There are many great places to enjoy a wee whisky. I love savouring a dram overlooking the isles from the decks of a ferry and winter is all the more bearable for the sanctuary of a whisky by a roaring fire in a country house hotel. There is one place that trumps them all, though, and that is a proper bar that knows its whiskies.
In a bar you can enjoy your dram surrounded by likeminded souls and have the services of a nice lad or lassie only too happy to furnish you with a decent malt. It’s a sociable place too with a mutual love of whisky always a fantastic icebreaker (though of course if you’re a purist there will be no ice in your single malt) that leads to a world of conversation and new friends.
Most towns and cities, villages even, in Scotland boast a bar that is great for whisky drinking, but the most obvious place to head to really enjoy whisky in a bar is to Scotland’s largest city. Glasgow is awash with great venues where you can happily imbibe uisge beatha, or the water of life. Here are my tips on the five best pubs and bars in Glasgow for a wee dram. Slainte!
1. THE BEN NEVIS –
This was a Finnieston favourite of mine long before this West End district became seriously hip. Bright new bars have sprung up all around this old timer, but this welcoming bolthole just keeps doing what it does best. Handily that is offering a great range of whiskies stacked high, poured by staff who know a thing or two about good craic. They often have free live music and you are welcome to bring your pooch along. You’ll struggle to nab a coveted seat, but you won’t mind too much as you’ll soon be into the swing of things. They do tend to swing along especially as the ‘malt of the month’ was only £2.85 last time I was in!
2. THE POT STILL –
If you want a massive choice of whiskies – and I mean massive – then this is quite clearly the place for you. This handy city centre hub offers over 700 whiskies. Yes, that’s right, over 700! To get your head around that you could try a new whisky every day for almost two years. Sound like a plan? It’s owned by the Murphy family, who are welcoming hosts and handily offer whisky tasting sessions too, as well as legendary pies to help soak up your dram. No wonder they have won so many awards.
3. WEE PUB AT THE CHIP –
The Ubiquitous Chip is the Ashton Lane restaurant institution that pretty much single handedly started the Modern Scottish Glaswegian restaurant revolution a few decades back. I’ve still a lot of time for the restaurant, but I am always amazed at how few people know it’s got a great snug bar that is ideal for enjoying the water of life. To be fair it’s a blink and you’ll miss it hideaway that claims to be the smallest bar in Scotland. You won’t want to miss their excellent piled high selection of malts and if you really
want to delve into the world of Scottish whisky I suggest you come along and check out their regular whisky club.
4. DRAM! –
The name gives it away. I was a sceptic when I first visited as I was a huge fan of Uisge Beatha, which used to sit on this Woodlands Road site, but I was soon won around and was as happy as the students who call this their local. As well as a very good range of whiskies from all corners of Scotland they also have some great craft beers, another area Scotland is specialising in at the moment. They do excellent pub grub and also stick big sport matches on their big screen if you want to make a night of it.
5. SCOTIA BAR –
Don’t be put off by the slightly dowdy setting of this gem. The staff inside are a friendly bunch and I’ve never had any grief from my fellow whisky drinkers here. One of the city’s oldest pubs – it claims to actually be the oldest dating back to the eighteenth century – is a stonker. They also stage live music (Billy Connolly and Gerry Rafferty have both performed here) and have a roaring fire in winter so you can get properly cosy and warm up on a cold winter’s day in here. If your dram inspires you come back and attend one of their writers meetings.
6. SECRET SIXTH…-
Yeah, ok, I know I said I was only going to share five great whisky drinking venues with you, but I couldn’t resist adding one more. It’s not a bar so to speak, but the café right here at the Clydeside Distillery. You can taste some lovely malts on their tours and their wee café is a great place to sample a malt too. They do delicious platters of Scottish produce, so if you are doing the rounds of Glasgow’s whisky bars this is the ideal place to
come and soak up a bit of the alcohol. The only ‘problem’ is that it’s so lovely sitting here surrounded by actual whisky production that you may not want to move on anywhere afterwards. You can read my blog about visiting the distillery here.
- If you want to read more about my guest blogs for the Clyde Distillery and what got me into whisky in the first place just click here.