Food News – April 2013

Food is the glue that holds our fragile cultural world together. Don’t believe us? Well why do you think these pages are in the middle of the magazine? Ah-ha, see. Food is linked to everything, and we like when the two work together. For example, we like a nice bit of graphic design round these parts. And the Wine Tube Map, unleashed as part of Edinburgh’s Wine with a View event this month, is a nice bit of graphic design. The event brings together some of the capital’s top independent wine folk, along with their wine and some obligatory nibbles. The map is designed to help you navigate the globe’s various wines, and to reassure you that the wine you have in your hand will be similar to a wine you enjoy/trust. The setting for all this is the outrageous Sky Bar atop the Point Hotel, so your wine should be accompanied by nice views and the sight of canapes flying to the pavement thanks to gusts of rooftop wind. Frankly, that and the map would have done us just fine, the wine is a bonus. Point Hotel, Bread Street, 27 Apr, £15.

Next, two music and drink tie-ups to fight for your attention. In one corner, we have Beer Vs. Records, the Record Store Day collaboration/bitter dust-up between Barney’s Beer and Song, by Toad. The concept is simple – Song by Toad are releasing a series of vinyl records featuring new tracks from Le Thug and Magic Eye, among others. The records come with lovely artwork, etc etc, but sadly you can’t eat vinyl. Well, you can eat it once. You can drink beer though, so Barney’s are releasing the same music as digital downloads printed on the bottles of some new small-batch brews. The packages will cost the same, and you’ll get the same music either way, so it’s a choice between musty, old, obsolete records or tasty, tasty beer. This column has picked its side, and we’re sticking to it. On sale from 20 Apr, beervsrecords.com.

In the other corner is Brew at the Bog, Brewdog’s returning attempt to show that not only do they make better beer than the corporates, they also bankroll better music festivals. While it’s not on the scale of T in the Park, the Bog does feature a stacked line-up with the likes of FOUND, Miaoux Miaoux, Discopolis and Three Blind Wolves all making the trek to Inverness for the day. Tickets are just £30, and one assumes that there won’t be a pint of warm, watery lager to be found. Maybe some beers poured from taxidermied animals, but no piss-lager! Bogbain Farm (nr Inverness). 4 May, £30 (inc. camping).

From music to books, and Glasgow’s Aye Write! festival. The festival’s top food and drink event sees whisky expert Ian Buxton plugging his book 101 World Whiskies to Try Before You Die. So far so bucket list, but the fact that these are world whiskies from all over the place make this an intriguing sell. You’ll be confused, you’ll try and fail to pronounce the names of Japanese whiskies, and you’ll ask awkward questions of the author. Books! Mitchell Library, North Street, 20 Apr, £8.

Now, do you like IPA? You don’t? Well, go away for just now. The rest of you, do you like IPA? You do? Well good news, because 30 Days of IPA is back! For a month, the hoppy colonial throwback will take over pubs across Edinburgh. As if that wasn’t enough, the IPA-ists are even getting in a spot of science, by popping some beer on a boat and sailing it around for a while in an attempt to find out just what made the original IPAs which sailed to and from India so tasty. Their boat is just sailing around the Forth, but the experiment stands. Music, books, art and amateur boating – food brings it all together. Various Edinburgh pubs throughout April; Beer on Boats, Counting House, West Nicholson Street, 25 Apr, £12.50. 30daysofipa.co.uk.