The Hanging Bat

Opened in late 2012, The Hanging Bat is a cool, craft beer bar situated at 133 Lothian Road near the corner of Bread Street.

It has a laid back atmosphere and you won’t find yourself surrounded by lager louts either, which is always a bonus.

They offer an ever changing wide variety of cask and draft beers (6 casks, 14 kegs, and the Bat’s own weekly brew) which you can sample before choosing.  I tasted a couple and chose the number 12  from the board Lovibonds Lagerboy (Cloudy amber with a thick white head, soft and smooth with some citrus).

I then tried a darker Arbor Breakfast Stout which was very rich, almost chocolaty like a liqueur but it went down very nicely and at 7.4% alcohol you won’t need many to feel merry 🙂 The beers prices ranged from £2.25 to £4.75.

A smorgasbord of tastes with pale ales and stouts, some are very strong and are served up in 1/3 or 2/3 pint glasses which means you are not left with warm dregs you often get with full pints.  The staff were very pleasant and knowledgeable about the beers but if you are not a beer drinker they also offer fine wines and a huge variety of gins.

Food wise there is a selection of pub grub. Gourmet hot dogs are their specialty, there is even one with a haggis topping.

I chose The Blue Heeler which was a fairly expensive at £7 with a side (£5 without), but it wasn’t as special as I was expecting. It was just a basic cinema style hot dog sausage in a crusty roll topped with some grated beetroot. It was meant to have cheese and bacon in it but thinking back I don’t really recall tasting bacon or cheese. Maybe they forgot or the offerings were too measly to notice.

A massive plus though is that they allow dogs which is awesome!

A welcome addition to Lothian Road, and definitely a  bar I will look forward to going back to soon but more for the beer than the food.

Web site: http://www.thehangingbat.com/

Tel: 0131 229 0759

Place Categories: Pubs Nightlife.Place Tags: Beers, dog friendly, Gin, Hot Dogs and Lothian Road.