Beets

How not to run a shop. Went in to check beer selection, have shopped there a few times before as they are our closest craft beer shop and generally have a good selection if not the cheeriest service.
Checked price of old favourites Laguanitas and Sierra Nevada first. Commented to Husband that price was pretty high and if we wanted to stock up (these are beers we’d buy full cases of) we should look online. Owner was sat behind desk and, having listened in, launches into a lecture about how of course it’s cheaper online without shop front and staff overheads. In her earwigging she clearly missed me mentioning that Cornelius on Easter Rd is also cheaper…
We walked out without browsing further. Had owner stood, addressed us with a smile and drawn our attention to some hard to find or local beers we might like the likelihood of us leaving the otherwise deserted store with a few purchases and of coming back would have been high. Having seen no customer service skills or product knowledge and felt nothing but bitterness towards our presence we left and won’t be back. It’s beyond me why people who hate customers so much decide to run shops… Will stick to the wonderful Cornelius from now on.

Think beets has given up on the deli/​market part of its business as when I went in today all they have is BOOZE!
REALLY great selection of spirits, beers & ciders. A few I’ve not seen on shelves elsewhere. (and I’m pretty good at checking the shelves of places like the Beerhive & Cornelius!) There was wine, but I didn’t have a proper look as I was too preoccupied with the beers…
The owner was friendly and quite helpful, offered any help and answered my questions about a beer I’d not seen before. If I lived closer, I’d probably spend a lot of money here…

Beets is a posh food shop filled with nice and wholesome things that you could probably find a lot cheaper somewhere else. Things like unusual herbal teas, almond milk, and alfalfa beansprouts that can be tasty and are undoubtedly very healthy, yet you slightly suspect that people buy them more as status symbols to prove their membership of the green bourgeoisie than because they actually like them. If organic-​loving celebs like Gwyneth Paltrow, Madonna and their ilk lived in Edinburgh, I’m sure this is the kid of place they would shop.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m a fully-​signed up, tofu munching, lentil loving vegetarian myself, so in theory Beets should be right up my street. It’s just that, on the spectrum of health food shops, it’s much more yuppie than hippie, which makes me feel slightly uncomfortable. Actually when I say uncomfortable I probably just mean poor.
What did impress me, like other reviewers, was their awesome range of fancy beer, such as Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and Brooklyn IPA, which aren’t easy to track down. Those, in my opinion, are worth forking out for, and definitely justify a visit to this upmarket shop.

Beets has all the trimmings of the new wave of up market delicatessens: you’ll find organic fruit and veg, preserves and the rest.
Where it gets interesting is Beets’ selection of beers. They sell plenty of unique brands, but the eye opener is Brewdog’s own Tactical Nuclear Penguin. Good lord this stuff is powerful!
No wonder it’s associated with a weapon of mass destruction, because this will be the only eventual outcome after even a sip of its 32% content. It’s expensive and should only be drank in strict moderation, but having tried some myself I found it to be like a really strong tasting stout with after affects akin to a mule kick in the face…
Still, good on Beet’s for selling the stuff!

The window of Beets struck me because of its shiny display of different beers, lagers, and ales, plus it had a cool, catchy, wee name, so I decided to enter the premises.
Let me start by saying I don’t like beer, lager, or ale (what is the difference anyway? It was explained to me once, but my brain has decided to let go of the information), but I do enjoy perusing the different bottles and having a good gawk at the colourful labels depicting whatever brand or area of Scotland they’re from, and wishing I did enjoy the taste of fizzy yeast. Uggh, I felt a bit ill writing the words fizzy yeast, not a good combination of words.
There’s more to Beets than just beer though. It’s also a delicatessen, so there’s wine and bottles of fizz to be had, plus they offer a selection of yummy looking smoothies, paninis, sandwiches, coffees and teas, for sitting in or taking away, and have a small range of organic, specialist food on display.