Scottish Food Events and Festivals: July 2019

We kick off with news of Young Folk Doing Good, as the Heriot-Watt brewing and distilling course presents its latest beer under the Natural Selection banner. This year’s beer is a cracker – The Altruist is a raspberry and blackcurrant Berliner Weisse that’s sweet but still packs a sharp tang, and it’s also carbon neutral, which is very nice indeed. 27 Jun from 7pm, Six Degrees North, 24 Howe St, Edinburgh, £10, tickets via naturalselectionbrewing.com

First up in July proper is a chance to both consider and quaff as Drinking Coffee, Thinking Coffee brings together the fine coffee folk from Artisan Roast with Edinburgh University’s Philosophy Department for three evenings of bean-powered chat. July’s three sessions each come with a slightly nebulous title – ‘Why we like it?’, ‘Art’ and ‘Time’ – as well as the chance to get stuck into some tasty coffee. 1, 8 and 15 Jul, 6.30-8.30pm, Artisan Roast, 138 Bruntsfield Place, £3, tickets via artisanroast.co.uk

Over in Glasgow, it’s the return of the excellently-titled Glasgow's West End Beer Festival. 14 bars across the site, loads of beers to taste and brewers to annoy, live music… what more could you want? Nothing. You could want nothing more. 5-6 Jul, various times, Hillhead Sports Club, 32 Hughenden Rd, £8 plus booking fee, tickets via Eventbrite

Also returning this month is Vegan Connections festival, Glasgow’s indie celebration of all things plant-based. In its fourth year, VC brings together more than 40 stalls to pack the Briggait with the best of vegan grub. And in the evening, to celebrate veganism’s long-running association with raucous live music, Vegan Connections host a gig featuring Acid Cannibals, IDKID and Bratakus at The Old Hairdressers. 7 Jul, The Briggait and The Old Hairdressers, £3.50-10, tickets via Eventbrite, facebook.com/VeganConnections

Next up is the chance to bother some brewers in their own gaff instead of waiting for them to come to a beer festival, as Top Out Brewery host an open day at their base in Loanhead. Try some beers, ask them about their topographically themed beer bottles, stoke a neighbourhood rivalry with Stewart Brewing at the other end of the road – a standard Saturday afternoon. 13 Jul from 12pm, Dryden Rd, Loanhead, free entry

Good news for fans of Belgian beer and paint fumes, as Stonehaven’s own Six Degrees North bring their Street Jam festival of beer, graffiti and assorted arty things to their Edinburgh and Glasgow bars this month. The set-up sees a collection of street artists work together on canvases throughout the day, while you the public stand nearby sipping a delicious beer and marvelling at the handiwork. There’s also a mini art fair, and an open canvas upon which you can leave your tag. 13 Jul from 2pm, 24 Howe St, Edinburgh; 27 Jul from 2pm, 566 Dumbarton Rd, Glasgow; free entry, sixdnorth.co.uk

And finally for July, the Barras Art and Design Centre is filled with beer for the Barras Beer Bash. OK that’s not literally the case (imagine the clean-up), but it’s pretty close, as twenty of the country’s best small breweries will come together to fight it out. OK, that’s not strictly true either; there’ll be beers from each of the breweries to try in an effort to find out which one is best and crown it Beer of the Barras. It’s a real festival of beer, or ‘beer festival’, and we reckon it's an idea that just might catch on. 26-27 Jul, various times, BAaD, 54 Calton Entry, Glasgow, tickets £8.50 via TicketTailor