How to Drink Like a Local in Edinburgh

Edinburgh’s drinking culture runs deeper than the city’s medieval wynds and closes. To understand Scotland's capital, you need to experience it glass in hand, moving between whisky palaces, hidden speakeasies, and the kind of worn-in Victorian-era pubs where regulars claim their corners. This is a city that takes its spirits seriously, whether single malt, craft gin, or a perfectly balanced cocktail. These bars attract their share of tourists, but the locals filling the tables are your signal that you’ve found the best spots inEdinburgh.

Panda and Sons

This speakeasy disguised as a barbershop on Queen Street was recently ranked the 34th best bar in the world. And despite having been open for more than a decade, it’s still innovative and fresh. Push through the vintage cabinet door, and you’ll find yourself in a dimly lit sanctuary of serious cocktail craft. Scotch fans will love The Birdcage (Johnnie Walker Gold Label, Aperol, bitters, rhubarb and lemongrass shrub, and cinnamon and clove smoke), or ditch the menu and tell the mixologist basic flavors you like for a custom cocktail. You can’t go wrong. The space fills quickly, so reservations are recommended.

Bramble Bar

This basement venue feels like someone’s well-stocked basement rec room, with a menu made by a mad cocktail genius. Innovative flavor combos abound on the menu. Chartreuse, yuzu, cachaca, and yellow mustard make up the Caribana; Glenmorangie, quinquina, and dry vermouth comprise a riff on a Manhattan called Affinity, a bottled imbibe that you’re free to pour yourself.

Lucky Liquor

Just up the road on Queen Street is Lucky Liquor, a cozy cocktail den with ample handmade liqueurs, apéritifs, and amaros. The vibe is relaxed, and pool sharks will enjoy the billiards table in the basement. It’s the kind of place where locals pop in after work, staying for “just one” that inevitably becomes three. The Penumbra (whisky, coffee liqueur, amaro, Lucky’s own tonka liqueur, and cinnamon and cardamom) is as divine as the small cookie that comes atop the tulip glass.

Edinburgh Gin

Tourists clamor for scotch; locals are agog over gin. Edinburgh Gin, in The Arches on East Market Street, is a gin distillery with a fantastic bar. Watch the three stills produce while you sip through an array of London Dry gin flavors—Seaside is sublime—or try any of the scrumptious cocktails. The baller move? Crafting a bespoke bottle over 3.5 hours for £140 ($186). You’ll work with the distillery’s lab wizards to infuse their gin with the botanicals and herbs you love most. It’s a wild process to watch your creation come to life, and you’ll taste the heads and hearts of your blend directly from a mini-still.

The Jolly Judge

This 17th-century pub, just off the Royal Mile, is named in honor of Robert McQueen, a famous judge who was quick to sentence criminals to hanging, even for minor crimes. (Those executions were carried out a stone’s throw away in a public square.) This snug basement haunt, with its low ceilings and stone walls, serves great whisky in surroundings that have barely changed in centuries. Order a dram and settle into the worn wooden booths where locals escape tourist crowds above.

Devil’s Advocate

This Old Town hotspot is where old Edinburgh meets new. Devil’s Advocate offers Victorian grandeur with its vaulted ceilings and leather banquettes, and a deep whisky list with options you won’t see stateside. Seeking a neat pour? Try a Tamdhu 18 year old. For cocktail fans, the To The Point can’t be beat; it’s a Rusty Nail riff made with Glendronach 12, Highland Nectar, and cardamom bitters.

The Oxford Bar

Famed author Sir Ian Rankin's favorite haunt for his fictional detective John Rebus. This no-nonsense pub on Young Street represents authentic Edinburgh drinking culture: minimal decor, maximum character, and regulars who’ve been claiming the same stools for decades. Order a pint or a whisky and soak in the atmosphere of a pub that's been serving drinks since 1860.