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Category: Kilts & Scotland

Glasgow!

Glasgow!

Published on 27 June 2025

Time to change hotels for the last time this trip! I’m even staying a bit longer than usual in my last city: a full four nights. It’s Glasgow, after all, and I need time to revisit my old favourites, and some new places of course! 

Before leaving Edinburgh—my booked train would only depart around noon—I enjoyed a breakfast at the apparently very popular Greenwoods café, and had the Carbonara Benedict. 

A last coffee at Lowdown, and I was ready to finish packing, check-out of my hotel, and head to the Edinburgh Waverley. There a ScotRail train would take me to Glasgow Queen Street. 

I dropped off bag at the hotel, and headed back out again for a coffee at Spitfire Roasters. A double espresso, because when you drink it at the source, you should get it as pure as possible!
I also dropped by at Mr Ben, but unfortunately I didn’t find a vintage sporran to my liking…

I hopped on a First Bus to get to the House for an Art Lover. So, while this house is indeed based on early 20th century drawings by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, it was only built in 1989! It was nice to see his designs finally come to life this way.

Then it was finally time to check in to my hotel and home for the next four nights: Premier Inn Glasgow City Centre Buchanan Galleries. 

After relaxing and recharging for a bit, I walked to the Epochal Barrel-Fermented Ales brewery, somewhere in an industrial estate. All shutters were closed though, and there was no sign of life, even though the taproom was supposed to be open…

After hanging around for a bit—maybe they were just late?—I gave up and walked on to the Rail Yard Food Market. After finally finding it, I couldn’t believe my eyes how small it was: three vendors, one of which just served coffee! The other options were pizza or baked potatoes, so I went for the latter. 

Sufficiently fed, I could then finally start drinking! First stop was the Grunting Growler. It’s actually a bottle shop, but with an excellent selection of beers on draught as well. 

Considering the area, it isn’t hard to guess my next destination: BrewDog Glasgow! I found myself a spot at the bar, and enjoyed some lovely beers there. In case you were keeping score: I now drank 123 beers at that bar, the most of all foreign bars I’ve ever been! 

Outlandish…

Outlandish…

Published on 26 June 2025

Another visit to Edinburgh without seeing the Royal Mile at all? Yep, because there’s so much more interesting things to see and do elsewhere, even outside of the city!  Especially if you’re an Outlander fan…

Since my first destination would take a train to get there, I had my breakfast right outside the station, at the Mòr Bakery. I was spoilt for choice, but decided to go for a haggis sausage roll, and a pork, feta and chutney sausage roll.

My train was a Transpennine Express, a company I had never travelled with before. The service was definitely excellent though, and I was well taken care of, even for the short fifteen minutes it took to get to East Linton. 

After a short walk I arrived at Preston Mill, where I had booked a guided tour. As it turned out, I was the only one who booked that timeslot, so the very friendly and knowledgeable Alistair gave me a private tour. I’ve learned that oats need to be dried before they can be milled, and that the drying happens o floor very similar to one used in the malting process!

Back in the city, my first stop was at Red Kite Cafe for my daily dose of coffee and cake. 

Next was Old Eastway Tap. I had actually forgotten why I had added it to my itinerary, but it quickly became apparent when I had a look at the beers on draught: the bar is owned by Cross Borders Brewing Co., a brewery in Dalkeith.
Let me just take a minute here to appreciate the fact that so many places in Scotland have power and USB outlets here to charge your devices, even in buses and right at the bar!

For lunch—and a beer—I went to Leith Depot, where quite unexpectedly I found a croque madame on the menu. And I must say: their interpretation of this French dish was quite good!

Another coffee at Ground Floor—which actually had a radio studio in it—and I was off to the centre again! 

Well, I actually went past the centre, and continued into the west end, to visit BrewDog Lothian Road, since I’ve come to realise that collecting stamps in Beer Visa 3.0 actually has some real perks!

But I was also there to revisit The Hanging Bat. Last time I was there, I mentioned that it didn’t quite feel the same anymore. Now, the bar recently has been taken over by the Northern Monk brewery from Leeds, and it has had an immediate impact on their beer offering. In a good way. 

To collect another stamp, I then made a quick visit to BrewDog DogHouse, and then went on to the Salt Horse. 

So, the original plan for dinner was to go to Wings, my favourite chicken wings place in Edinburgh, or anywhere basically. I had my checklist ready to make sure I’d only try rubs and sauces I hadn’t tried before. But when I got there, the venue was empty, for hire, no longer serving any chicken… How a genius concept like that couldn’t survive, will forever remain a mystery to me, but in its stead, I went to Bubba Q, a barbecue place nearby. 

To finish the night, I went to where it al began—my craft beer journey at least—BrewDog Edinburgh, the OG at the Cowgate. 

The New Town

The New Town

Published on 25 June 2025

Wednesday was another travel day—although this time just the one train from Aberdeen to Edinburgh—but also another hashing day, with The New Town hash this evening. 

The day started a bit earlier than expected: I had to go back to the NorthLink Ferries terminal to pick up some haberdashery (hashing gear) that didn’t make it to the event in time. Once back in my hotel with the loot, I enjoyed breakfast there, and then finished packing. 

Well before my train was due to depart, I went to Aberdeen station to relax a bit in the First Class Lounge. 

It would take the ScotRail train about 2h20 to take me from Aberdeen to Edinburgh Waverley, but I was well provided for, since on board too there was an unlimited supply of water and shortbread. And I did get some great sea views for a large part of the voyage!

After arrival, I went straight to my hotel—Hub by Premier Inn in Rose Street—and after a cup of tea in the lobby, I could already check myself in.

For my coffee I didn’t have to go too far, since it was just around the corner. I actually had even visited Wellington Coffee before! 

Completely new to me, however, was BrewDog Edinburgh Waverley, a BrewDog franchise bar in the main train station. I took me a while to find it, but while The Shaw OG hot dog was really nice, the beer choice on the other hand was rather disappointing. It really is a bar where you’d only go to kill some time while waiting for your train, and definitely not a beer geek destination…

Time to change again, and hop on a bus to get to the start of this week’s The New Town H3 run. It was a nice turnout, and an even better trail! Somehow the TNT runs I join are always quite hilly, though…

Back in the centre—and freshened up and back in my MacLaren kilt—I had a couple of beers at the Edinburgh Fierce Bar. 

After a quick late night dinner at Jollibee, my last stop of the evening was at Vessel, a restaurant and bar run by the Pilot brewery. Since it was almost closing time, I was their last and only customer, which gave the bar staff plenty of time to provide me with loads of recommendations of places to go in Edinburgh!

Highlanders & Monsters

Highlanders & Monsters

Published on 24 June 2025

This Tuesday I had quite a normal day in Aberdeen: no train travel, no ferries, no hashing. So it was an excellent opportunity to visit some of the attractions I hadn’t been to yet, and basically just have an easy and relaxing day in the Granite City. 

The day started with a breakfast bagel at So NYC Bagels & Brew. The place felt a bit more fast food than I expected, but the bagel was tasty nonetheless. From there I hopped on a bus to get to The Gordon Highlanders Museum, to learn all about this other famous Scottish regiment. 

Since I was in the West end of Aberdeen anyway, I had my coffee and lemon drizzle cake at Figment, who roast their own coffee right there. 

Back on the bus to the centre then, to the Aberdeen Art Gallery. I went there specifically to check out the Monsters of the Deep and the View of Aberdeen exhibitions. 

My second coffee stop of the day was at Milkjug—where the staff was very friendly and engaging—but after that it was finally time to taste some more beers!

I first stopped by at BrewDog Union Square again, since I forgot to bring my Beer Visa 3.0 last time, and it was about time I started claiming some of those awards as well! Of course I couldn’t skip the OG BrewDog bar, the Gallowgate one!
The nearby 61° North bar apparently turned into Smoke and Soul, but apart from the name, not a lot seems to have changed. Even the glasses are still the same! 

For dinner I had put 8848 in my calendar, and I kind of forgot why. Turns out it was actually an award winning Nepalese restaurant. The number 8848 did ring a bell, but it was only when I opened the menu it became clear why it is called that: it’s the height in meters of Mount Everest! The service was excellent from the get go, and when I ordered the ‘bread basket’, with a mix of different kinds of naan, they advised against it since it would be too much for one person. Others would just have taken the extra £10… They were definitely right, and a just simple portion of garlic and coriander naan was exactly the right amount!

As for the food itself: by Jove, this was the best southeast Asian cooking I’ve ever had, from starter to dessert. I usually don’t even order dessert, but after such a great starter and main, I simply had to try one of the desserts as well!

To end the day, I also popped into the Fierce Bar—their Iron Brew really tasted like Irn-Bru—and once again, BrewDog Castlegate.

Castles, Gardens & Woods

Castles, Gardens & Woods

Published on 23 June 2025

A last goodbye, and I was back in Aberdeen on my own… I had a full schedule of bus rides and castle visits ahead of me though, and some catching up to do on writing my blog post for the past weekend! 

Somehow amidst all the planning I forgot Travelodge Aberdeen Central actually doesn’t have room to store baggage before check-in… Luckily there was a Nannybag location available nearby! It would only open at nine though, so I first went for my cortado at The Cult of Coffee. 

Bag dropped off, I then boarded my Stagecoach to get to Crathes Castle. This 16th-century castle doesn’t only have an interior worth viewing, but also an incredible walled garden, complete with beautiful doocot!

The second castle of the day was just a short ride back down the road: Drum Castle. The oldest part of the building, the Tower of Drum, was already given to the Irvine family by Robert the Bruce in 1323! 

Finally back in the centre, I picked up my bag again, checked into my hotel, and went out again to eat a little something. The Craftsman Company sadly doesn’t roast their own coffee anymore—the old machine broke down—but they do make a nice cheesy eggs and bacon bagel! I had just a little bit of time left before I needed to get ready for tonight’s run, so I popped into BrewDog Union Square for a beer. 

Changed into my running kilt, I was then picked up by another hasher to head a little bit outside of the city, to run with Aberdeen H3. There was a big turnout, with quite a few visitors, all of them hashers who were at the Shetland event as well. 

Once back home, after a shower and a change, I went for a nightcap at BrewDog Castlegate, the only one of BrewDog‘s three Aberdeen bars open as late as midnight on a Monday…