Cocktail Hour

The drink described was an Old Fashioned, made by muddling bitters and sugar with water, adding a shot of rye whiskey or bourbon, a slice of orange to garnish and served over ice. It’s still on cocktail menus today – including Panda & Sons in Edinburgh, which was named one of the World’s 50 Best Bars at a starry awards ceremony in Madrid last October.

Their take on the Old Fashioned typically mixes things up. This basement bar on Queen Street, part of the capital’s constantly evolving cocktail scene for over a decade, is the ‘lab’ of Willy Wonker-esque, award-winning mixologist and pioneer of the frozen spirit technique, Iain McPherson. The Boilermaker Old Fashioned is created by freezing the whisky to ultra-low temperatures, removing the ice crystals and ‘switching’ the frozen water for beer.

Panda & Sons also made the UK’s Top 50 Cocktail Bars list at the beginning of the year along with a smattering of other Edinburgh drinking dens including sister bar Nauticus down in Leith, which champions Scottish spirits and ingredients, Hey Palu, the hip Italian bar on Bread Street (check out the collection of more than 75 bottles of bittersweet liqueur Amari on the back bar), and the original star of the city’s vibrant cocktail scene and another Queen Street basement dive, Bramble Bar & Lounge.

Back in 2004, two bartenders, Mike Aikman and Jas Scott, started a cocktail event company. Today they have three bars in the city: The Last Word Saloon down in Stockbridge; speakeasy vibe Lucky Liquor Co – sip a rhubarb negroni or basil gimlet – as well as producing a range of ready-to-drink cocktails, liqueurs, and syrups.

Elsewhere across the country, in Glasgow, Daddy Marmalades martini masterclasses, pizza, and perfect pours also made the cut, along with The Absent Ear, inspired by Vincent Van Gogh’s wild creativity ‘and just a drop of his madness’ – absinthe, anyone? So did The American Bar at Gleneagles.

Every hotel worth its salt-rimmed margarita glass has a signature drinks-laced cocktail menu these days. In Braemar, The Fife Arms sleek Art Deco cocktail bar, Elsa’s, is named after Italian fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli, a friend of Frances Farquharson, wife of the 16th Laird of Invercauld and former fashion editor of Harper’s Bazaar. The drinks menu pays homage to her with cocktails inspired by her fragrance collection and love of shocking pink.

At American-owned, Scottish tweed-clad small luxury hotel Links House in Dornoch, you might expect a small decanter of whisky in the room. What you’ll find are pre-mixed negronis. Slàinte Mhath.

Lucy Gillmore is a freelance journalist who left a newspaper travel desk for the Highland hills. Dipping into Scotland’s ever-evolving food and drink scene, she will be bringing us the latest news stories, dates for the diary, and shining a light on local food heroes in a regular column. You can follow her on Instagram.