The Bow Bar

So a real ale and whisky bar, which sadly are two things I don’t drink, however I really liked this place the staff made lovely suggestions for things I could drink and also it felt like a local rather than a tourist spot. Certain than I will return, (one of my best friends lives opposite), and it was just one of those places that feels like a local with warmth, I suppose it does feel fashionable what with all the signage for various drinks on the walls but this place was doing that before it was ever fashionable (been here several times before over the last 20 years or so).

Small bar behind the castle.
Beer selection is by the loch ness brewery plus sone bottled beers. The bar excels in its whiskey selection as they could be in excess of100.
Seating is benches along the wall with a small narrow table in front. There are sone chairs as well.
Food is extremely limited to a small selection of pies 5 on the day of my visit. No gf ones but it is the place to come for whisky.

Perfect place for a dram. Knowledgeable bar keeps and a huge whisky selection. Oh, they have beer too.

Popped in for lunch and a pint, exhausted after climbing the hills of Edinburgh for a few hours. A comfortable, cozy, no frills pub with great beer selection and excellent bartenders, who also recommended a fine whisky. And the pies were tasty, too. We could have sat here for hours, but there were more hills to climb.

Perfect local bar… Really. Just not a cocktail bar (at all!). Whiskey selection is amazing, beer selection (including American ipa woohoo!) is fantastic, no tv, great crowd, great staff who knows whiskey and gives an f, and lastly good prices. And what… 2 minutes walk from the mile? Yeah no brainier. If u like sports bars with crappy beer and many tvs, don’t come. If you like class and people, come. Simple right? Just be warned its crowded as it should be.
And as some other reviewer mentioned if you want your scotch in a Coke (I am assuming that comment was a joke) I would believe that indeed they would not serve you. You would belong in a sports bar. Just sayin.

Everything to love about this small bar, just wish there was some music on the stereo or live music would be amazing!

Totally local.
Great spot to meet up with your mates and talk shit.
Not loud, very chill and the bartender is totally helpful if you are a newbie.
Cheers!

Not so long ago the Bow Bar was a steady 5* all day long. Fuss-​free, unpretentious, stag crowd-​free, reasonably priced with a tremendous whisky selection and very good beer ranges (which change regularly). And great bar staff.
Yes. Bar staff. Well, that was until not so long ago. To put it bluntly, if they don’t get shot of that ginger bearded pain in the backside it’s going down to a 3* and quite possibly I’ll be giving it a body swerve altogether. He’s rude; verging on obnoxious, and a miserable so and so. I have recently discovered that a colleague has had a truly awful experience with him, and let The Advisor of Trips (apologies Unilocal) know all about it! I don’t mind a bit of sport with bar staff (ahh, the days of Alex at the Vicky Bar in the Briggait) keeping you on your toes, but this guy is proving to be a nail in this pub’s coffin. I hate negative, moany reviews too, so… all of the above before ‘bar staff’ still stands. It’s the kind of place that doesn’t change, or come and go with the weather or re-​invent itself.
Maybe you’ll be lucky and get Ginge’s night off, in which case you might agree it’s worthy of an extra *.

Great place to visit for the whiskey lover or novice. The bar staff were lovely talking us through the finer points of whiskey tasting and helping out with suggestions from their giant collection. Some truly yummy craft beers on tap as well. clientele is an odd mix of tourists and middle aged Scottish men but it works!

This was the second stop on my solo whisky crawl through Edinburgh. Located in the Old Town part of Edinburgh, the clientele is primarily 55+ men. It’s not a big place, and it’s got a very friendly jovial environment. There is something quite refreshing about this type of bar! The visit was absolutely worth it for the whisky collection alone. I got a spot at the bar and went to work.
The staff (one from NZ) — much younger than the patrons — were very helpful in walking me through their impressive collection of whiskies. My main goal was to try different whiskies that are hard to get in America, and the two barmen who were serving me did a great job of picking a few out to my tastes.
If I’ve learned anything from my tastings, it’s that anything put out by Cadenhead’s (review forthcoming) is always a tremendous value. Do yourself a favor and order a glass of whatever limited release they are offering when you’re visiting! Overall very knowledgable, helpful and friendly staff and absolutely worth a stop if you are looking for whisky. In fact, this may be the best bar to taste whisky in all of Edinburgh.

Good selection of scotch
Staff seem helpful
Decent prices
Good amount of room
Busy with locals

The Bow Bar has long been an ale drinker’s haven in Edinburgh. Just up from the Grassmarket, you can stop in on your way up the hill for a refreshment. Or two. Or three.
Yes, it’s one of those pubs where a quick half degenerates into working your way along the most excellent taps of draft beer. Ever changing, always interesting and with a couple of standards (Deuchars, obviously) always available, chances are there will be something here to catch any beer lover’s eye, and taste buds.
It’s a tiny, traditional style Scottish pub. There’s seats, tables and space, but not too much of any of the three. With the one telly over the door showing whatever’s on BBC (Commonwealth Games at the time of this review) everyone gets a wee bit of entertainment.
The real entertainment in here is just making new friends, talking to the people around you or picking the expert staff’s brains on the details of the beers they provide.
If you like the Devil’s Favourite Hangover Cause, otherwise known as Whisky, then there’s a HUG gantry to choose from, and I reckon the staff would be as helpful with those, judging by how they were helping an American next to me pick out something to try!
Always has been excellent, probably always will be. You can’t go wrong in The Bow.

Great selection of whisky and the barman was really helpful — he offered suggested based on our likes or dislikes and had us smell ones he suggested before we chose.
It’s a bit small of a space — only around 10 – 15 tables, so seats go quickly at night. There was only 1 open table when we got there just after 9pm on a Thursday, and when we left just after 10pm, there was quite a crowd standing around the bar.
Overall, a fantastic place in old town with a great selection.

Used to be a regular here many years ago, but stopped in with a couple of American colleagues who were in town. As always there was a good range of beers and excellent range of whiskys.
This place has a feel of a little old mans pub, except it isn’t, it is small and can get very busy at peak times, but the customers are from every walk of life, age, type. It is friendly, you always end up talking to other people. And you can talk, no music, no tvs, makes life so much nicer, or is that just coz I’m getting old.
Also the staff are great, friendly with extensive knowledge of there products and very willing to recommend or discuss the whole gambit of the booze world.
Top, only bad thing is I live in Glasgow and it is in Edinburgh.

Try the Black Isle Organic beer. Dark, smooth and creamy! Just a dream:-)

We were looking for a place we could sit and have a drink in the Grassmarket area, this place seemed to busy, so we decided to give it a try. My friend is more of a beer drinker than I am, so this place was perfect for her. I can’t drink warm beer, so I was out for trying the cask. I was daring, hoping not to get hit upside the head, and ordered the Maui Brewing Coconut Porter, this was delicious. At 6% alcohol, it took me to where I was looking to go. After a couple beers, we started chatting with some locals, and we got to talking about my love for gin, he had recommended I try Gin Mare. The rest is history. My love affair with Gin Mare began that night, and the Fever Tree Tonic blended oh so nicely. The bartenders were able to keep up with the demands of the crowd, and yet they all kept a nice attitude towards everyone.
It’s small and noisy, I like that there are no TV’s and I love the sign on the door proclaiming, «no hen parties». We ended every single night at the Bow Bar during our stay in Edinburgh.

Friendly, inviting,
Pub stop on the whisky trail
Great beer slection

I like the Bow Bar. It’s got the same feel as the Blue Blazer to me, though a bit smaller and not quite the same rum selection.
It’s usually packed full of men, usually the larger biker types and shaved head/​tshirt types. The bar staff are helpful when you ask about the selection of whiskeys or ales available.
There’s not much in the way of seating, unfortunately, and given that it’s, eh, cosy, on busy nights you’ll end up standing and being shunted this way and that. There is a bit of that ‘old man pub’ smell that can bother some folk.
Everyone here is friendly and generally up for a chat, which is nice. I enjoy the Bow Bar when I go, though, as I don’t drink beer it’s not the ideal place for me.

I don’t know if this is a tourist trap due to its prime location in the old town, but it sure didn’t feel like one.
They have a large selection of real ales, many of which are on cask. Check.
They have an crazy selection of single malts, including rare bottlings (Gordon & MacPhail et al.) It’s so big there’s a binder for it. Pours of the good stuff were about 5 to 7 pounds. Ales the usual 2 to 3 pound.
The barkeeps are great at multitasking and did a good job at turning away drunk blaggards (of which there are many roaming about this part of town) while advising us on what scotches to try given our particular tastes and budget. One of them was even a half-​Japanese girl from Oregon studying in Edinburgh — proving that it is hard to get away from the US even in Scotland. :)
All in all this is obviously a place that the locals cherish (we were pointed out to the same old drunkard who comes at least once a week and has 5 – 6 drams of scotch in a sitting, but is totally harmless) and I definitely cherish it too. I miss it already!

Grandioses Pub zum Versaggen oder Vorglühen. Wer meint nur einen Nachmittagsbesuch der Empfehlung wegen zu machen bleibt garantiert kleben oder kommt wieder. Top gelegen. Kneipenstyle ohne schnick schnack. Riesen Bier– und Whiskeyauswahl. Whiskey stilecht in passenden Gläsern mit einem Wassertrögchen.

I’ve been informed by a reliable source that since my 2008 visit to the Bow Bar, the Belhaven 80 ale has been replaced with Stewarts 80 and Stewarts No. 3, which are similar to Belhaven. Also, the Bow and its two sister pubs in town have all replaced Guinness with Black Isle Organic Porter, which uses the same mixed gas like Guinness but is more chocolatey and not as bitter.
I’m always open to new brews, so we’ll definitely be visiting the Bow again during our next trip. My thanks to Mike S. of Edinburgh for the updated information.