High Hopes and Missed Opportunities?

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The arrival of a new pub should be met with expectant cheers, raised glasses and high hopes that it will be something just a wee bit different and out of the ordinary that expands the range and choice available to punters who, like myself, enjoy tasting and trying an eclectic mix and not the same old, same old that you can get just about everywhere else.

So, naturally, I gave a hearty cheer when this guy let me know that a new pub was being planned in the Partick part of Glasgow's west end. Not much was known about what exactly was planned, however, various rumours ricocheted around the city that it was going to be something to look forward to.

The proposed pub is on the site vacated by the Hayburn Vaults and will be called the Deoch an Doris. It takes it's name from a song by professional Scotsman, shortbread salesman and tartan botherer, Sir Harry Lauder. A Deoch an Dorus is Gaelic for a small drop of something alcoholic as a farewell drink.

I took a brisk walk by the pub last night to check on it's progress. I'm not one to dismiss, out of hand, a pub before it has opened or pulled it's first pint but the poster on one of it's windows was enough to convince me that it will probably be a pub that won't be getting much of my business. For a start, how can something that hasn't opened yet, claim to be 'A Tradition of Partick'?

My First Visit to The Deoch and Dorus early 2012

"What are you having, Sir?"

"What have you got?"

"Fancy a pint of cold Tennent's Lager?"

"What else do you have?"

"What about some Caledonia Best?"

"Er........no thanks."

"What about some other Caledonian Guest Ales?"

"Do you have any hot needles for my eyeballs?"

"No. But we have 14 HDTV's showing sports all day?"

"Hmmmm........."

"What about a baked potato or a panini? Pizza?"

"No thanks, mate. I'll try elsewhere."


If the poster is anything to go by, then the DnD could end up a missed opportunity and be just like the countless other pubs out there serving a generic smorgasbord of High St beer, sport, sandwiches and spuds that offers nothing new or unique.

I hope I'm proved wrong.

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A New Pub for Glasgow?

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I've been hearing on the beer breeze that the New Year will bring a shiny new bar to the West End of Glasgow.

It seems that Fuller Thomson, the owners of Holyrood 9a and The Red Squirrel in Edinburgh, have acquired the lease on the premises at Partick Cross currently occupied by self proclaimed 'great pub', The Millhouse.

This is good news.

The Millhouse has always seemed to me a bit of a wasted pub opportunity offering up the same old standard Scottish beers from the likes of Belhaven and Caledonian that can be obtained in countless other generic pubs across the city. In short, it brings nothing new to Glasgow's beer party.

The same can't be said for what will be replacing it.

Predominantly beer and burger establishments, Edinburgh's Fuller Thomson pubs have gained a reputation, in a relatively short space of time, for offering up a wide range of beers, both cask and keg, from British, European and U.S. breweries.

From what I hear, the new Glasgow pub will replicate the Fuller Thomson's Edinburgh pubs template and will carry a decent selection too. It's current west end equivalant would be Curler's Rest rather than the Three Judges.

The Partick Tap it won't be but it does, at least, offer Glasgow beer drinkers a little bit more choice that The Millhouse currently does.

That, in my book, can only be a good thing.

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Glasgow Pubs - The Pot Still

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When it comes to pubs, some tend to attract more attention than others. Whether it's for the way that beers are kept or diversity of beer range, they always seem to catch the eye and entice you in.




Others are more like journeymen, plodding away, doing what they do in a steady workmanlike fashion. They are the steady dependables that are never top of your visit list but ones that you don't mind popping into if someone suggests a quick pint. Occasionally, you neglect them and time passes before you re-visit and re-appraise them. When you do pop in after a lengthy absence, you either realise that nothing much has changed or things have generally gone downhill. It is a very rare occasion that you discover that the pub has grasped the nettle and upped their beer game. When this does happen, it is a beautiful and lovely thing to behold.

One such pub in Glasgow has done just that and is not just raised their game but is also raising eyebrows among Glasgow beer enthusiasts. The pub in question is The Pot Still in Hope St, slap bang in the City Centre. It is primarily a whisky pub offering several hundred rare and sought after whiskies to a knowledgeable single malt clientele that consists of local and far travelled tourists drawn to the dram. But, it has recently gained a reputation of serving a wide range of well kept and beautifully conditioned beers from Scottish microbreweries.

In recent weeks beers from Arran, Orkney, William's and Kelburn have been on and in the next few weeks we are promised appearances from great breweries such as Fyne Ales and Black Isle Brewery. When I was in last week, I was blown away by a great pint of Renfrewshire Brewery Kelburn's Cart Noir. Not only was it on peak form, it was also served superbly. The Pot Still have started to take a renewed interest and passion for the ale and it shows in the beer choice and condition of the beer. It's never going to be known primarily as a beer pub but it is good to see that they have realised the importance of having an everchanging selection of nice, well made beers rather than relying on the dull and uninteresting staples of Caledonian, Belhaven and Greene King that similar pubs have chosen to do.




It is also simply a stunning, lovely traditionally pub to have a pint of tasty refreshing beer in.




If you are in Glasgow sometime soon, then it might be a very good idea to pay it a visit.












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The Glasgow Beer and Pub Guide

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Glasgow has many lovely pubs serving a wide variety and pretty good selection of quality Scottish, UK, Continental and Foreign beers. The type of dispense varies from pub to pub but you can usually guarantee a mixed economy of cask, keg and bottle.


As a native of Glasgow, I'm quite proud of some of our pubs.  We do not too badly in the pubs and beer stakes. It could be a bit better but it could also be a whole lot worse. Ask the people of Dundee, Stirling and Perth.


Over the next few months, The Beer Monkey blog will be carrying a series of reviews by Glasgow Beer lovers of some of the City's pubs and beers available. It's been a difficult task badgering, bribing and blackmailing some of my beer imbibing buddies to get themselves out and about in the interests of research but I've managed to assemble a motley crew who are willing to take on board such a burden.


They will be chronicling cask, commenting on keg, babbling on about bottles and sharing their penchants for pubs in Glasgow.


The first three pubs to feature will be -

The Society Rooms

The Laurieston

The Belle


Hopefully it will be an informative and irreverant sideways look at the pints and pubs that float our Glasgow beer boat.

If there are any pubs you'd particularly like us to review, get in touch.






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