Brewdog Castlegate: The scran...

BrewDog is one of, if not the most successful craft beer business Scotland has to offer to local, national, and international markets. With a quirky outlook on marketing and some seriously clever PR stunts, the craft beer company has been on our radar since brewing its first beers back in 2007. How time flies!

After establishing its new brewery premises in Ellon, alongside brewery bar, DogTap, and investing in Aberdeen by gifting us lucky locals with a BrewDog bar, the craft beer giants are at it again and have well and truly outdone themselves this time by adding a second bar to the city centre, BrewDog Castlegate (previously known as The Athenaeum to you Aberdonian's out there). 

The latest establishement in global dominance, BrewDog Catlegate, consists of a bar with sixteen craft beer lines, an informal restaurant for casual pub grub with a twist, a bottle shop, and a downstairs club, UnderDog, which will be open till 2am on weekdays and 3am at the weekend with some majorly good music vibes. Thus meaning that there's something for everyone at this new eatery, as well as some cracking hand-made speciality coffee for those looking to meet up casually with friends during #dryanuary.

I've consumed one too many beer cocktails previously at BrewDog Aberdeen, and have been lucky enough to experience the brewery tour in Ellon also, so it was about time I got my act in gear to check out the company's new digs. So around two weeks ago, on a cold Winter's afternoon, I did just that.

Stepping into the bar it was fairly busy, with no seating available my date and I were on the hunt for a table, after all I was there for the food primarily. Hanging around for 10 minutes I was sure we were never going to get a table, but alas, five minutes later I was seated with a great view of Castlegate. Ideal for an avid people watching enthusiast.

The menu is small yet pretty varied, allowing you to choose something light, or for those looking for a good feed, something a little more hearty. There's plenty of choice with something for everyone, and vegetarians also have a pretty decent offering too.

In my case, when you're extremely ravenous, the whole 'eyes bigger than your belly' thing seriously applies to me. This in turn lead to us ordering a warm bag or croutons with a cheese fondue dip (£4.50) from the global beer plates section to start. Chewy, yet crispy, we dipped away to our cheesy hearts content.

Looking for something a little more filling, it was time to embrace the main event in the form of some serious gooey goodness; the patty melts.

I decided on the mushroom swiss melt: 1/4 lbs burger patty on canary bread, lathered in glazed BBQ sauce, with chestnut mushrooms, crispy shallots and swiss cheese accompanied by hopped up fries and market pickles (£9.00). 

My date opted for the parry melt. A 1/4 lbs burger patty with beer and bacon onions, swiss and jack cheese, served with hopped up fries and market pickles (£9.00). 

Both meals were extremely satisfying and left us feeling full for the rest of the day, which to me, is serious value for money. I must admit, we both agreed my patty melt was the better choice of dish, however, both meals were delicious, and served in record time. Marvellously splendid and exactly what you want on a Sunday. Well cooked, tasty comfort food.

A massive fan Tommy K fan; also known as a major addict if you ask my friends and family, the Great British Sauce of Proper Tomato sauce was one of the best I have sampled to date. Light and fruity, with a real zing of tanginess, the sauce was the perfect condiment to accompany the hoppy fries.

Although we were full to the brim, we were really keen to try out one of the shakes too. After a hard deliberation period, we decided we were going to share a salted caramel ice cream, chocolate and Oreo cookie shake (£5.00); it sounded like ice cream heaven. Unfortunately when we visited the shake machine hadn't arrived yet (sob, sob, sob) but in all honesty,  we really didn't need it.

In the case of BrewDog Castlegate, our eyes really were bigger than out bellies, waddling out of the bar completely satisfied, looking forward to our next visit. If I can give you one piece of advice to anyone looking to visit for food, I would definitely recommend booking in advance as this place is proving to be exceedingly popular.

Below I've decided to list a few favourite dishes which I'd like to try out next time...you never know, maybe you'll be sampling them before me!

• Vindaloo sausage (£8.00 - Dogs section)
• Kimchi dog (£8.00 - Dogs section)
• Chicken wings, hot sauce and honey glaze (£5.50 - Global beer plates section)
• Chocolate chunk cookie and peanut butter ice-cream sandwich (£5.00 - Ice-cream and shakes section)

P. S. Four legged friends are welcome in the bar, so you can take your dog along with you as you enjoy a pint or two of some fierce craft beer.

For Now...

Just Julia

Porter's Gin launch and Orchid's sixth birthday bash

Cocktails, or gin, cocktails or gin? For anyone who knows me, making quick decisions can be extremely challenging for me; the meaning of indecisive is me in a nutshell. However, when I received an invite to my favourite bar's birthday bash, and the launch of Porter's gin, its safe to say this was one decision that would be made in a heartbeat.

Orchid has been, and still is, one of my favourite cocktail bars in Aberdeen. The talented, creative team behind the bar put their heart and soul into the business, mastering the art of cocktail making presenting works of art right in front of customers faces. With cocktails on my mind (which they very much are majority of the time), I headed to the bar one cold December evening to indulge in some liquid gold.

On arrival to celebrate this special evening, guests were treated to a fantastic fizzy bellini, welcomed into the cosy bar to begin the celebrations and most importantly hear all about the gin everyone is talking about. What I love about a good old Orchid birthday bash, is the generosity and kind-heartedness of owner, Ben Iravani. For one hour during the celebrations a free bar is called, and all that is asked of guests is for those getting a drink is to put some money in the jar for the bar's chosen charity. A real nice touch if you ask me.

Anyway, back to the point; the gin.

Yes it's bottling/labelling is extremely professional, and yes it tastes phenomenal, but my favourite thing about this gin is that it's the first gin in over 100 years to be distilled in my home town, Aberdeen.

The gin has been created by three talented masterminds (see below for my seven things you need to know about Porter's Gin), who have used a number of different, unusual botanicals, and perfected distilling techniques to create this wee beauty. And oh what a beauty it is.

Porter's Gin: The seven things you need to know...

• It was created by drinks enthusiast trio: Ben Iravani, Alex Lawrence and Josh Rennie.
• It is the first gin to be distilled in Aberdeen in over 100 years, and it tastes bloody delicious.
• The gin is named after Professor Andrew Porter of Aberdeen University, after he sourced a rotary evaporator for the trio who then put it to the test to create the gin. (A very snazzy piece of equipment indeed!)
• The temperature the gin is distilled at plays a huge part in its taste. (Did you really think they would give this information away, come on guys!)
• The modern, cold-distilled part of the gin is created in Aberdeen. The traditional part of the gin was achieved by working with a UK distillery which has over 250 years experience in the art of gin making.
• The 'distillery' where the gin is cold-distilled was once an old garage.
• The gin boasts twelve botanicals, one of the main botanicals being Buddha's Hand; a citrus fruit with finger-like segments which resembles a human hand!

If you haven't already managed to sample the gin, don't panic, you can sample the tipple at Orchid or its sister bar, 99 Bar and Kitchen, although, I have a feeling this specific gin will be gracing the shelves of many other bars in Aberdeen and will prove extremely popular with us Scots. 

Orchid also has a number of different cocktails on their latest menu which incorporates the gin into its drinks offering. I would definitely recommend the Spruce Almighty, Porter's Fizz or Kamm Doon Son! All very tasty and very smooth on the palette. Or, you could always go for a traditional gin and tonic, classy and satisfying, what more could you want from a drink!? Sláinte!

  For Now...

Just Julia