Scottish Food News – July 2015

First up this month is some brand-new beer, courtesy of the students of Heriot-Watt’s Brewing and Distilling course and the lovely folk over at Stewart Brewing. The annual Natural Selection project – work as team, create beer, party up big style – is now in its fifth year, with three unique beers on offer for one night only. Plus, you get a souvenir glass, and not the kind of ‘souvenir’ you have to hide under a friend’s scarf. Stealing’s wrong, kids. 2 Jul, from 7pm, Teviot Row House, Edinburgh, £10

Moving on from beer to spirits, the Scotch Malt Whisky Society’s 12 Tub Cinema series continues this month with a series of whisky-related films screening at their central Edinburgh HQ. With a drink and some ice cream thrown in, it’s a great chance to relive those childhood birthday parties at the cinema, although with more alcohol and films involving the Nazis this time around. More this time around, we presume. Various dates, 28 Queen St, Edinburgh, £5.

Right, now that’s out of the way let’s ‘hop’ back to beer. Hop, beer… anyone? Suit yourselves. While that pun may have fallen flat, the same won’t be true of this month’s evening of food and beer pairing hosted by Edinburgh’s Alechemy Brewing. One of the capital’s top microbreweries, they’ll be serving up a host of brews alongside foods that go well alongside said beers. Sounds like a winning idea to us. 16 Jul, Canon’s Gait, 232 Canongate, Edinburgh, £35

Next up, even more beer! This time it’s off to Glasgow, with Cafe Source Too playing host to the West End Beer Festival in Hillhead. Expect beers from the usual suspects and some of the newcomers from across the Scottish brewing fraternity, a bottle shop courtesy of The Good Spirits Co, and the usual beer festival issue of there literally being too many lovely things to try. There are worse problems to have, we’ll give you that. 31 Jul-1 Aug, Hillhead Sports Club, Hughenden Rd, £6

Finally this month, some actual food, with the Edinburgh Food Festival in the leafy surrounds of George Square Gardens. Taking up the site which will be the Assembly’s home during that ‘Edinburgh Fringe’ they have nowadays, the Spiegeltent in the Gardens will be converted into a covered market for producers from far and wide while there’ll also be a host of street food vendors, talks and other events to check out. Plus, it’ll be a great opportunity to do some on-the-ground reconnaissance ahead of the madness of August – you’ll thank us later… 29 Jul-2 Aug, various times, George Sq.