Bow Bar Beer Festival 2010: 28th July - 8th August
August is nearly upon us and amid the general chaos of marvellous things happening all at once in Edinburgh, you'd be forgiven for wanting to stop between events for a cold pint. Fortunately, the Bow Bar is offering a total of 75 ales from over 50 breweries (not to mention the 25 bottled varieties, including Green's gluten free!) from Wednesday 28th July through to Sunday 8th August, as part of its annual Beer Festival.
The Bow Bar is one of our favourite pubs in Edinburgh. It's not hard to see why: it has a great atmosphere, ever-helpful bar staff, an impressive variety of whiskies (210 as of July 2010!), beers, free wifi access, and all this just around the corner in West Bow just above the Grassmarket.
During the Beer Festival there will be something for all tastes with old favourites from many of the Scottish microbreweries and plenty that are new to the Bow Bar. Navigating the beer programme will be a doddle: most days, there'll be a different set of 8 to choose from, with the new ones starting in the evening.
If you're worried about not knowing what to ask for, and worried about how many you'll be able to try while maintaining your dignity (please do try to maintain your dignity), here's some we're looking forward to, helpfully classified by strength. Included among the many fine examples of the supremely quaffable are:
Low strength Session Ales: Coniston Bluebird, Island Hopper, Innishail, Golden Jackel and more
Stronger IPA's: Green Bullet, Orkney IPA, Raj,
Wheat beers: Weiss peak, Paradise Weiss
US style heavily hopped: Apache APA, Summit Else, Punk IPA
Milds: Boathouse, Dambusters, Beijing Black
Porters: Naylors, Black Isle
Flavoured: Lemon and ginger, Blathan, Elderflower fr. Roosters, Stoned.
Going through the programme as the inexpert enthusiasts we are, we're very excited to see that we'll be able to try beers from the new Kelso-based brewery, Tempest. Winner in the 'Best Name' category goes to Blue Monkey's '99 Red Babboons' and the one where most care is needed when ordering is Northumberland's 'Bucking Fastard'. Too right.
(Very) Local Hero award goes to Stewarts for designing a special brew just for the Bow Bar Beer Festival and local anti-hero award goes to the dastardly fellow it was named after. (For those unaware of that particular episode of Edinburgh local history, google 'The Wizard of West Bow' for the exploits of one Major Weir.)
Hope to see you there!
Words: Helen McLoughlin, Kay Bohan
Posted by Kayleigh Bohan on July 28, 2010.