Usquabae Bar and Larder – Hope Street Edinburgh

I enjoy whisky and whilst Raymond hasn’t been a whisky drinker in the past he is slowly experimenting with different whiskies and starting to get a taste for the water of life

Usquabae Bar is located on 2-4 Hope Street just round the corner from Ryan’s Bar so is extremely handy for the bus and tram networks.  The arrival of Usquabae adds to the expanding West End bar scene with the likes of  Heads and Tails, The Huxley and Ghillie Dhu all making for an enjoyable evening out.

The bar stocks over 400 Malt Whiskies resulting in a very comprehensive drinks list!  The hardest part is choosing one although the staff are very knowledgeable and can talk you through the various whiskies to help find one that suits your palate.

Over 400 Malts

During the evening we got chatting to Dave from The Mash Tun website and this lead to some very interesting discussions about whiskies – check out the podcasks on their blog – really entertaining.  One of Dave’s favourite new(ish) distilleries is Kilchoman on Islay so we just had to try one of their Malts.  We decided on Machir Bay and found the staff to be so helpful when we were ordering.  They asked if we had tasted the Malt before and then explained about the distillery and the flavours of the whisky before we purchased – impressive.

2 Kilchoman!

We both thought that their might be scope for a more simplified version of the whisky menu in addition to the main menu.  This could perhaps suggest whiskies for various categories of drinkers like “Newbies”, “Tried a Few Before” and maybe “Whisky Aficionado Looking for a Challenge” with say 3-5 whiskies under each category which could change each month?  It might encourage the shy whisky drinkers to start their whisky tasting journey and also give more experienced drinkers some new whisky avenues to explore.

If you’re feeling hungry then both light bites and larger main dishes are available with the food menu offering good hearty Scottish fayre like haggis neeps and tatties, steak, ale and mushroom pie and Highland game casserole – perfect before a night on the drams!

Mains menu

Usquabae has cosy private cave-like alcoves that can be reserved for groups – perfect for a night out with friends.  We are sure demand will be high, so best to book well in advance.  Whisky tastings can also be arranged by the guys at the bar – ideal for a special occasion.

To really impress your friends you can also purchase your favourite bottle of whisky and the bar will store it in their bottle keep for you to enjoy whenever you visit.

The bottle keep

Display cases show a live cask that will soon house Usquabae’s own Usquabae Single Malt Whisky.

We thoroughly enjoyed our visit and I’m sure we will become regular visitors – we might even have to stash a bottle from Kilchoman in the the bottle keep.  Our next visit will be for a bite to eat and I’m sure one or two of the 400 Malts will tempt us too!

Be sure to pay a visit when you’re in town – as Dave from The Mash Tun says, there’s a whisky for everyone and you’ll have fun finding it in here.

PS.  The Kilchoman Machir Bay is a stunning whisky and recommended.  For an Islay Malt, you still get the peaty flavour but the flavours are so much more robust, spicy, fruity and sweet.  We are always keen to find our what everyone’s favourite whisky is so that we can try it too.  Leave us a wee message at the bottom of the blog with your favourite

Usquabae
2-4 Hope Street
Edinburgh
EH2 4DB

0131 220 2284

Twitter @usquabaebar