FOOD & DRINK
NEWS & REVIEWS
HERE FOR THE BEER The Hanging Bat isn’t just a cheerleader for Scotland’s surging craft-brewing industry – as David Pollock discovers it’s a pretty cool spot too
U ntil recently, it wasn’t so hard to keep up with the ever-expanding craft ale scene in Scotland. Favourite pubs or specialist off- licences began stocking smart local upstarts like Brewdog, Black Isle and Innis & Gunn, and as they reached a certain level of ubiquity others would emerge.
It’s hard to place when the trickle became a flood, however, but it seemed to roughly coincide with the point that Brewdog became a pub chain in its own right and everyone started to cotton on to the fact that small scale could also be big business, even as customers grew used to variety and taste helping to determine their bar purchases as much as price and alcohol content. The opening of the Hanging Bat late last year on the site of the unmissed Uluru bar in discerning drinkers’ no-go area Lothian Road feels like another important milestone on the path to beer’s gentrification.
It’s certainly not the first place in the city to use a wide range of ales as its selling point, but the bustling split-level bar does it with such skill and unsnobbish charm that it can afford not to boast about it. ‘I’ve been lucky enough to travel around the world to some of the so-called world’s best beer bars,’ says Chris Muir, one of three directors of the Hanging
THE HANGING BAT
Bat. ‘Most are a box with white walls and good beer on, and that’s your expectations met. I want people to walk out of here saying, “it’s Disneyland”.’ So the six cask, 14 keg and nearly 150 bottled lines come as standard here. It’s the little extras which make the Hanging Bat such a destination experience: the shabby-chic exposed brickwork décor similar to that at BrewLab, from whom they get their coffee; a range of off-the-wall bar snacks and light meals including biltong, homemade scotch eggs and gourmet hot dogs; and their own small brewing room, which occasionally provides beer for the bar but which is intended more for demonstration and educational purposes.
Perhaps most pleasing of all is the way the place seems to have hit that rare groove between haunt of scenester early-adopters and convivial, friendly local pub – no doubt a function of its skill in doing everything a good pub should do, but with a bit of taste and imagination.
+ Deserves to be recognised as a true original
- Lothian Road’s still got a bit of a reputation to shake off
33 Lothian Road, West End, Edinburgh EH3 9AB, 0131 229 0759, thehangingbat.com Open Mon–Thu noon—midnight; Fri/Sat noon–1am; Sun 12.30pm–midnight.
Food served Mon–Sat noon–10pm; Sun 12.30–10pm, Ave. price two-course meal: £7.50 (snack and a side)
30 THE LIST 24 Jan–21 Feb 2013
SIDE DISHES News to nibble on
Just in time for Burns Night, Birlinn have published the Macsween Haggis Bible, a fun wee handbook priced
at £4.99 with haggis-maker Jo Macsween’s round-up of stories, facts and recipes from posh haggis timbale to veggie haggis nachos.
Street food is the theme among the new openings around Edinburgh, with Tuk Tuk aiming to recreate the up-beat colour and flavour of Bombay at 1 Leven Street in Tollcross, while Bar Soba, an outpost of the Pan-Asian themed Glasgow bars, is doing food, cocktails and DJs from 104 Hanover Street.
Glasgow bar- diner Ivy has been forced to re-brand as Distill after lawyers for Londons famous celebrity hangout, The Ivy, took umbrage. While the Argyle Street establishment has changed its moniker to avoid legal action, the rest of the operation remains unaffected.
DEUCHARS RECOMMENDS THE CANNY MAN’S 239 Morningside Road Edinburgh, EH10 4QU
Hailed as an Edinburgh institution, The Canny Man’s is a warren of tiny rooms adorned with a unique collection of antiques. Located in the Morningside area of the capital city this eccentric pub is truly one of a kind. From stuffed animals to sheet music to ordering your food on betting slips The Canny Man’s is full of character, meaning you won’t be short of something to take your interest whilst enjoying a fresh pint of Deuchars IPA.