Scotland Food News – March 2015
In this month's Food News, beer faces off against wine, gin ploughs its own furrow, and the StAnza and Wee Dub festivals get in on the food action...
We start this month with one of our favourite dilemmas: beer versus wine. The Drygate brewery in Glasgow is home to the latest battle between the two titans of by-the-glass alcoholic refreshment (take a hike cider, you blew it with all that blended fruity nonsense in the late 2000s). While the choice of venue might seem to give beer a bit of advantage, the format – a four-course dinner, each course paired with a beer and wine, to be hyped up by experts in the field – means it should be a fair fight. May the best beverage win, we say. 1 Apr, 7:30pm; Drygate Brewery, 80 Drygate. £50, tickets from drygate.com
If you prefer your food events to be a little less competitive and a little more enlightening, the Poetry Café for Breakfast series at the StAnza poetry festival in St Andrews should be up your street. Expect enlightening talks on the impact of language and location on poets’ work with contributions from some of the writers appearing elsewhere at the festival – it should be a cut above the standard breakfast table chatter, that’s for sure. 6–8 Mar, 10am; Byre Theatre, St Andrews. £4.50, stanzapoetry.org
Of course, it is possible to be enlightened while supping a lovely drink or two, as is the case at Summerhall's Botany and Mixology event. Hosted by on-site gin-makers Pickering's Gin, you'll learn the ins and outs of infusion as well as the basics of what goes with what when it comes to gin-based cocktails. There's also the chance to take the 'tour' of the distillery's boutique operation – packed with Heath Robinson-style apparatus, it's a must for anyone with a spare room and an overactive imagination. 7 Mar, 7pm; Summerhall, 1 Summerhall Pl, Edinburgh. £20, summerhall.co.uk
Going back to festivals, Edinburgh’s Wee Dub Festival returns for its fifth year this month, and besides all the music and DJs and general ‘partying’ that all those other sections of the magazine set such great stall in, there’s also some food and drink happenings to investigate. Namely, the festival’s Sunday Social at Hemma, with Jamaican fusion food and Jamaica-inspired cocktails on the menu, and the chance to embrace the Wee Dub vibe in the middle of the day. Lovely stuff. 7 Mar, 12pm–4pm; Hemma, Holyrood Rd.
And we end where we began this month, with lots of beer. But unlike earlier, where bread's liquid cousin had to compete for attention, The Great Scottish Beer Celebration brings some of the country’s top breweries together under the roof of the Barras Art and Design Centre for a weekend of purely hop-based fun. Organised by Glasgow’s Hippo Beers, with food from Fire in Babylon and Burger Meats Bun and beers from the likes of Top Out, Pilot, Stewart and Brewdog, the real winners in this one will be you lovely people. Congratulations, you’ve earned it. 13–14 Mar, various times; BAaD, Calton Entry, Glasgow; £7.50, hippobeers.co.uk