The Hanging Bat Beer Cafe

The Bat. I feel I can drop the Hanging part, because we're best buds now. Well, the amount of times I've been in and the money I've spent, we have to be, right?

It's an amazing place for a beer lover. Or gin lovers. Or for people that want somewhere that's not a generic chain pub. Or people that want to have a sit down and chat with friends. Or people that want something nice to eat. Or just people. Anybody. Everybody. ALL THE PEOPLE!

It's got a great atmosphere, in no part to having absolutely zero pretentions of being anything other than a great place to hang out and sample something a little different. The keg, cask and craft beer list changes regularly and the list of gins is longer than your arm (and folks, I have exceptionally long monkey style arms) if that's your thing.

The staff know their stuff, and happily answer any questions you have. Don't ask why the glasses are only 2/3rds of a pint, I heard that question a million and one times, though. It's to preserve the quality of your beer so that it's still fresh when you get to the bottom of the glass. So there.

Seriously, though. Go and give it a try, I promise you that you'll not find anywhere else like it in Edinburgh. It's a great, great place.

And we are buds, right? RIGHT???

Yes this place has the best beer selection...on and off draft...of any place I've visited in Scotland. Terrific selections of literally every type of Scottish craft beer. So fun! But food was great too! Nice pub fare. Halloumi fries great, haggis fries, pies and all sorts of great stuff.

Staff was helpful snd really friendly!

Great beer cafe. We love the vibe of this place. The selection for beer is extensive and the food is good. Customer service is on point here as well!

I hate to leave bad reviews, but this place is not where you want to go for a meal. Let's start with the good: cold beer, great selection of draft taps and barrel beer, and a good location and decor. Now the bad: the food was sub par at best. The bbq chicken sandwich was so tough that we couldn't finish it, and the steak sandwich was the same, but without the benefit of the bbq sauce to cover up the blandness. The nachos were average and the only thing really edible, but store bought chips and Jared salsa should t be the star if the show.

Had this place in mind before going to Scotland on a tour. Glad we did. It is small but very nice. Large choices of drinks and the dinner we had was good. Felt like a neighborhood vibe and loved that.

I honestly don't think I can sing the praises of this place enough, but darn it if I'm not going to try.

Some friends, my partner and I were up in Edinburgh for a few days before - and on the way to - the BrewDog AGM in Aberdeen. The entire extended weekend was a pilgrimage to all things craft beer, and when we realised that a reportedly "exceptional" craft beer place was a short walk from where we were staying... well, we were off.

The venue itself is not too brightly lit, with a bit of a quirky vibe about it. There's lot of natural look tables, we were sat on what looked like an old church pew at one point, random beer-themed art adorned the walls... It was cool.

Beer-wise there was a cracking range of brews on tap as well as bottled in the fridge, but if I'm honest one of the main draws was their own range. Oh yes, The Hanging Bat Beer Cafe sells the - in my experience - excellent produce of The Hanging Bat Brew Co.

I tried two of their sours which were on at the time: "Death by Blackberries", and a no-hops, no-fruit beer "Funk Wizard". I gave them a 5 and a 4, out of 5, respectively on a popular app for those with a problem... remembering their favourites. ;)

All in all, I had a great time at the Hanging Bat both nights we went in. It's a great craft beer bar, and I'd recommend you go check it out.

I walked in here during the middle of a weekday by myself to grab a quick pint and a bit of lunch. There were a few people having drinks, but it was not busy, which I understand this place can get. I ordered a cider, but was convinced by the bartender to order a craft beer instead and recommended a couple of sours which he poured for me to try. Both were good and I appreciated him suggesting them. I had a chili dog and some wedges, which was decent for bar food, but I would have preferred fries or chips.

I suggested this place to my husband and his co-workers for their after work drinks, and they already knew about it and can't believe I actually liked it, so I'm going to add their local after-work crowd perspective to this place and do remember we are in Scotland. They don't serve pints, they serve schooners, which is not an issue for me but I guess could be an issue for some. There are a bunch of 'wankers' in the place tasting every beer on the menu before ordering, and I suppose this would be frustrating if it's busy and all you want are six pints of lager.

My conclusion, this place is great is you like craft beer (or gin - they have a huge selection), but not if all you want are six pints after work. Note that their perspectives did not impact the number of stars I gave this place, and I would go back with the 'right' people.

When we first looked up this place and we saw they did hot dogs, first we were a bit apprehensive, but heard the ambience was nice and decided to give it a try. The bartenders were super nice, we were helped by a man named Loki (which is awesome by itself). He answered all of our questions about the beer and was very friendly. In the whole time of being in the U.K., I would say this place delivered our food in the best time. Probably only about 10-15 minutes after ordering. We ordered the chorizo mac and cheese, chihuahua hot dog, and the pulled pork hot dog. Let me tell you, these hot dogs were DELICIOUS. Served on pretzel buns, the toppings were overFLOWING off the tops. They had also run out of their pickle side item, and promptly refunded me.

Totally come check this place out if you have time.

Great Max and Cheese and selection of beer. Burger was tasty, need to ask for cheese if you want it

Great spot to grab a few beers in Edinburgh. They have a great selection and one of the best tasting Porter I enjoyed. My wife had the spicy gnocchi and it's was good with a glass of the Porter as well. The staff is friendly and will help you make a selection if you ask, they will also let you taste the beer before buying. Really enjoyed the atmosphere in here it was very causal. They also have a very cool restroom with a beer tap faucet.

I saw this beer cafe was recommended on Yelp, but my Airbnb host's exuberance for the spot propelled me to actually visit when all I wanted to do was go to sleep early.

It was a Sunday evening a couple weeks ago. I walked in, easily found a bar seat, and ordered a flight. I didn't realize the samplers were so large -- full-size beers -- which made the flight hard to finish. Especially because you only get one glass at a time as part of a token system. When you're ready for the next sample, you hand a bartender your token.

There were some lags between drinks. I'd prefer to just have the whole flight at once so I can compare the different flavor notes. I understand why they do the token system but I also think it's outdated at this point.

The Hanging Bat has a cool, slightly grungy but cozy vibe. It's not crazy loud but it's not quiet either. The bathrooms are clean. Their food looked pretty good as well but I didn't eat anything.

Overall, it's a nice place to visit if you're in Edinburgh and enjoy local (UK) beer.