The Drinking Man's Guide To Scotland
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The Video Revolution !

2/7/2014

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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......
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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.........
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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.........
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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..... 
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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.............
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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.
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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.
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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. 
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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.

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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. 
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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........ 
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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.
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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....
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This is me, below, at the Lyon Congress Center.
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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.
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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. 
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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. 
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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 
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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 !
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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.
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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 !!
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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. 
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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.  
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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 !!
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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.  
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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.
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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.
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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. 
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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.    
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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.
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See you next time !!!
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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.  
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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. 
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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 !
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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.
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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.    
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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.  
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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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Scottish Real Ale Festival 2011

6/23/2011

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I went to the Scottish Real Ale Festival last Thursday with my good mate, Stuart. We both enjoyed the festival and drank some great beers. We also managed to talk to a few brewers from around Scotland. Check out the video below for a flavour of the event. Cheers !!!
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The Burns Supper

3/14/2011

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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. 
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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.
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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).
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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. 
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A Busy couple of weeks

2/10/2011

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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 ?  
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