Drygate Brewhouse: Bar & Kitchen

Tucked away behind the imfamous Tennent's brewery in Glasgow is the Drygate Brewhouse. Once a notoriously bad part of town (trust me I lived there for a while) Dennistoun has experienced a serious case of gentrification over the past few years that has seen many derelict buildings replaced with modern housing and businesses. In comes Drygate.

Drygate is a small craft brewery that sits of the same plot of land that also happens to be occupied by the Tennent's brewery. If you look out of just about any window in the Drygate building you see monolithic Tennent's facility looming in the background. An ominous macrobrewery with a microbrewery living in its shadow, ironic I know.

On a fine Saturday afternoon, my Wife and I met up with my Brother and Sister in Law with my one year old Niece in tow. From the outside, the space looks like something that Tina Turner would have used as a base of operations in a Mad Max movie. Don't let that desuade you. The inside is an amazing amalgamation of industrial warehouse meets manly-shabby-chic with a buckshot of "this looks found on the street" but in reality it costs a lot of money to assemble. Yeah, that sounds about right. It's cool, visually stimulating, and is designed in such a way that allows visitors to actually be in the brewery space.

Creating a brewpub that puts the guest in the brewing environment is something that I find many American brewpubs do very well (Thirsty Bear, Revolution, and SeaDog come to mind) but Canadian brewpubs tend to miss the mark. To me, the epitome of fresh beer is having it served in the same building it was made and a brewpub should have that as a selling point first and foremost. Good job Drygate, you hit the mark on this one!

We got straight down to business with the food. I started with an Americano (very good FYI) and a flight of beers that included Williams Brothers Brewing Blackball Stout (Good), Wylam Brewery Chara Rye & Caraway Ale (Best), and Lagunitas IPA (also good). Interesting selection I must say. I would have liked to see a large selection of Drygate's one off's on tap. Drygate's 3 flagship beers have already made their way through my fridge in the past and I was hoping for something new. That's ok, they have a meticulous selection of other great stuff that I was happy to order.

Two quick pieces of feedback at this point that I'd love to share. One, they didn't have a beer menu on paper due to the constant rotation of their fine selection of beers (acceptible) so the waitor had to refer me to their website for what was current. There was a rather awlkward wait as I scrambled to key in the correct website address of http://drygate.com/the-vintage/beerboard/kegs/ into my smart phone to see what was available. Let's make things easier Drygate, if this is the path that you're choosing to travel PLEASE just put a QR code on your paper menu that takes the guest to the site with great ease. You can update the website all you want and print a QR code a single time. The waitor did know his stuff when we chatted about my choices and was sympathetic to my sadness as he told me that they had just run out of the Rhubarb Saison that was my first selection. Still I'm optimistic.

The second thing is your flight trays. Take a look at the picture above and notice how shallow the glasses sit in the tray and how much beer is spilled over the side. The moment when the tray transitioned from the servers hands into mine was about as tense as disarming a bomb. The table was silent, my niece had her fingers in her mouth, and my brother in law quietly reached for a pile of napkins should the worse happen. Such a minor detail but a deeper tray would provide superior presentation, less spillage, and the chalk labels on the glasses would not be washed away (once again, see picture).

Lunch arrives: Drygate Beef Burger with Jerk Ox Cheek. Comes with a sid of chip shop style fries and a cole slaw. This dish was stupendous. Being someone of watered down Caribbean descent (#TriniBlood) I love it when animals are served in jerk sauce. Drygate did not dissapoint with an ox cheek sauce that favoured flavour over spiciness. This is a good move as I have yet to meet any Scots that acutally like true Caribbean style jerk spiciness. The burger was juicy and delictible, chips were perfectly cooked and not oily. The slaw was the smallest piece of this dish and even it did not let me down. A+ Drygate, you fed me well.

While I got down to business with my burger, my wife went all traditional Scottish on me and ordered the beer battered fish and chips with mushy peas. Look at the presentation on this platter. Someone obviously cares about food in this place and it shows. The obvious move here was executed to perfection as the fish was also battered using Drygate's Bearface Lager. If somehow a house beer was not used in this recipe, I would have been disappointed. The few bites that I had of this fish were delictible.

The rest of the building is a fine tribute to the traditional German Beer Hall with lots of bench seating and open spaces. They have an outdoor patio (see below) and a huge event room upstairs. Its very easy to get lost in this enormous space as its covered in cool art and there are doors and staircases leading all over the place.

The best part of this place has got to be their bottle shop. Drygate has the most extensive bottleshop that I have come across since returning to Scotland. I didn't get a picture that turned out very well due to the lighting, but trust me, its worth a visit. They have a vast selection of some of the best microbreweries spanning America, United Kingdom, and a lot from continental Europe. They also sell their 3 flagship beers as well as some limited Drygate releases. I did not walk away empty handed.

Drygate was an experience that has raised the bar of beer culture for me in Scotland. I can imagine this place on a Saturday night with an amazing energy flowing through every room in the building. Drygate is a must for any craft beer lover and if you have one spot to check out while passing through Glasgow, visit Drygate, you won't be disappointed.

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DRYGATE BREWHOUSE: Bar & Kitchen

Atmosphere: A+

Food: A+

Beer: A

Staff: A