Scottish Food News – May 2017

We launch this month's column with a pair of Edinburgh events featuring Danish experimentalists Rocket Brewery. Get it, 'cos rockets... launch... Anyway, Rocket's Kim Agersten heads to Salt Horse on 3 May for an evening explaining their unique brewery set-up. All of Rocket's beers are created using 'brett', a yeast found in fruit skins that's growing in popularity as an ingredient to add some funky complexity to beers. Kim will discuss the brewery's philosophy and range over delicious beer and cheeses (the best way to discuss things). 3 May, 6.30pm, £20, tickets via Eventbrite

The following day, Rocket join the crew at Twelve Triangles' new Kitchen Table outpost in Leith for an evening of kebabs, seasonal sour beers and questions. And if you're going to ask questions, best to do it armed with delicious kebabs and highly interesting beer. 4 May, 7pm, £43 (includes dinner and beers), tickets via Eventbrite

Over in Glasgow, the Glasgow Coffee Festival returns for two days of highly-caffeinated fun at the Briggait. The Scottish leg of the UK Barista Championship and the UK Brewers Cup both feature for those of you who fancy watching some competitive cupping, while roasteries and cafes from all over will be in attendance to ply you with flat whites and entice you with lovely, pricey coffee-making equipment. 6 & 7 May, 10am-6pm, £15 per day, facebook.com/TheGlasgowCoffeeFestival

Also returning this month is Stewart Brewing's Edinburgh Beer Festival. Past events have seen Stewart join forces with fellow craft breweries for some pretty exciting collab beers, so expect more of the same this time round. 13 May, noon-8pm, £15, stewartbrewing.co.uk

On the same weekend, Summerhall's FestivALE is back for its fourth year, with a number of fresh additions to its hoppy line-up. There's ExperimentALE – a series of live, boozy science experiments – and a street food line-up courtesy of The Pitt. There will also be a host of delicious one-off beers by brewers from across the country, and cocktails for those of you who aren't massively into beer. We will still insist on pronouncing it 'festi-vah-lay' rather than playing along with the pun, but that's just us. 11-13 May, various times, £7, summerhall.co.uk

Speaking of The Pitt, they're hosting the team from World Whisky Day on 20 May for what promises to be an extra smoky edition of everyone's favourite street food market. And that's saying something, what with the open fires and barbecued meats usually doing the rounds. 20 May, from midday, line-up at facebook.com/pittstmarket

We finish May where we started, at Salt Horse for their Sour Fest celebrating that most tart of all brewing styles. You'll find beers from across the UK, Europe and beyond, with some exclusives, collabs, and truly esoteric beers that really will need to be tasted to be believed. An ideal chance to delve into an oft-neglected side of beer, convince someone who's sworn off IPAs that not all beers need to be brown and very hoppy, or find out just how delicious a yuzu fruit beer can be. We're going to guess 'quite'. From 25 May, 57 Blackfriars St, salthorse.beer