Food Events and Festivals: November 2018

We begin this month with Cocktails in the City. The boozy shindig returns to Edinburgh this month, setting up shop in the Hub at the top of the Royal Mile with a selection of the city’s best bartenders and a whole host of #brands. Expect one-off cocktails, lots of bow ties, and the chance to try out a few things you might never consider on a standard trip to the pub. 9-10 Nov, 6-11pm, The Hub, Edinburgh, £12, tickets via Eventbrite

Next up, an early spot of Christmas fun courtesy of the Glasgow Vegan Christmas Festival. Fifty vegan stalls loaded up with animal-free festive goodies for you to gift around the place (or just keep for yourself, it’s up to you), as well as vegan cookery demos and a host of talks and workshops to give you some plant-based inspiration. 10-11 Nov, 10.30am-4.30pm, Trades Halls, Glasgow, £3 on the door

Over in Glasgow, The Science of Gin wins the ‘most descriptive event title of the month’ award (and it was up against an event called Cocktails in the City), filling the city’s Science Centre with half-a-dozen fantastic tipples selected by the lovely folks at the Good Spirits Co. You’ll hear an explanation of the science behind the gin, then drink some of it inside a planetarium. Science! 16 Nov, 7-10pm, Glasgow Science Centre, £35, glasgowsciencecentre.org

Up in Dundee, Spirit of North Hop brings together distilleries of all sorts from across Scotland for an afternoon of sampling and spirit-based questioning. There’s also a beer bar from 71 Brewing, coffee from local aces Sacred Grounds, music, street food, and all the usual drinks festival hoopla. 24 Nov, 1-5pm & 6-10pm, Apex Hotel Dundee, £25, northhop.co.uk

Regular readers may have noticed that Innis & Gunn’s series of Versus events keep catching our eye – what can we say, they keep offering loads of booze and nice food for not much money! I&G have gone for a Vegan theme for this month's beer vs food vs other drink face-off, with four vegan wines going up against a quartet of beers and some veggie food from their own kitchen. You, of course, have the tough job of enjoying it all and picking a winner. 29 Nov, 7-10pm, Innis & Gunn Beer Kitchen, Ashton Lane, Glasgow, £20, tickets via Eventbrite 

And finally, with Christmas on the way, there are a whole host of wine fairs to hit up across Edinburgh this month – these will help you through the endless dinners you’re going to have to attend in December, as at least you’ll have your vino sorted, and chances are you’ll have bought enough of the stuff to float a small ship. WoodWinters host their Big Wine Tasting at Summerhall (3 Nov, 4-7pm, £20) with a mix of old, new, and “left field” bottles, while Great Grog offer up 100 bottles at the Merchants Hall in a “informal wander-about style”, which we’re fully on board with (16 Nov, 6-8.30pm, £20). Hill Street Design House host a way-fancy evening of sparkling wines that is a bit pricier than the others on this list, but then you do get complimentary cheese on arrival so maybe it balances out (22 Nov, 7.30-9.30pm, £45), and Vino take the reins back up the road at Summerhall for their Winter Wine Tasting on the same night (22 Nov, 5.30-9pm, £15). If nothing else, this should all make for excellent practice for next month's bacchanal of drinking, mince pies, and festive headwear.