Scottish Food News – September 2014

After the madness of August, it’s a pleasure to see that the world of food is back to normal. No more bizarre one-offs or crazy events in bizarre locations – just perfectly normal stuff like tea and cakes on a canal boat. The Tea and Cake Cruise down Edinburgh’s Union Canal combines the joys of nautical adventure with the pleasures of tasty cake, while allowing nostalgic twenty-somethings to take Instagram shots of themselves pretending to be kids’ TV favourites Rosie and Jim. As we said, all perfectly normal. 28 Sep, 2pm. Edinburgh Quay, Fountainbridge. £15, re-union.org.uk

Back on dry land, but with enough beer to float a boat down Sauchiehall Street, Craft Beer Rising takes over Glasgow’s Drygate brewery this month for three days of beer-based fun. There’ll be DJ sets from the likes of Optimo and ex-Portishead man Andy Smith, plenty of ridiculous street food to try out, and hundreds of beers from breweries around the world. It’s like an Edinburgh Fringe redux, but with top-notch craft beer in place of bad re-interpretations of Shakespeare. What’s not to like? 19-21 Sep, various times. Drygate Brewery, 85 Drygate. £20, craftbeerrising.co.uk

If you prefer your foodie weekends to have slightly more heat to them, then the Scottish Braves Harvest Chilli Festival is for you. When we say ‘slightly more heat’, we actually mean ‘everything in this place is coated in chilli so maybe wear gloves’. The bars serve up chilli beers and cocktails, the food stalls stock everything from the obvious (salsas and dips that will make your entire face water) to the bizarre (chilli fudge, which is apparently a thing), and there’s even a chilli-eating competition for the competitive eating and violent sweating aficionados amongst you. 20-21 Sep, 10:30am. Scone Palace, nr Perth. £6.30, chillifest.net

Finally this month, we highlight the chance to snoop around a major commercial brewery without being arrested. Yes, Doors Open Day is here once again, with the chance to gawp at the industrial scale of Tennent’s Wellpark brewery high on the agenda for food types keen to work out just what actually goes into a pint of Tennent’s to make it so… ‘distinctive’. If you prefer your beer-based rubbernecking to have a more active flow, you can hit the streets with Glasgow architects Dress For The Weather as they examine the design behind some of the city’s best-known pubs. Their Typology Project event looks at the stylistic evolution of the city’s bars in what will presumably turn into a highly civilised pub crawl. Dodging from bar to bar whilst trying to appear cultural – it’s as if August never ended. 20-21 Sep, various dates and times, glasgowdoorsopenday.com