Brewhemia, Edinburgh

As described below and rather pricey, definitely a young (rich) persons venue. There’s a Maitre D, sometimes stationed at the front door. The tanks are a feature of the front bar area, the rear is more the restaurant or beer hall. Czech and German beers with a few international, Scottish and Irish brands, all keg of course. There’s a reference to a section called “The Caffe” and rotational craft beers but I didn’t see that bit. The drinks and Wurst are listed in a small book. There are bell pushes on the walls marked “buzz for bubbles” but at £75 upwards per bottle I didn’t.

An attractive looking pub just opposite Waverley Station, it’s quite an impressive looking stone building and the entranceway is liberally adorned with garlands and other foliage which is rather unusual perhaps, but it seems to style itself in the manner of a Munich beer hall. Inside it’s much larger than might be expected, and split across a number of different levels. The main bar at the front has some pale wood strip on the floor, pale green wood panelling on the lower part of the walls with some butcher’s tiles and blue wood panelling elsewhere. A mezzanine level floor had been fitted with glass balustrade overlooking the bar area, but this made the ceiling height rather low in places. Seating was a mixture of fitted, padded benches and regular chairs and all the pillars had shelving fitted around the permitter for vertical drinking. The cured bar counter was quite impressive, with illuminated shelving above housing miscellaneous items such as brewery signs beer barrels and miniature orange trees (who’s significance was lost on me) and some large, low-hanging copper globes. The main point of interest though was the copper brew tanks either side of the bar, sign written with various beers including Edinburgh Beer Factory’s Paolozzi, Budweiser Budvar and Staropramen. I assume these are actually used for beer storage since a sign below indicated the date the tank was opened and even the name of the brewer in the case of some of the more local ones. How on earth they get refilled though, I have no idea. Down a few steps at the rear was a very large open plan room with a further bar counter, and this seemed to be more influenced by the Munich beer hall style with much larger communal benches to sit at, and I would imagine it could get quite lively and noisy on occasions. Unfortunately, German lagers dominated here, so there were no real ales available, with the only apparent beer option being Chieftain from Cork which was described as a malty IPA. Ciders fared a little better though, with both Traditional and Scottish Fruits from Thistly Cross. Overall, I was quite impressed with this, although certainly if you’re after a more traditional pub experience, this may not be for you.