brewery – Martijn.be

A Tale of Two Trains

Published on 17 October 2026

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If you want to read about this trip from start to finish, instead of in reverse order, click here!

Well, it’s not much of a tale, as today it was simply time to travel home again, which would take most of my day… And yet I still managed to squeeze in a brewery visit: Werewolf Beer.

Return day means bag packing, and bag packing means I have breakfast in the hotel. It was the least inspired breakfast of the week, not surprisingly, but it did the trick, and I could quickly return to my room to pack up the last bits.

A five minute walk through the 3°C cold brought me to Glasgow Central, where my Avanti West Coast to London Euston was already waiting at the platform. I was travelling Standard Premium today, because the price difference with First class was ridiculous, and I could book a solo seat in Standard Premium anyway.

While I had a free coffee on the train—a Club Avanti perk—it wasn’t quite up to my standards, so my first stop after arrival was The Coffee Jar in Camden, for a cortado and a cookie. Well, that was the plan, but all cookies were sold out already, and the coffee was only to-go, since they were about to close… Luckily I had my KeepCup handy, so I did have my proper coffee after all!

Elsewhere in Camden I visited the taproom of Werewolf Beer, an American brewery in London. Nice beer, awesome staff, and a great atmosphere overall! I can see this becoming my new pre-Eurostar beer spot.

For my last beers of the trip, I had planned to go to Beer + Burger. Tough luck, because when I showed up there, they were closed for a private event… The original plan was even to have a burger there as well, so luckily, a couple of days earlier, Eurostar had informed me my—quite low—bid on an upgrade had won. And since an actual three course meal is included in a Premier ticket, dinner was sorted!

The main reason I actually bid on an upgrade, is the waiting space in St. Pancras International: it’s always overcrowded, and Premier passengers have access to a lounge!

As soon as we had boarded the Eurostar to Brussels, they started handing out the champagne, and soon after the amuse-bouche followed. My main was West Country beef short rib, with black bean rice, mustard-braised peppers, baby spinach and savoy cabbage.

With all the dining, champagne, tea, and more champagne, the trip was over in no time, and soon it was time to dig out my Mobib to travel the last kilometers home…

Free First Friday

Free First Friday

Published on 16 October 2026

Last day in Glasgow, and spending most of it just outside of it: a visit to Holmwood House, and on the opposite side of town to Two Towns Down Brewery in Paisley, both by First buses, for free! The evening was spent in another of my favourite bars, Inn Deep.

It had been a while since I had an Indian breakfast at Dishoom, and I hadn’t been to the Glasgow one yet. Their Keema Per Eedu definitely gave me a kick start for the day!

So for some reason I received a free day pass from First buses. So far I had been using a ZoneCard for Glasgow zone 1 (which I had put on my Glasgow Subway smartcard). Today’s destinations were far outside of that zone however, so the perfect day to use my First day pass, valid in the wider Glasgow region!

So the first destination was NTS property Holmwood House, a creation by Alexander ‘Greek’ Thomson. I didn’t expect one, but I actually got a tour.

The next destination was in Paisley: the Two Towns Down Brewing taproom. It was on an industrial estate, as all the best breweries initially are, and the taproom, the brewer, and—most importantly—the beers were really nice!

I didn’t have my haggis, neeps & tatties yet this trip, so I had some with a whisky cream sauce at the bar of Stravaigin. At the bar? Yes, because that way I was in and out in twenty minutes, while the wait for a table in the restaurant section was at least 45 minutes…

Quickly thereafter I descended into Inn Deep. I came to drink a few beers of course, but also to pick up my pre-ordered “limited run Inn Deep Heavy Metal featuring the Kelvin Monster” T-shirt!

My very last stop was at The Valinch, a quite new whisky bar, by the same people who run The Pot Still, for the last dram of my trip.

Science & Myths in Falkirk

Science & Myths in Falkirk

Published on 14 October 2026

After a day in Glasgow, it was already time to head out again in undiscovered country! Today, that was Falkirk. Wonders of engineering and artful evocations of ancient myths awaited me: the Falkirk Wheel and the Kelpies.

So I planned to have breakfast at Piece: the description of the Chicken Olé sandwich sounded delicious—and it turned out to be so—but somehow I missed the fact that it was takeaway only… Luckily they had a tiny terrace, and it had stopped raining, but it was the first time in years I had a coffee from a disposable cup…

I actually didn’t have time to search for a waste-free alternative this time, because I didn’t want to miss the train I planned to take to Falkirk High. That station was nowhere near my destinations for today, and for this area, I got to use a bus operator I hadn’t used yet: Midland Bluebird. I would be using them all day, so I got a convenient day ticket in their app.

The first bus took me to the Falkirk Wheel, where I had booked a 50 minute boat ride, including two turns on The Wheel. I must say, it’s quite an impressive feat of engineering!

Back in Falkirk centre, I had a Fiery Mango Chicken Sourdough Melt at Behind the Wall and a pint, before hopping on a bus again to my next destination.

I could actually see The Kelpies already when I was taken all the way up in the Falkirk Wheel, but to get there, it was still a ten minute walk from the nearest bus stop. That walk started all nice and sunny, but by the time I arrived, it was really pouring it down. Luckily there was a bridge providing cover to wait out the worst. So, The Kelpies are a pair of monumental—really huge, I did not expect that—steel horse-heads by sculptor Andy Scott, representing both mythical, shape-shifting water horses, and the heavy horses once so important for the Scottish industry and economy.

Back in Glasgow, I remedied a huge oversight: until today, I had never seen the statue of Charles Rennie Mackintosh!
And just a couple of minutes from there was The Ben Nevis, where I apparently hadn’t been for ten years already! I had a couple of drams to make up for it.

At The Islay Inn it was Tattie Scone Taco Tuesday. Yes, you read that right, they use potato based tacos, and that works remarkably well! But the real stars were the fillings: sticky chilli and Irn-Bru chicken with sweet drop peppers and ranch, Stornoway black pudding, Ramsey’s haggis, caramelised onion and pepper sauce, and the—quite spicy—special was fajita chicken, spiced veg, chipotle mayo and chili.

The plan was to spend the rest of the evening in the Grunting Growler, working my way through the tap list and fridges, but it being primarily a beer shop, last call was already as early as nine thirty.

An excellent excuse to pay a visit to the Scotia Bar, supposedly the oldest bar in Glasgow. I originally planned to go there on my first night, because it was conveniently close to my hotel anyway, but I was just too exhausted. Shit beers on keg, but some beauties on cask. And an awesome atmosphere, definitely worth the visit.

Glasgow Day!

Glasgow Day!

Published on 12 October 2026

Day four of my trip, and only now I got to spend the whole day in Glasgow! It was a day well spent though, with lots of history, art, and of course some beer and running.

Since I enjoyed Spitfire Espresso’s breakfast burrito so much last time, I decided to have it this trip as well at their new location: The Spitfire Cafe. Still tasty!

Then I had to rush to Glasgow Central to catch a train to Nitshill. There, at the Glasgow Museums Resource Centre, I had booked a Behind The Scenes Tour of GMRC. It was a seriously impressive collection, and it was nice to get a glimpse of the workshops as well!

After returning to the centre and finding two of my regular coffee places shut, I had my coffee at The Devil’s Roast. Stylish place, maybe even too stylish for me.

At the St Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art I found remarkably little information about St Mungo, but instead I did see some impressive, quite moving pieces of art about atrocities committed in the name of religion.

The atmosphere at Rest was definitely more my style, and the coffee really nice. And right across the street was beer shop The Pursuit of Hoppyness, with even a beer on draught. They also had beers by No Limits Brewing, a local brewery I thought about visiting, but unfortunately their taproom isn’t open during my stay.

After those beers it was time to change and head to Jordanhill for Glasgow H3 Run 2239. After a rather dark run–it’s October after all—we had Circle at The Three Craws, where I also had a steak & cheddar pie.

Two more trains to get home, and that was the end of my first full Glasgow day this trip!

Scottish Borders

Scottish Borders

Published on 12 October 2026

So yes, somehow I ended up running through the Scottish Borders today. The Edinburgh H3 tends to hash a bit outside of the city, but this was extreme, even for them. Worth it though! After the run, I was finally able to enjoy a bit of Glasgow.

To get to an 11:00 run in the Scottish Borders, I had to leave quite early, and get a breakfast to go at the Greggs in Glasgow Queen Street, which I then enjoyed on my train to Edinburgh Haymarket. Can’t go wrong with a sausage roll!

There I was picked up by an Edinburgh hasher, and a 1h15 ride later, we arrived in Coldingham well in time for the start of Edinburgh H3 Run 2331. We caught a lucky break in the rain, enjoyed many sunny sea views, and a few beers afterwards. Only minimal gravity testing…

At EH3 they traditionally have a pub lunch after the run. So shortly after circle, I found myself at The New Inn, eating a sizzling pork with wholegrain mustard, cider sauce, chips, and veg, with a pint.

Another long car ride, followed by the train back to Glasgow, a short subway ride—while they were still going, the Sunday service is rather short—and I was back in my hotel. After a shower and a change I headed to Yianni’s for dinner. The chicken gyro pita I had there was definitely better than anything I ever had in the Rue des Bouchers in Brussels!