Raise Your Glass to a History of Brewing -

When Edinburgh Was Biscuits, Books and Beer

It wasn’t very long away when the northern powerhouse of brewing was Edinburgh with 38 breweries scattered about the town. It was the beer capital of the world. There were as many brewery chimneys as there were kirk spires and the air was thick with hops in the nation’s seat. Drinking water was suspect for centuries and so ordinary folk drank beer, which didn’t go down well with the social reformers of the 19th century and the Band of Hope. But brewing had been a part of Edinburgh since the 12th century, when monks began brewing at Holyrood, making it one of the country’s oldest industries. The pure spring water of the area made it a great place to brew.

Scottish Know How

So successful was Scottish brewing ‘know-how’ that its beers were eagerly drunk throughout the empire and in hostile foreign climes Scots beer was the only safe thing to drink. Now the place of brewing in our national life is being celebrated in Musselburgh Museum, situated in the old town hall if you remember it there. The exhibition is an eye opener, with maps of the various breweries scattered across the region and it reflects a time when the capital’s major industries were biscuits, books (publishing) and beer. The book production was from the time when Edinburgh was the “Athens of the North.”  And it was the ‘brewerage’ that gave the city the Usher Hall and the McEwan Hall.  The Ushers were distillers  and brewers and the McEwans were brewers.

All Change

Naturally it is all change in the brewing sphere and the world famous Scottish and Newcastle brand was taken over by Heineken some ten years ago and their old site was razed for the new parliament building.  But all is not lost as there are some 11 micro breweries left in the capital   making craft ales and lagers. So hurry along to see the exhibition, it’s there until early June and is a must see for us history buffs. And try out a craft beer, it might be graet.

Raise a Glass

Now if you want to raise a glass to our great brewing heritage then you’ll need to take a peek at our terrific glassware and in particular an item on half price offer, the Saturn beer glass which is so darn elegant every brew will taste better in it. Cheers!

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