Back in April a group of us travelled to Edinburgh for a weekend of proper beer & a walk between pubs.   A word of warning: Edinburgh is not a place of cheap beer - £3 was the average price of a pint, but there are some smashing pubs that make it worth the price.

Al - organiser - from Sunderland

Dave - DM - from Manchester

Matt - weekend pass obtained from missus - from Milton Keynes

Andrew - enthusiast - from Milton Keynes

Andy - on the halves - from Cockermouth

Alistair - from London

Karl - from Bradford

Mark & Mel - cider drinker & shopper - from Bradford

Mark & Asun - latecomers - from Manchester

Rich & Shiela - from parts unknown.   Possibly Bradford.

On the day of arrival - Friday - we started at The Auld Hoose, a wooden floored, island barred, friendly pub with an handfull of real ales.   Unfortunately, all but one were available nationally so we took the remainder which was the splendid Orkney Northern Light.   Like so many new wave Scottish beers, it takes its inspiration from the American Pale Ales that have revolutionised the US craft beer scene.

Next, to The Southsider for a round of mostly Caledonian 80/- a fine beer in the traditional Scottish style with a malty taste & few hops used.

The Doctor's Bar is near the medical school, but more interestingly it is near the medical school supply shop - worth a look in the window to check out the gadgets.   A more diverse range of beers here; Brewster's Rutterkin was another pale, distinctly hoppy ale in the American style.   Morrisey Fox Blonde Ale - a reasonable blonde beer & Inveralmond Ossian - another pale ale made with Cascade hops so obviously I loved it!

The Bow Bar, near the Royal Mile is a more modern pub than the others we'd been in so far.   Mostly standing room only in this busy pub but most of us did manage to find a seat.   Many whiskies on offer too.   Cairngorm Trade Winds is yet another pale ale with a fragrant appeal.   Traditional Scottish Ales Ben Nevis 80/- was another fine malty beer in the  - ahem - traditional style.

Moving on to The World's End on the Royal Mile, this is a stone pub with a slate floor.   The ubiquitous Caledonian Deuchars IPA was mostly drunk - a fine pale ale with a citrussy, floury & flowery taste, but no way is it an IPA.   Another fabulous Caingorm Trade Winds was sunk too.

The Royal McGregor is a narrow pub also on the Royal Mile with a large selection of whiskies if you fancy a between round shot (I think this was the falldown downfall of me later).   Hadrian & Border Flotsam & Orkney Raven were had here.   Both were reasonable bitters as far as I can remember, but the memory gets a little hazy after this point.

The Malt Shovel is near Waverley Station & is a larger pub.   We tried Isle of Sky Young Pretender which was another modern Scottish hoppy pale ale & Caledonian 80/- again.

The Halfway House was a little out of the way but when several geeky types have GPS on their phones, no pub is too difficult to get too.   This one was up a flight of stone steps if I remeber right.   Wylam Golden Tankard & Brewdog Zeitgeist Black Lager were bought.   Both were fine beers, but not superb enough to stand out.

Finally The Tass is a large corner pub right near the centre of the city.   Wood's Hopping Mad was a perfectly reasonable pint as ever but not in the least bit Scottish, being from Shropshire - however a local would no doubt be thrilled to see a beer from so far afield.   Inveralmond Thrappledouser is yet another pale ale with Cascade hops in for that US Pale Ale style flavour which I love.

A short walk to our hotel & that was it for the night.   Tomorrow I would drink less whisky as I was struggling to stay awake at this late hour.