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I'm helping organise a trip for 40-45 Spanish beer drinkers to Edinburgh in the middle of May, and we'd like to visit a brewery and do a tasting session, with some kind of food. Not looking for anything pretentious, just decent value and ideally an entertaining chat with the head brewer. We've asked at Brewdog but they want £50/person for 5 x 1/3s beers, and a cheese board. Which seems massively overpriced. So I thought I'd ask you lot 🙂
It doesn't particularly need to be a brewery, that would just be a bonus, but decent beer + some food to soak it up is a necessity... If anyone's got any suggestions that'd be great!
bellfield brewery kinda fits the description.
weird location last time i was smashing venison donner kebab while drinking their beers. that was very much lockdown and outside not sure of their usual set up.
Stewart Brewing?
https://www.stewartbrewing.co.uk/pages/bar-pizza-kitchen
Their beers are great. And their owner’s probably less of a *gropey roaster than Brewdog’s
(*allegedly).
Stewart beers are ace.
I only didn't reccomend stewarts because its in the arse end of nowhere.
But i did recomend a brewery tucked behind a residential street and a railway...
The worst bit about brewdog would be having to taste their rank beer so you dodged a bullet there.
Stewart would be my go to, Which is ironic as I drink Bellfield (being a gf weirdo!)
https://www.crossborders.beer/pub
Heard good things about this lot 🙂
Or these folks(Pub) but their beer is incredible
https://paolozzirestaurantandbar.co.uk/
Pilot brewing in Leith. No idea if they'd offer such an opportunity but their twitter feed is absolutely hilarious!🤣
Campervan? They have their own bar.
There are quite a few small breweries around but I don't know them.
Thanks for the suggestions so far 👍
Crossborders is just down the road from me. It's next to the Eskbank train station so you can get the train from Waverley. They're normally open weekends and Friday evening I think and have people come in to do food most weekends, pizza, burritos etc. And the beer is excellent. Definitely worth giving them a shout.
Well if a train ride south from Waverley is on then.
https://www.tempestbrewco.com/taproom
Taproom, food and five minutes walk from the train, about 30minutes back.
(Delete amusing anecdote)
I only didn’t reccomend stewarts because its in the arse end of nowhere.
Oi!
Could go to Roslin Chapel and then a walk through the Glen to Stewart's, if you need to build a thirst.
Another vote for Stewart brewing, good setup for groups and cracking beers.
If willing to travel a bit further then Broughton got me and some mates properly pissed on my stag.
Cold Town House? On grassmarket, has on-site brewery. Good variety of beers, though QC is a little variable - last time I was in pre-COVID though, so may be better now. Food is pretty good.
Stewart Brewing is a little far out - the bus takes a while and a wee bit of a walk after.
I also don't really rate their beers - pretty mediocre. I never think "oh, I'll go out for a Stewart Brewing", more "oh, there's nothing decent here, this Stewart Brewing one will do".
Can confirm the owner is a lovely chap. Some of the staff have Brewdog levels of cult buy-in though!
Campervan Brewery down at the Shore is a good shout. Not cheap though. However, if it's 40 Spaniards you'd probably get away with 4 pints shared between them. Not that Campervan do pints.
However, if it’s 40 Spaniards you’d probably get away with 4 pints shared between them
I'm guessing you don't know many Spaniards 😀
We probably won't have transport - we could hire a bus but it would complicate things a fair bit, which I guess rules out the Steward brewery (regardless of the apparently polarised view about whether it's any good or not!)
Stewart would have been my answer if their tours were back open.
If you want city centre and aren't looking at peak times I'd give the hanging bat a ring - not a brewery but I'm sure they could run a tasting session that would be better than anything Brewdog would do. You might get a little bit cheaper but bear in mind edinburgh prices are stupid for beer anyway so if you add in staff to lead a tasting and some food I think you'll be £30pp at least.
Not a brewery as such but Steel Coulson have 2 great bars, one in Leith, one in the Southside. The owner is a great guy who has a number of bars in Bristol along with heading up Dawkins Ales. His beers and cider are great and he knows his stuff. always a great rotation of beers, ales and cider on draft from local breweries and further afield.
Did a great tour and tasting at Edinburgh Beer Factory a few years ago but think they have just stopped brewing to relocate to East Lothian. Take a look at Moonwake too, fairly new with a great looking set up and tap room.
You might get a little bit cheaper but bear in mind edinburgh prices are stupid for beer anyway so if you add in staff to lead a tasting and some food I think you’ll be £30pp at least
Yeah, I expecting something around that much, at British pub prices just 2-3 pints will be close to 20pp, and that's ignoring food or any kind of an organised tasting session.
My son works in Brewhemia and they have had tours of Edinburgh Beer Factory and Pilot recently.
EBF is still out in Sighthill in the most uninspiring building ever.
Didn't see a recc for Caledonian? Deuchars IPA being one of my favourite beers.
A lot of mates here are craft beer drinkers and have done local brewery tours to death. Visiting a Victorian red brick brewery would make a change, if they don't do food there must be something nearby. A casual Google suggests they do organised tours.
at
BritishLondon pub prices just 2-3 pints will be close to 20pp
I think you're looking at more like 4-5 pints in the rest of the country
I think you’re looking at more like 4-5 pints in the rest of the country
Fair point, though it should be clear I don't have much idea about Edinburgh beer prices!
It's about £5.50 a pint here, and prices are going up
I had a look at Caledonia brewery and their website looks well out of date.
You'll have to take it in turns but how about a brewery in Linlithgow.
The brewmaster is okay... for a fifer
Belhaven might be worth a look, if you have transport. Not sure if they do food, but they certainly fit the 'not anything pretentious' mandate
If a few days then tempest yes it's an hour on the train from Waverley but 5 mins at the other end. Tell them what you have planned and they'll do a show round (it's not big) you definitely want a taproom.
By the time you've done the train and seen some countryside you'll still be cheaper than Edinburgh prices.
Stewart's for the win. Their beer is ace.
The Tweedbank idea is cool, nice train journey down there too and you could maybe do Melrose as a tag on. It's a 45 minute walk along the Tweed and is such a lovely wee place. In by the Greenyards too.
Definitely try Campervan Brewery as they will be able to accommodate you in the bar they have down Leith.
Also try getting in touch with the guys from Pilot as they might be able to do something (if they can't, just slag them off on Twitter and see how they react 😂)
Another vote for Tempest Brewery. Great chat in there, food looked good and the beers are excellent. Just beware that some of the dark beers are rather strong at about 11%+