Aberdeen - Beer & Granite

Aberdeen

March 2019

Aberdeen is “the granite city” – a monochrome palette and sharp lines dominate it. All the buildings are built from the exact same stone from the local quarries. It gives the town an odd, cookie-cutter vibe, which at best is peculiar and intriguing, and at worst, drab and unappealing. Given that our weather was overcast during our stay, it gave the place an unusual look – grey from bottom to top. That isn’t to say the place isn’t attractive by any means, there is and has been a lot of wealth in Aberdeen, so the buildings which line the harbour and high streets are remarkable.

Aberdeen has always been a port town. Over the centuries, fishing, whaling, and eventually oil brought vast amounts of wealth, historically making it oddly expensive for a Northern city. Unfortunately, we only had a weekend here, so weren’t really able to come to grips with how the city worked and what made the locals tick.

We specifically came to Aberdeen to attend the BrewDog AGM, since both Amy and I are Equity Punk members.

Since theAGM was on Sunday, it gave us Friday evening and Saturday to explore.

Friday night we went to one of the three BrewDog Pubs in the city, settling in the Union Street outlet. Packed with other blow-ins, beer and ska-punk tunes flowed freely all night, to our delight.

The following day we began with a run, then had a plain breakfast at Books & Beans. We then carried on with a loop of the town centre; Union Terrace Gardens, the Art Gallery & Museum, His Majesty’s Theatre, Town Hall, the Kirk of St Nicholas & Cemetery, Mercat Cross, and Marischal College. We then settled in to Café 52 on The Green for a more up-market lunch; open sandwiches, local terrine, and Cullen Skink.

We then visited the Maritime museum, which although rather interesting, was unfortunately quite small in scope. It was nonetheless interesting to see the history of Aberdeen, from humble fishing village, to Royal Burgh, to bustling trade port, and eventual oil hub.

That evening we set about town. Craving some spice, we went to Nargile Turkish Restaurant for dinner. A Middle Eastern meal was long overdue and we were not disappointed – we had a sumptuous meze of grilled eggplant, lamb, hummus, fresh bread, and sauces. Moving on, we had drinks at Ninety-Nine Bar & Kitchen, and then CASC bar. I can recommend CASC in particular due to its wide variety of craft and international beer – dubbels, tripels, quadrupels – these guys knew their stuff.

The day of the AGM, we began by checking out the beachfront Esplanade, having a delightful meal at the Sand Dollar Café – A full Scottish, naturally. It wasn’t quite beach weather though.

The AGM itself was in the AECC and was billed as Annual General Mayhem, which was about right. After a brief presentation of business particulars, everyone then immediately took advantage of the free beer on offer – some old flavours, some new. The day was built around a stage with multiple bands playing during the day. It was easy enough to grab a beer, get lunch from a nearby food truck, and sit down and enjoy a set or two. There was a certain amount of craft beer wankery going on, but that comes with the territory. Overall, it was a pretty solid day. Particularly since entry was free and most of our beers were too.

Slightly tipsy, we returned home that evening on the late train to Glasgow.

We had a good little weekend in Aberdeen. The AGM was fun, we drank a lot of good beer and cider, the food was surprisingly good, and the people were generally nice. And yet, I can’t see myself coming back any time soon. We seemed to have seen most of the city in a day and weren’t drawn to it over the likes of Glasgow or Edinburgh. On balance, I’d recommend Aberdeen if you have a lot of time set aside in Scotland, or are particularly Scotland daft, but otherwise, you’d be safe to give it a miss the first few times you come over.

Come see us in Glasgow instead.

JC

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"I’m a big believer in winging it. I’m a big believer that you’re never going to find perfect city travel experience or the perfect meal without a constant willingness to experience a bad one. Letting the happy accident happen is what a lot of vacation itineraries miss, I think, and I’m always trying to push people to allow those things to happen rather than stick to some rigid itinerary."

Anthony Bourdain

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