More Inverness

Published on 19 June 2025

After a good night’s sleep, I was ready to properly discover Inverness. Well, after some breakfast and coffee of course!

The plan was to have some kind of breakfast taco from one of the vendors around the food plaza in the Victorian Market. Unfortunately they apparently stopped doing breakfast a couple of weeks ago, so I had to find an alternative. Luckily Milk Bar, where I intended to go for coffee anyway, served some food as well, so I ended up enjoying a ham, cheddar, and caramelised red onion marmalade toastie. And then my coffee and millionaire’s shortbread after all.

Time for some history, starting with Abertarff House, the oldest house in Inverness, and an important example of 16th-century domestic architecture.

Next was the Inverness Museum & Art Gallery, which was mainly about the history of Inverness and the Highlands. All signage was in both English and Gaelic, as I’ve seen in more places in Inverness, and now I know why: Gaelic is on the rise! In 1891, one third of the people of Inverness spoke Gaelic. After falling to 5% by 1991, the figure today is back over 8%, higher than any other Scottish city!

For lunch I headed to Roots Café, a place I had been before when it had another name and owner, and I had a huge hangover… When I noticed the special was a black pudding and crispy potato hash, I simply had to have it! Not enough people realise that a ‘hash’ first and foremost is something you eat…

Even though I’ve now been a kilt wearer for over eleven years, I’ve never seen one mode! The Scottish Kiltmaker Visitor Centre—basically a little exhibition and a big window in the workshop of the Highland House of Fraser—fixed that for me.

Just fifteen minutes before closing time—did I mention that the food plaza in the Victorian Market closes early?—I got myself a pork sausage roll at Bad Girl Bakery. I had to, just for the name alone! The sausage roll was good, though.

The plan was to visit Inverness Castle as well, but apparently it still hasn’t reopened yet… Just a look from the outside will have to do this time, although it was impossible to get a view without scaffolding or fences!

On my way past the castle, I then had a quick stop at Number 27, for a couple of halves.

The next stop was The Castle Tavern. Apparently I was a bit early for dinner—although my stomach on Belgian time disagreed—so I had to kill some time drinking beer… It was worth the wait though: both the haggis croquettes and the chipotle chicken sandwich were very nice!

The furthest I would venture today was Uile-Bheist, a distillery and brewery. As they only started in 2022, they don’t have their own whisky yet, and they don’t make any other distillates. So while they had their bar well-stocked with other whiskies, I stuck to their beers.

On my to-do list for ages, was Hootananny. Originally because they have a weekly ceilidh, but Thursday is not the night for that. They however do have live music every night, and tonight it was Tuath (Gaelic for ‘North’) that delighted us with their tunes. Neil on the fiddle, and Blair on the keyboard and the sass… Luckily I always carry protection in my sporran, because they were loud!

After the first set I moved on to the Black Isle Bar, since I noticed they had some new beers on. I mean, if you launch a Belgian Golden Strong Ale on my last night, I can’t skip that! After eleven they already started cleaning and closing tills, so that was the signal for me to head back to the hotel.

Back in Inverness

Back in Inverness

Published on 18 June 2025

After a full Scottish breakfast—but is it still Scottish when it doesn’t include haggis?—we arrived about ten minutes early in Inverness. My Scottish adventure was about to start!

My first port of call then was the Caledonian Sleeper lounge, just across from the station. It was definitely smaller than the one in London, but it fulfilled its purpose, and I had a moment of relaxation with a cuppa and a cookie.

Rectangular plate with beans, sausage, a hashbrown with some other items hidden underneath it, a mini frittata, and a slice of toast

I then dropped off my bags at Travelodge Inverness City Centre, and headed to PERK Coffee + Doughnuts for coffee and—you guessed it—a doughnut.

Coffee shop facade, people queuing out the door

Since the last time I was in Inverness I was quite hungover, I decided to once again take Stagecoach 27 to revisit Culloden Battlefield.

From there I took the same bus back in the direction of the Black Isle Brewery. From the nearest bus stop it was still a 25 minute walk, but who cares when your walking in the Highlands? The brewery didn’t actually have a taproom—just some cans in a fridge. They did however spontaneously offered to give me a tour of the brewery, which of course made me very happy!

A sign pointing out the way to Black Isle Brewing Co., hilly meadows and woods in the background

The way back was actually even less convenient, so I ordered a taxi straight to the Black Isle Bar. There I still managed to find a couple of beers not available in the brewery, so double win!

After checking in to my hotel, and briefly closing my eyes, I popped by at the Victorian Market, where everything seems to close quite early… Moonshine was still open though, so I had a can there.

Since it was still a bit early to go for dinner, I also made a stop at Highlander. While most of their beers are pretty standard, they do seem to have a special place in their heart—and fridges—for a local brewery: Dog Falls.

From there it was onto Mangrove, for some proper Indian food! I had the ttandoori mix, chilli korma chicken, and some garlic nan.

Then I ventured into the lion’s den: MacGregor’s, historically archenemies of the MacLarens… They didn’t seem to recognise my tartan though, and served me beers with a smile on their face. Bullet dodged!

The last stop of the night was The Malt Room. They initially recommended me a flight, but as appealing as that sounded, it would have been too much… I settled for one dram of Raasay, and then went to bed, to catch up on some sleep…

FyneFest Trip – Day 11

Published on 8 June 2023

Last Stop in Leith…

Thursday: my last full day in Scotland, and I was going to make the most of it! First order of the day though, was a nice toast with scrambled eggs and bacon at Fortuna Coffee Bar. Coffee as wel, obviously…

Around the corner was the Georgian House, again a National Trust of Scotland property.

From there it was quite a bit further to the next NTS location: Newhailes House. This place can only be visited if you book a tour, so I had done so. However, when I arrived there, it turned out I was the only one on the standard tour, so they offered to ‘upgrade’ me to a more extensive tour half an hour later. Which I happily accepted!

Since I was near the seaside already, my next stop was the Porty Vault in Portobello, Vault City Brewing’s second taproom.

From there it was just a short tram ride to Leith, the new hot spot for craft beer in Scotland..

The Newbarns Brewery taproom was first up, quickly followed by that of Moonwake Beer Co. The last stop in Leith was not a brewery, but a bar: Dreadnought Leith.

By that time I desperately needed food—especially since the Porty Vault didn’t have the smoked sausage subs I was hoping for, or any food, for that matter! Being in Edinburgh, it of course had to be Wings, to check off some more flavours on my list. Choice of the evening: 8 Flames, Thunderstruck, Taps Aff!, and Maximilian’s Molten Mounty, the three hottest sauces on the list, plus one a bit less hot… The 8 Flames definitely had a kick, and would still cause some tears later that night while taking out my contact lenses!

Last stop was of course BrewDog Edinburgh, on Cowgate, the bar that changed my perception of beer forever!

FyneFest Trip – Day 2

Published on 30 May 2023

Over to Arran

This morning I got up unusually early, at 5.30! Just as well my internal clock was still on Belgian time, but nevertheless way too early! The reason for this was that CalMac Ferries decided to cancel the 11.00 ferry I booked, so I had to go on the 8.00 ferry instead. This meant I had to catch the 6.15 train to Ardrossan Harbour… To add insult to injury, there was no coffee or breakfast available, neither in the ferry terminal, nor on the ferry itself!

Needless to say, in Brodick, on the Isle of Arran, my first stop was the Little Rock café, for a full Scottish breakfast, and a coffee.

After that I was almost human again, and ready to walk a bit of the Arran Coastal Way to head over to Brodick Castle. Unfortunately it was in scaffolding, so the outside was completely invisible, but luckily the interiors and the beautiful gardens made up for it.

I stopped by at Arran Brewery, but since this brewery doesn’t have a taproom, I had one of their beers at neighbour The Wineport.

On my way to the Arran Heritage Museum I did some picknick shopping at Arran’s Cheese Shop.

The last stop on the island was the Ormidale Hotel, which seemed like a good place to have a whisky from Isle of Arran Distillers, which was a bit too far to visit in person today. I’ll have to save that for when they’re organising tours again, but for now, the Arran 18 Year was a nice consolation.

A ferry and a train brought me back to Glasgow, for some Greek/Turkish/Levantine food at a new, highly recommended place, ‘Babs.

As my only real beer stop in Glasgow tonight, I went to the Innis & Gunn Brewery Taproom. I’m not really a fan of their own beers, but the guest list was stonkin’!

Since that dram of Arran brought me in the mood for whisky, I ended the night at The Pot Still, with their malt of the month, Smokehead.

FyneFest Trip – Day 1

Published on 29 May 2023

Out of Kilter in Glasgow!

For breakfast on the Caledonian Sleeper I had the full Scottish, as usual. I’m happy to report it’s being served on real crockery again! Mere minutes after I finished my tea, my train arrived in Glasgow Central fifteen minutes early.

To change things up a bit and try something new, I booked a room in the Z Hotel Glasgow this time. It was my first port of call after arrival, not to check in—it was still a bit early for that—but to drop off my baggage.

Today I started with coffee quite a bit earlier than yesterday: at 7.45 I was already sipping my first cortado and killing some time at Gordon St Coffee.

Something I simply had to do after seeing and enjoying the show “Inside Central Station”, was a Glasgow Central Station Tour, so I was booked for the one at 10:00. For a moment I thought I had to do the tour without any celebrities present, but eventually Paul Lyons did make a few appearances!

After an early lunch at Riverhill Coffee Bar, I could then already check in at my hotel, giving me some time to recharge before starting a filled afternoon.

Just before my trip, I renewed my membership of the National Trust for Scotland, and the first of their properties I visited this trip, was the Tenement House.

Because I was well ahead on my schedule, I decided to already visit BrewDog Glasgow Kelvingrove, my favourite Scottish BrewDog bar. Then I reverted back to my planning, to have an Indian style fully vegan burger—the Roberto Bhaji-O—and some beers at BrewDog Merchant City.