Cold Town Brewery, in Edinburgh’s Grassmarket, is opening its doors to the public for the first time with guided group tours in time for Father’s Day.

Cold Town tap
Photographs: Cold Town Brewery

Small groups of craft lager fans will get the chance to go behind the scenes at the city-centre microbrewery, find out how Cold Town Beer is made, enjoy a masterclass tasting, and enjoy some hand-made pizza.

Beer lovers will learn about the historic significance of brewing in Edinburgh’s Grassmarket and how Cold Town Beer celebrates this heritage.

Cold Town was named in honour of Calton Hill Brewery in Edinburgh, which was the first in Britain to brew lager in 1835. Calton Hill Brewery was situated in the Edinburgh suburb, Caldtoun, at the bottom of a large hill, which is now known as Calton Hill.

Today, Cold Town Brewery is housed within Cold Town House in Edinburgh’s Grassmarket, which includes a taproom and roof terrace, with views of Edinburgh Castle.

Visitors will be able to see how the microbrewery operates and follow the pipes from tank to tap. The brewing team will be on hand to talk through the process and answer questions.

Cold Town serve

Head brewer, Ed Evans, said: “Cold Town Beer was first launched in 2018 as a draught beer for beer drinkers, and really appeals to craft beer lovers throughout the UK.

“Our craft lager has already been tried, tested, and loved on draught by drinkers in bars across Scotland. All of our brews begin their journey in bars, and then are brought online when we feel that we’ve received a seal of approval from our customers who drink them and the bar teams who help create them. We’re always brainstorming to get the ‘bar raised’ on all our brews without taking ourselves too seriously.”

He added: “We were inspired to launch a microbrewery, experiential, and multi-faceted venue at Edinburgh’s Cold Town House. Since 2018, we’ve been working closely with the bar staff across the Scottish on-trade to hear exactly what their customers want. Following the success of our core beers, we realised we were going to need a bigger boat. We are lucky to have a fantastic portfolio of brews and bars to allow our customers to discover and enjoy.

“Building on this success, we’re extremely proud to have reached a pivotal moment for the Cold Town Beer brand. The whole team is really excited to be able to welcome craft lager fans to the brewery for our first ever guided tours and to fully immerse themselves in the Cold Town experience.”

Initially, the new guided tours will run every second Thursday from 5.30pm, and every second Saturday from 1pm, costing £30 per adult. Tours must be booked in advance by contacting the Cold Town Brewery Reservations team by email at reservations@signaturepubs.co.uk

Intimate and personalised guided tours of the Cold Town Brewery will be available for groups of four to six people from up to two households, in line with Covid guidelines, from June, but will increase to groups of 12 as Scottish government restrictions are relaxed.