Moonwake Taproom – Timeless classics
Plus a piece on the history of apples in Edinburgh.
Leith spoils us with its deep selection of beautiful pubs. ‘Twas ever thus – take a look at any historical map of the place and it’s dotted all over with “P.H.” (public house), catering for the sailors stepping of boats, keen to regain their land legs by getting legless.
But our stop today is not a P.H. but an old warehouse, tucked away off the Shore on a cobbled street. Not that it’s hard to miss; a shocking pink shutter announces its location, and if we were in any doubt, the hundreds of metal kegs piled up outside should give us a clue.
We’re at Moonwake, one of the many brewers which have sprung up around here over the last 10 or so years. In one sense, its taproom is the same as any craft brewer’s you can find all over the country: Giant steel tanks lined up under a corrugated roof, linked together by a complicated network of metal pipes.
But Moonwake’s main bar is on a raised platform overlooking the brewing equipment, allowing drinkers to observe the means of production while not having to worry about the transport costs of the liquid inside their glasses. Behind the tanks, a mural with the brewery’s distinctive half-moon branding adds a splash of colour to proceedings.
We’re here during Leith’s Winter Blues Weekend, and the afternoon’s act, a duo, is perched on a raised walkway above the brewing vessels, facing the bar. Many of the songs they perform are a hundred years old, but they sound as fresh as the beer made beneath them.
The beer really is the star of the show. I always start with the same pour here: the Kolsch-style lager, which hits the spot with a crispy punch every time. It’s a wonderful beer – perhaps the fact that it is made with ale yeast is the reason this real ale aficionado loves it so much. Whatever it is, it is a beautifully flavoursome light beer.
Moonwake started just making lagers and pale ales, and I expect they still make up the bulk of its sales. But if you think this is the usual pallid, fizzy stuff, you are wrong. Kiwi sour and New Zealand pale ale are more than a nod to founder Vinny Rosario’s homeland. And then there’s the saffron rice lager, the like of which I have never tasted before in a beer. It’s divine. I can only assume this comes from Vinny’s memories of his mum’s biryani, a rice dish which is often topped with saffron-soaked water.
As I gaze across from the bar to the performers, lager in hand, I marvel at the power of two guitars, a mic and a knee-high Roland amp in this space. We’re in a hyper-modern space, surrounded by computers and canning lines, listening to 100-year-old music, drinking a 10,000-year-old beverage. Like the music, there’s a timelessness to the beer. Long may it continue.
Where is it?
Open Thursday-Sunday.
Where next?
For more crafty stuff, Lost in Leith. For a traditional pub experience, Malt & Hops. Both also have regular live music events.
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The chaser – Community spirit
Have you ever been to The Penny Black on Leith Street? It’s a rather nice pub which featured in my most recent Christmas pubs list in December. At the end of last year, I spoke to its proprietor Chris Miles about another project he has on the go: Pochle, a spirit made from apples donated by the local community. Pellicle has just published my article on it. To quote myself:
I try it neat, and am surprised at how smoothly it goes down, given that it’s 44.5% ABV; Chris also recommends serving it with tonic or ginger ale. It has a bright, blossomy freshness, and finishes with a hint of peach. Future editions will subtly differ in profile, given the assortment of apple varieties differs with each harvest.
Just a few years old, Pochle is currently sold as a clear spirit, though darker, brandy-like versions are being barrel-aged at the moment. And just downstairs from The Penny Black, at cocktail bar Folly Spirit Labs, Chris is experimenting with other distillations, made from surplus vegetables and even bread.
But it’s the apples I was interested in for the article. Because I discovered Edinburgh has a long association with this humble fruit. Local artist Annie Lord tapped into this when she created The Neighbouring Orchard in 2020: A network of 200 trees, located in gardens and community spaces along the Portobello and Musselburgh coast. Annie combed through the archives to make sure she only planted varieties with a historical link to the area; this is a region which was home to many orchards over the centuries. “I wanted to make sure that we were writing into the archives … just ordinary, domestic growing,” she told me.
Going even further back, apples have a vital role to play in Celtic folklore – most notably being associated with the Otherworld. Apples were known as a noble tree, and being compared to one was a very high compliment indeed. You can read all about it on the Pellicle website, and do let me know what you think.
I really love this brewery, great beer and Vinny is a gem
Brilliant piece on how tradition and innovation coexist. The saffron rice lager inspired by biryani is exactly the kind of cultural crosspolination that makes craft beer interesting. I've always thought the best brewers pull from culinary memory rather than just chasing hops trends. That timless observation about 100-year-old music and 10,000-year-old beverage really landed, connects the sensory experience to something deeper.