Scottish Food News – December 2013

Ah, December. While all of Scotland dons seasonal jumpers and chows on roast dinners every night, your friendly neighbourhood food writers lock themselves away Bob Cratchit-style to count up your Food and Drink Survey votes. We’ll need a drink at the end of all this, so this month’s food news has a somewhat liquid theme. It is Christmas, so let’s be extravagant and get some high culture involved to start us off.

The Opera Wintry Show sees WEST Brewery combine an evening of their cracking German beers with some operatic warblings in the brewery. Drink in the culture, marvel at the hops, and laugh a little inside every time you remember that the event is called ‘The Opera Wintry Show.’ Good work, WEST, good work. 4 & 5 Dec, Templeton Building, Glasgow Green, £15

From the magic of music to a Christmas miracle. Yes, this holiday season, you can meet a brewer! The Hanging Bat’s latest beer event sees Hawkshead brewery take the place over for an evening of beer chat, beer-drinking, and… well, more of those first two. Expect a huge range of drinks, a whole load of dramatic hop discussion, and a few ill-advised New Year’s Resolutions to “do beer just like you do” to be made. 18 Dec, Hanging Bat, Lothian Rd Edinburgh, £20 (inc 5 beers and food)

For those who want to eat, A Christmas Cartel has you covered and then some. The festive outing of the regular nights at Glasgow’s SWG3, food comes courtesy of American street food whizzes scoop and their shiny, shiny van, as well as pad BKK’s brilliant ad-hoc Thai kitchen. It’s an American/Asian street dinner in a freezing Glasgow warehouse - if that doesn’t scream ‘Christmas magic’ we don’t know what does. SWG3, 100 Eastvale Place, 6, 7, 13 & 14 Dec, £5

We finish this month with Winterbeerfest, a month-long celebration of Scottish and UK beer that proves that all one needs for an effective and unique brand is a laptop with no spacebar. Snark about the name aside, Winterbeerfest sees a whole host of beers turn up at a whole host of venues across Dundee and Edinburgh. Holyrood 9A, The Southern and the Red Squirrel in Edinburgh, as well as Dundee’s Duke’s and Drouthy’s will all carry you into the new year on a raft of tasty craft beer. Wait, New Year? Really? As well as Christmas, and this Food Survey? We’ll have to leave you to it, folks. See you in January... Winterbeerfest, 18 Dec-18 Jan.