Bow Bar

A single room with traditional pub-style decor in the heart of the Old Town, the Bow Bar is the best whisky destination in the city, private members clubs excepted. There are more than 200 examples, the choice evolving as bottles empty and new releases take their place. This the kind of establishment that offers a malt of the moment like The Macallan Fine Oak alongside a premium malt of the moment such as a BenRiach Arumaticus Fumosus. They keep an eight-page list behind the bar – just ask if you want to see it – and the most prestigious examples will set you back more than £30 for a measure, but these do come from Port Ellen on Islay, a distillery that stopped production in 1983. The beer is good, too, with eight real ales on tap from breweries like Caledonian and Stewart in Edinburgh, Highland in Orkney, or Joseph Holt of Manchester. Rudimentary bar food at lunchtimes.