was killed. I then raised a glass to mark her passing.........

The following morning we headed further south to the campsite, via Le Mans and a quick trip to the 24hour race circuit and museum. If you like cars then this is a must ! The amount of cars in the museum is staggering !! I took about a thousand pictures but I'll limit the amount her to just two.....

We arrived at our campsite, and to cut a long story short, we had a great time !!!

We visited vineyards, hired a tandem bike, picnicked by beautiful rivers, swam in the pool, drank great wine which was mainly bought directly from the producers, saw fireworks, etc, etc, etc.............

Until the next time........

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On The Road Again......

2/19/2013

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November came and I started a roadshow that will take me all over the UK. We will be travelling from Aberdeen to Exeter, London to Liverpool, Cardiff to Glasgow and loads of other places in-between.

The first venue was in London, by the royal mint. We stayed at the Hilton hotel beside tower bridge and found a great pub just round the corner called "The Dickens Inn". This is a really old building down by the river which used to be a warehouse many, many years ago. We ate here, the food was good standard pub grub served well by friendly staff and the bar has a good selection of drinks but they were lacking in any real ales. We had a great night here before heading back to the hotel bar for a night cap. The hotel bar has a great view of Tower Bridge, as you can see from the photo below.

Our next two venues were Dartford and Brighton. The first picture below shows the view from my window in Dartford. This is the end of the Dartford bridge - with no pubs in sight and after speaking to the bar staff at the hotel, no pubs within walking distance. This was a quiet night.

We had more luck in Brighton. After rigging the equipment for the road show we headed out to Jamie's Italian. The food was good, as you would expect, the service was attentive, but the beer selection was poor - two types of bottled lager and that's your lot ! In their defence the wine selection was ok. It was a good night out here and I'd recommend it - but only if you have a little bit extra cash as it wasn't cheap.

Guildford was next on the list. We stayed at the Radisson Blu Hotel which was recently built and really beautiful. The hotel bar stocked some beers from local breweries and the bar staff knew enough about them to advise me which one I should try. I ended up with the "RIP Snorter" from the Hogs Back Brewery. I can't remember much about this beer other than I enjoyed it and it had a strong rich flavour.

We went out for something to eat and came across the "Three Pigeons", a very pleasant old pub on the high street. The meal was basic pub grub but it was served quickly, it was filling and not too expensive. The bar had some nice real ale's but was lacking in any great whiskies, it did have a lot of bright blue and pink alcopop type drinks - which are not to my taste. OK pub, I'd come here again.

Next venue was Cardiff. We flew into Cardiff airport in a really bad thunder storm with some of the worst turbulence and visibility I've ever traveled in. It was so bad the guy two rows back from me threw up all over himself and the aisle. When I got off the plane and was walking to the terminal I saw the pilot sitting in the cockpit with his hands covering his eyes !

We ended up in "The Corner House" which I would describe as a gastro pub. It was recommended to us by the wife of one of the road show crew who had been here a number of times. It was a good call ! the pub was absolutely brilliant ! The food took a little time to come but it was well worth the wait and the bar was very well stocked with great beers , wines and spirits. We had a great night here and I would definitely recommend it.

A few days later we were in Bristol.

I always like coming to Bristol as I find the town very welcoming, this may be because I have a few friends here or possibly because one of my favourite pubs is here. "The Old Duke" is a jazz pub which is busy every night of the week. You could see a few locals play here or you could see a world famous act, this venue attracts both.

We started by having a meal in a Spanish restaurant down by the river, it was great ! with good food, good wine, good service and not too expensive. Then we moved onto "The Old Duke". The pub was jumping ! with a jazz band playing,(average age of the band was about 150 years old), and the average age of the crowd was about 21. The atmosphere here was lively, the band were going for it and the crowd were loving it. If your in Bristol you have to come here and experience it for yourself.

The next venue on the road show was Reading.

There are a lot of pubs in Reading but as far as I could see there are only one or two good pubs. I know that we only spent one night here, which is not nearly long enough to get to know a town, but that was the feeling I got. Having said that I did enjoy going to "The Horn", this was a solid pub with a good, welcome atmosphere and would happily return. The other bar we liked was "The Sahara". This is a cocktail bar with a vibrant feel to it and a young, trendy crowd. We didn't exactly fit in here but we enjoyed it ! Bring your wallet though, as the drinks are very expensive.

There was a break in the roadshow schedule so I took a job in Frankfurt for a week working at a pharmacutical conference. This was at the hilton hotel at the airport so I didn't see much of Frankfurt but we still got a chance for a few pints ! I preferred the darker beers and took full advantage of the large Germany Stein glasses.

At the end of the job in Frankfurt we were all delayed by a day due to our flight being cancelled because the plane was frozen. We sat on the plane, on the runway, for 6 hours. Then we were taken off, but not given our bags back ! we then had no hotel rooms and had to find somewhere to sleep till we could get a flight the next day. Not a pleasant experience.

When I got back to the UK I went straight to heathrow and joined the roadshow crew again, borrowed some clothes, (I still didn't have my bag), and carried on till I got home a few days later.

Christmas came and I enjoyed some time off work with my family, I also enjoyed some time with other freelancers that I know and have worked with for many years.

2013 started with work on the roadshow taking me to ever more weird and wonderful places throughout the UK, such as a management training centre in Milton Keynes, a conservatory in Chelmsford, Canal Street in Manchester and a lot of football grounds........

The roadshow is now coming to an end. I have enjoyed working on it but I'm looking forward to a new challenge.

I may try to include some video blogs next time, even a few youtube video's that I've got idea's for.

Thanks for reading the blog !

Cheers !!!!

Alastair

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Work, Travel, Work, more travel ........

12/16/2012

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Life has been hectic over the past few months, where do I start.........

I went to All Bar one in Edinburgh, Lothian Road, to celebrate my friend Gillian's 40th birthday. This was a great afternoon / night out as I was with my wife, pictured below, and a whole lot of friends. The bar itself is usually full of suits from the surrounding offices and a bit sterile, but on this occasion it felt very friendly with enough staff to keep us fed and watered. The range of lagers and wines is good, but its lacking a real ale range. Worth a visit, but as you would expect it is much the same as any other All Bar One.

In October I went to work in France, Lyon, at a pharmaceutical conference for 10 days. This was a large conference and took a large crew, some of whom are pictured below, three days to build. The hotel we were staying at was a long way out of town and unfortunately there were no bars near to us, so we spent a lot of the nights in the hotel bar. The best beer that they had, to my taste, was Beck's Vier. Hmmmm....

This is me, below, at the Lyon Congress Center.

On the last day of the conference, just before we broke the stand down, I came backanother part of the event and found this on the video wall !! This really made my day as this video wall is huge ! and it takes a bit of time and effort to put the slide together. Thanks to the guys that did this.

If you don't know what the "Tartan Pint" is, I've written a book called "The Tartan Pint" which is all about all the beer and breweries in Scotland. The book is available from Amazon - check it out.

The night before we flew home we had a night out in the old town of Lyon. The picture below shows some of the crew in a pub called "The Smoking Dog". This is a typical small French pub with a great selection of beers and wines. It had a beautiful laid back feel which I enjoyed, so we had a few drinks here.

We then moved onto a great restaraunt in an even older part of Lyon. The food here was some of the best I have ever tasted ! I even made the manager get the chef out of the kitchen so I could tell him how much I'd loved his food.

In November I started working on a roadshow for a large bank which lasts until the end of February 2013 ! It takes me all over England, Wales and Scotland so I'm looking forward to getting to some great new pubs and trying some great new drinks.

I'll keep you posted !

Alastair

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A Great Summer

8/27/2012

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I kicked off my summer with a weekend trip to Lochgoilhead. I have friends with a holiday house there and its an area of Scotland that I hadn't been to yet.

What a journey to get there ! we headed to Loch Lomond, through Arrocher, along the Rest and be thankful and finally turned left and headed along the 9 miles of single track road and finally reached our destination. The journey is well worth it as the area is stunning ! and there are a few good pubs with great atmosphere and great local ale.

We made a slight detour on the way and headed up to loch Fyne and stopped at the loch Fyne brewery. I met the head brewer, he's a really nice guy who is both passionate and very knowledgeable about brewing. He agreed to give me a tour of the brewery and we had talked for far too long as my wife and kids were complaining !!

The photo's below are of the Loch Fyne Brewery and Lochgoilhead - at my friends, Kenny & Yvonne's holiday house

About a week before the Olympics started I went on holiday with my family.

We headed south and stopped for a night in York, where we went to Jamie Oliver's Italian restaurant. The food was great, if a little expensive, and I tried one of the local lagers, Leodis, which is from the Leeds Brewery. It was crisp with a slightly bitter aftertaste - very enjoyable !

After York we spent a week in the Norfolk Broads. This area of England is absolutely beautiful !

We traveled around the area and most of the pubs and Inn's we went to we bumped into a jazz band called "The Water Rats". They were touring for a week on a river boat and playing in the afternoon then moving onto the next pub and playing at night. They were great ! and their average age is about 65 !

One day we went on a river boat cruise along some of the broads. Can you imagine my delight as I saw the boat had a fully stocked bar with local real ales !!! It was great gliding along the sun drenched broads sampling the ales and hearing the captain tell us about the local history. Later that day we climbed up a local land mark, (a church steeple), and saw some breathtaking views of the broads.

After the Broads we went to London.

We were lucky enough to have tickets for the Hockey. We went to Olympic Park, the riverside arena. It was great to feel part of the Olympics, cheer on the athletes and feel the whole positive vibe surrounding the event. We also saw some of the other venues, the BBC doing interviews and a part of the athletes village. One thing I saw at the arena was people walking around selling beer, what a great idea !!!

When in London we stayed with my wife's cousin, Jamie and his family. Jamie has just finished writing his first novel, "Rounder's People" www.RoundersPeople.com check it out ! If you are lucky enough to meet him don't let him play you at pool, he has his own pool room and knows how to knock those balls around !!

On the road back to Scotland we stopped in the Peak District for a few days, in the town of Buxton.

Most people will have heard of Buxton water, it rains a lot there so the water is very clean and clear. They also have a town well where people drink and fill water bottles to take back home. The local brewery also takes advantage of the great water and produces some beautiful ales.

We also went to a town called Bakewell and caught the local agricultural show. There are a few farmers there who now produce their own beers, one being called Farmers Brewery. I sampled a golden ale from them and it was divine, smooth and pleasant with a slightly sweet aftertaste. I also met a man who no runs a company called Direct Beers, I sampled a few and they were OK, but the names of the beers were better than the beer itself.

Unfortunately the holiday was then over and we headed back home.

It was good to get back but I look forward to going away again and finding new beers and drinks to enjoy - then telling you about them, cheers !!!

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A Busy two months ! - Hampden - Prague - Deanston Distillery - Cameron House - Dublin - S.R.A.F.

7/2/2012

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It has been a very busy couple of months with work taking me to some far away places, this has given me the opportunity to try a lot of new beers and find some great new pubs !

I was working at Heathrow for a couple of days at the start of May and I went to a pub called "The White Horse". This pub is just beside the airport and if you are staying at any of the large hotels close by then ask at reception and they will send a car to pick you up. Then, at the end of the night, they will take you back to your hotel. This is free if you are having a meal there, or there are a few of you. I liked this pub as the food was good and the selection of beers were ok, but most of all it is a real pub, not a rubbish, expensive hotel bar.

Later in May I worked at Hampden football ground, this was for a conference. I didn't get a chance to try any of the local bars but I did get to hear my name over the P.A. in the ground !!

At the end of the conference at Hampden there was some sunny weather, so that weekend I went to a friends house for a barbecue. When he brought out some cold beers from the fridge he announced that he had found some bottles of home brew from around 10 years ago, YES 10 YEARS AGO. We looked at the bottles, they seemed to be properly sealed, we opened a bottle and poured it into a glass, it looked and smelt ok so we tried it, it was lovely !! Very smooth with a silky finish. Although we weren't brave enough to try a second bottle.

At the beginning of June I went back to work in Prague at another nine day event. This time we found a great Irish pub just off Wencesless Square. The name of the pub is Rocky O'Reillys. If you go then you should have the platter, its huge !!! and will take 4 people to eat it. The beers are the same as you would find in any Irish pub but the welcome is great !! We had a good couple of nights out here and I recommend it.

When in Prague I also had a trip out to a shooting range, "The Magnum", where I shot a Magnum 44 hand gun and a Kalashnikov semi automatic rifle. It's not the kind of thing I do often, but it was kind of fun.

The day after I got back from Prague I was working at the opening of the new Deanston Distillery Visitors Centre. This place is well worth a visit, it has a good tour, gift shop and does not look like your stereotypical distillery. It was in fact a mill until the 1960's (I think) and was then bought and turned into a distillery. At the opening I met Neil Oliver and one of the actresses from the new film, "The Angels Share", (unfortunately I can't remember her name). A lot of the film was filmed at the Deanston Distillery.

A few days after the opening at Deanston I was back on the road. This time I was at the Cameron House Hotel on the shores of Loch Lomond.

This is a beautiful place and if you can I urge you to visit. The job also involved putting a PA into "The Boathouse", this is a great restaurant and bar right on the shores of Loch Lomond. Check out the photos below, the first one was the view from my room and the last one was taken at the barbecue at the boathouse.

Towards the end of June I spent three days working in Dublin. We managed out on one of the nights and ended up in the Grafton Street area. This is a great area to go out in as it has loads of great pubs and restaurants. The first place we went to was "Peters Pub", a very well run pub with friendly staff and excellent beer. We then had a meal, I can't remember the name of the restaurant, and headed on to the "International Bar". This bar had a group of musicians playing various types of music, I joined in playing a song on the guitar and singing. They were far more talented than me but let me have a go anyway.

The Scottish Real Ale Festival was held at the Corn Exchange in Edinburgh this year and as you might imagine I made time to go along and try some new beers. I went with my good friend Duncan on the Saturday and we made our way through lots of different types of beer from many different breweries. I think my favourite this year is the "Cart Noir" from the Kelburn Brewery closely followed by the "Talorcan" from the Deeside Brewery. Check out the photos and video taken at the event.

See you next time !!!

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Gaymers Cider, Prague, William Grant Whisky, Glenfiddich and a 40th Birthday

4/20/2012

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Work is still keeping me very busy ! Not long After getting back from Miami, (please see previous blog post), I was on my way to Shepton Mallet in Somerset. I was working there for a few days at the Gaymer's old English factory, I was working for C & C, the company that own Gaymers. We not only worked at the factory but we also held an event at Gaymers own cider house, see the pictures below.

The Cider house was very nice and so was the cider ! I managed to sample most of the Gaymers range and a few more local, craft ciders. The Gaymers tastes great but is probably a bit too gassy for me. The local ciders were not carbonated and tasted of pure apple, very drinkable, probably a bit too drinkable as they pack a punch with a high ABV. These pictures were taken before the event started, during the event the place was filled with C & C management and we enjoyed a whole hog roast.

A few days after Shepton I was on my way to work at a pharmacological conference and exhibition in Prague. I was there for nine days but due to the amount of work involved I didn't get much time for going out on the town. I did find a great bar close to our hotel and loved the Pilsner Urquell, Bernard and the Kozel beers. The other bar we found, close to the Prague Hilton, was not only a bar but a shooting range as well ! (sorry, I can't remember its name) It was very much a locals bar but served good beer and great food at cheap prices. it was very relaxed but would not be to everyone's taste. I also went to see the King Charles the 5th bridge, If you are in Prague I think it is a legal requirement !

When I got home after working in Prague I was very tired and a bit grumpy as we didn't get much sleep !

Three days later I started on a road show for William Grant & Sons Ltd. I was looking forward to this as it took me to some distilleries that I'd not been to yet. We started at the distillery in Girvan, went to the distribution center in Glasgow and finished in the Glenfiddich distillery in Dufftown. I actually stayed overnight in one of the Glenfiddich distillery cottages. It was great to wake up in the morning surrounded by beautiful scenery and smell the whisky in the air. The first two pictures are from Girvan, the next two are from Glasgow and the final pictures below are from the Genfiddich Distillery.

Just last week my beautiful wife turned 40.

As well as a family get together on her birthday we celebrated this big event by going away together for the weekend, (yes we actually went somewhere together !). Our children stayed with my mum and we headed to Inverness and a great 4 star hotel called "The Kingsmill". On the way up the A9 we stopped at Moulin and had lunch at the Moulin Hotel. We tried to visit the brewery, but it was shut. In Inverness we went to "Hootanany", which is a fantastic pub in the center of town. They have a lot of Black Isle Brewer beers on tap, (you must try the Black Isle Organic Porter, its one of the best beers I've had this year !), they also have lots of live traditional music and we danced the evening away. We ate at "The Mustard Seed", which is a bit more expensive but the food and ambiance is worth it.

On the way back home we went to Culloden, as it was the anniversary of the famous battle. (16th April 1746)

That's all for this blog, see you next time.

Cheers !

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March on........

3/7/2012

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This is March and time is marching on........ The first thing I must do is apologise for not updating the blog in February, but when you see what I've been up to you'll probably realize why !

Work is incredibly busy, I've been working away from home a lot over the last six weeks. The first trip was to Liverpool where I was working at the ACC arena for a week. This was a great conference to work on and I had a number of chances to go out and see what Liverpool has to offer. I went to the Cavern pub on the Sunday night with a good friend, J.B., and we saw an excellent band and had a few Guinness and some more local ales. Over the course of the week we went to various other pubs around the Mathew Street area, including the oldest pub in Liverpool, "Ye Hole in Ye Wall", where I had a pint of "Silver Moon" which is a porter and was beautifully smooth. At the end of the week we went to the Cavern Club, (you know the one - where The Beatles used to play), and saw another band, it was a good night out but not as lively as the Cavern pub across the road. The picture on the right is J.B. and me in the Cavern Club.

When I got back home from Liverpool I only had a few days at home before my next job so I decided to have a day out with my family.

We went to the Wallace Monument in Stirling, we took in the views and had a great packed lunch out in the open, then we went onto Stirling Castle. Both of these places are well worth a visit. We spent hours in the castle and could have spent more time there but decided to call it a day and go and get some food. On our way out I stopped at the gift shop and saw that they had a reasonable choice of whiskys, check out the pictures below. The first two pictures were taken at the Wallace Monument, the next two were taken at Stirling Castle.

Just outside Stirling Castle is a pub called "The Portcullis", this is where we went for a meal. I would really recommend this place as they had some great real ales, the menu was large and the food was great ! they even let me behind the bar for a few photo's. There will be a review of this pub on the site soon !

A day later I was on a plane to Miami.

I worked at a pharmaceutical conference there for nine days. We only had a couple of chances to go out as this was a full on conference. Below are some photo's and a video. the first photo was taken during the build and is in the main room, the beach photo was taken as we, me and J.B., walked to work in the morning and the video shows the out door venue for the gala dinner.

On the few occasions we did get out we went to a few bars and a club. The first bar we found was on Lincoln Drive and it was a German bar, as I wanted to drink more than a 330ml bottle at a time we got a few large beers. We moved to a club on Ocean Drive called the Clevlander which was loud and lively. Most of the beers I came across in America were the usual suspects, Bud, Miller, San Miguel, etc with a lot of "light" versions - but my favorite was Samuel Adams. A few days later, on my way home, at the airport, I had my last Samual Adams of the trip at Bongos Cuban Cafe.

When I got back from Miami, on the 25th of Feb I had a whole two days to recover from the jet lag before I was on the road again. This time I was working in Glasgow and Manchester - on a medical roadshow. When in Glasgow I took some of the crew to "The Horseshoe Bar" and also to Waxy O'Connors, where we enjoyed the beer and the Glasgow hospitality. I introduced some of them to "Bitter and Twisted", by the Harviestoun Brewery, which went down very well !

In Manchester we didn't have time to go into town, we were working at an airport hotel, but we did get invited to the gala dinner. On my way home I had a couple of cheeky pints, Guinness, at the airport.

I am writing this blog at the SECC in Glasgow where I'm currently working at a Diabetes conference and there is more travel on the way !!! - see next months blog .

Sales of my book "The Tartan Pint" have been disappointing, this may be due to the fact it is only available as a download. However, I was recently working at a book sellers event and managed to talk to some publishers about it. One of the publishers is interested in it so there may be a paperback edition on its way - although this may take some time.

Until next time !!!

P.S. if you have any comments about the blog, or any questions, or just want to get in touch then please contact me. You can do this through the contacts page on the web site.

Cheers, Alastair

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The Book "The Tartan Pint" Has Arrived !!!

1/23/2012

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After working on this project for almost a year it is now ready and available for down load from Amazon. "The Tartan Pint" is an E book and is all about the great breweries and fantastic beers that Scotland has to offer. It gives you information about the breweries, including web addresses, facebook, telephone numbers and a brief description of the history or the people behind them. There is a list of almost all the beers they produce along with pump clip images and tasting notes, where available. The book is split into the 14 geographical area's of Scotland from Shetland to Dumfries and Galloway with a brief description of the area and a list of the breweries located in that area. there are also a few other chapters about beer history, beer tasting and beer styles, i.e. the definition of lager, bitter, porters, etc....

This is a great book and will give you an overview, (blaggers guide), to beer in Scotland. It also touches on the fact that craft brewing is growing all over the world and that beers tastes and styles are changing and developing. Check it out, tell your friends about it and get your copy !

I Hope that everyone had a great Christmas and New Year. I usually work at New Year, the last couple of years I've worked as a camera man on the Waverly Stage at Edinburgh's Hogmany party, but this year I had a break and spent some time with family and friends. We celebrated the new year at my house with barbecued steaks and brought in the bells with a glass of single malt. It was just great to catch up and be together on such a happy occasion, as you can see below. I took the picture, and yes, the bottle of Kelpie is mine. From Left to right is: Christine, (my wife), James Grant, Gillian Grant, Carolyn Young and Kenny Young..

After the festive period I, like so many of you, went back to work. I've been travelling up and down the country on road shows and at events. Its amazing how time fly's as its now nearing the end of January and were one month into the year already !

A couple of nights ago we celebrated Burns night at home with some friends. As well as the haggis we had a few other treats to share. We bought a small keg of "Copper Cascade" from the Stewart Brewery, this is a beautiful full bodied red ale - so good it didn't last long.

As you can see from the pictures above we also had a bottle of elderberry wine from the Cairn O' Mohr winery. This went down very well with dessert and especially well with the cheese board. It's very different to most main stream wine as its a fruit wine, quite sweet and has a very strong flavour of berries, I like it, but can't drink much of it due to the sweetness. My brother, Steven, brought one of his favourite whiskies, Old Pultney, and shared it with us. This is a beautiful flavored malt with a salty aftertaste. Although It took us a while before we could persuade him to let go of the bottle !

Please head on over to Amazon and download your copy of The Tartan Pint". If you have any questions or queries about the book then please contact me.

See Ya next time !!!

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Busy Busy BUSY !!!

11/27/2011

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November has been crazy busy ! I've been traveling a lot with work and it's taken me to the Highlands of Scotland right down to the south of ireland, via middle England.

I was working in Inverness at the start of the month and I managed to take in a few pubs when I was there. check out the reviews of The Castle Tavern, Johnny Foxes, Gunsmiths and Hootananny. The best pub I was in in Inverness has to be Hootananny, I was there with my cousin Eilidh and her fiance Stuart on a Saturday afternoon and the place was packed, with a band playing traditional Scottish music and people dancing. I joined in with the dancing and also enjoyed a few real ales from the Black Isle Brewery. I heartily recommend this bar if you are in town. Check out the pictures below of Hootannany:

I arrived home from Inverness late on A Sunday night and early on the following morning I was heading to middle England, just south of Bristol to a place called "Shepton Mallet". This is where Gaymers Old English Cider is made, along with a few other ciders. I was working for a company called C & C and went to the cider mill. Shepton is a pleasant little place and we stayed at "The Thatched Cottage". It's a great little hotel and has a well stocked bar and friendly staff

On the 18th of November I was at the Beehive in Edinburgh for the S.I.B.A. bottled beer competition. I was judging in the Porters and golden ales category and in the speciality ales category. I loved being at this event meeting and talking to people with a love for all things beer and brewing. The event was very well run and I tasted about 18 different beers. I met brewers, bloggers, pub managers and well known faces from S.I.B.A. The event took about four hours and the effort that went into judging the beers took me by surprise, but I enjoyed every minute of it. Check out the pictures from the event:

The Beehive Inn - Edinburgh

Walter Dunlop, (TinPot Brewery), and me.

Fiona, the head brewer and owner of "The Loch Lomond Brewery"

Bob Knopps, of the Knopps Beer Company.

Dean, a brewpub manager, and myself out having a few beers after the competition finished.

The Sunday after the S.I.B.A. event I was heading to southern Ireland on another leg of the C & C employee road show. We went to Clonmel to the Magners Cider Mill and bottling plant. It was loud !!! they bottle 60,000 per hour !!! Check out the short video below:

Work is starting to calm down, which means I will soon have enough time to finish my book, "The tartan Pint", which I hope to have ready for Christmas. I hope that you will find this of interest and buy it and read it ! I'm also having some fun designing a few drinking T Shirts which I hope you will like.

Until the next time.................

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The Video Revolution !

2. Tasting recommendations from Frank, The Bearded Barman, at "The Pot Still"

Talking to John Henderson, Owner of the "Scottish Borders Brewery" at a meet the brewer night in "Munro's", Great Western Road, Glasgow.

I also recently filmed a Belhaven Black review at my local pub, "The Masonic Arms", Broxburn

And just for good measure, for no other reason at all - Here's a joke about a dog

If you would like to see more clips then please subscribe to my Youtube Channel: TheDrinkingMansGuide ToScotland.

Cheers

A Great Summer

On The Road Again......

Work, Travel, Work, more travel ........

A Great Summer

A Busy two months ! - Hampden - Prague - Deanston Distillery - Cameron House - Dublin - S.R.A.F.

Gaymers Cider, Prague, William Grant Whisky, Glenfiddich and a 40th Birthday

March on........

The Book "The Tartan Pint" Has Arrived !!!

Busy Busy BUSY !!!

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2. Tasting recommendations from Frank, The Bearded Barman, at "The Pot Still"

Talking to John Henderson, Owner of the "Scottish Borders Brewery" at a meet the brewer night in "Munro's", Great Western Road, Glasgow.

I also recently filmed a Belhaven Black review at my local pub, "The Masonic Arms", Broxburn

And just for good measure, for no other reason at all - Here's a joke about a dog

If you would like to see more clips then please subscribe to my Youtube Channel: TheDrinkingMansGuide ToScotland.Cheers

Author

Archives

Categories

If you would like to see more clips then please subscribe to my Youtube Channel: TheDrinkingMansGuide ToScotland.

Cheers