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Top Ten Best Craft Beer Bars and Pubs in Edinburgh

'Craft Beer' is a contentious and ill-defined label - put 10 keen beer drinkers in a (bar)room and I'll bet they'd be hard-pressed to come to a firm consensus on what exactly Craft Beer is. This makes writing a list of the "Best Craft Beer Bars in Edinbugh" a little tricky as I'm inviting disagreement over what constitutes 'Craft Beer' as well as what is 'Best'! I'm not going to pretend that this list is entirely objective, but below I've set out my criteria - if you don't agree with the criteria then you probably won't agree with everything on the list:

1. It needs to sell a good range of beers. Seems obvious, but whether we like it or not a lot of the recent trends in beer are thanks to our cousins across the pond. In metropolitan areas of the US it is common for even small neighbourhood bars to have at least a dozen kegs on tap (cask is something of a rarity over there) . A specialist craft beer bar would be expected to have 40+ taps on at any one time. I don't expect a Craft Beer bar in Edinburgh to have that many lines on at any one time, but I do think that there should be 10+ lines of beer made by independent brewers and, perhaps more controversially, I think at least half of the lines should be keg.

2. The beers need to be fresh, well kept and well poured (this last one applies much more to cask). This basic is sadly overlooked all too often. I would much rather drink in a pub with a smaller selection of REALLY FRESH beers that have been handled by someone who knows what they're doing, than a pub with a huge selection of not-that-fresh beers. High turnover of beers certainly helps to keep things fresh and so does having a good supplier who hasn't kept the beer sitting in their warehouse for weeks on end. Good cellermanship is really the key here, which leads on to...

3. Staff and patrons: to me, as much as anything, craft beer is primarily about people, from the start of the ingredient growing process, right through to the people with whom we enjoy drinking the finished article. I like my beer to be served to me by friendly, enthusiastic people who are genuinely interested in (or, even better, passionate and knowledgeable about) the product they sell. I don't want to be served by people on zero-hours contracts from big pubcos who desperately wish they were somewhere else other than behind a bar and neither do I want to be served my beer by some sour-faced hipster who spends far too much time on ratebeer and thinks he's better than the customer because he could write a pHD the lambic beer production process (and has all Arcade Fire's albums on limited edition vinyl. Probably). Good beer deserves to be poured by and enjoyed with, good people!

4. Hops. Let's be honest, many people use the term Craft Beer as a shorthand for high-ABV beers that are very hop-forward, often using interesting hops from faraway places. To be one of the best Craft Beer pubs in Edinburgh you've got to be serving hoppy beer, end of.

5. Character. As the Craft Beer scene in the UK continues it’s meteoric rise, it’s worth bearing in mind that we are not the USA and that we have our own long and illustrious history of inns, pubs and bars, some of which were selling good beer long before the Craft Beer phenomenon. I say this because if you are looking for a US-style craft beer bar in Edinburgh then really only 2 or 3 of the places below would qualify. To me though, this isn’t what I’m looking for - I don’t want to walk into a pub and feel like I’m in Brooklyn (unless, of course, I’m in Brooklyn...). If I’m in Edinburgh, I want the best of both worlds: the tradition and charm of a good Scottish boozer, combined with the awesome selection of interesting beers that is the hallmark of a craft beer orientated bar.

So, after this rather long-winded introduction and setting-out of criteria, I give you, without further ado and in no particular order, the best craft beer pubs in Edinburgh...

1. The Hanging Bat. The original craft beer bar in Edinburgh, this laid back haunt has an ever changing chalkboard featuring 14 lines of cask and keg. The decor is low-key and the food unpretentious, perfect for a daytime tasting session.

2. Andrew Usher and Co. This basement bar has over 20 taps on at any one time and is particularly strong on the international craft beers. They often have Mikeller on draft, which is reason enough to visit, in my opinion.

3. Six Degrees North. If you run a brewery and a bar (in 6DN's case, 4 bars around Scotland) it must be tempting to mainly sell your own beers and thus make more money. Laudably, the folks at Six Degrees north have avoided falling into this trap and they have a great range across 30+ taps, although it is weighted towards their own beers and collabs. There's also (understandably) a bias towards Belgian brewers and styles.

4. The Salt Horse. It's not big, but it is clever; A bar-room with adjoining bottle shop, these guys are always bang on-trend with their carefully curated and frequently rotating draft list. The draught list may be (relatively) short but if you want choice, check out their fridges. There's over 200 beers last time I counted (although admittedly I'm rubbish at maths, especially when I've had a few imperial stouts), with UK and international craft brewers well represented.

5. The Southern. One of three similar pubs dotted around the city centre (Red Squirrel on Lothian Road and Holyrood 9A at the end of Cowgate), this is my personal favourite as it tends to be less touristy and as a result the bar staff have more time for the punters. The beer selection is never going to set the world on fire but its solid enough and fresh. There's a heavy emphasis on brewers from Edinburgh and Scotland, so if you're a visitor to Edinburgh and looking to sample Scottish craft beer from keg then this bar should be high on your list.

6. Cask and Barrel (Southside). A slightly controversial one, as I'm breaking my own rules to put this one in the list (there's far more cask than keg here). But, if you're after cask beer then this is arguably the best cask in town. They also have some interesting and fresh kegs on rotation. Lets be clear,  if you head here expecting 3rds of a single batch DIPA from some Avant Garde brewery in New Jersey that none of your drinking buddies have heard of, expect to leave disappointed. If you consider a finely balanced cask bitter from a small local brewer that is fresh, well kept and well poured to qualify as craft beer, then you could do a lot worse than head here. Oh, and the decor is cool and proper old-school.

7. The Potting Shed. 18 craft beers on tap and you can forgive the ever-so-slightly twee concept of this city centre bar. The prices can be a little eye-watering at times but this place definitely has the largest selection of Scottish craft beer kegs on draft in town.

8. The Bow Bar. This no frills joint on Victoria Street is a nice place for a pint and a pie (if, like me, you're a fan of meat and gravy encased in pastry...). They've almost always got something interesting on both keg and cask and if not, their can and bottle selection in the fridges is well selected. If you like this kind of place, you’ll probably also like the Blue Blazer, at the opposite end of the Grassmarket.

9. The Brewdog Bar. Love ‘em or loathe ‘em, these guys arguably got everyone talking about craft beer in the UK in the first place and this Cowgate outpost of the Aberdonian craft beer empire is a lively place to hang-out. They’ve got around 15 beers on draft at anyone time, although the majority of these are their house beers. If you like Brewdog’s beers then you’re spoilt for choice, if you don’t, well there’s usually 2 or 3 lines of some interesting guest draft on. Rumours abound that a second Brewdog bar will be opening in Edinburgh shortly.

10. The Dreadnought. Where!? Exactly! This place is so good you probably haven't heard of it (and is about the polar opposite of the Brewdog Bar)! Tucked away at the end of a residential street in North Leith, this quality bar was, until recently, so rough that even I wouldn't drink in there. Luckily, at the end of 2016 it was taken over by two guys who know their beer and the selection (5 cask and 5 keg) is always interesting and fresh. You won’t get a better pint of Pilot Blønd anywhere in the city plus they frequently host beer festivals where they double the number of drafts on offer. They're also one of the only places in Scotland that serves beer from interesting independent English brewery Brass Castle.

As always, there will be some who feel that their favourite craft beer pub in Edinburgh should have made this list. Honourable mentions should go to:

- OX184

- The Canon's Gait

- Jeremiah's Taproom

- Woodland Creatures

If you feel I’ve missed somewhere worthy of inclusion on this list just drop me a line and I’ll consider including it next time I update the list.