News

In February, we’re going to be offering a special selection of ales that, either in their names, or in their recipes, celebrate St. Valentine’s Day.  We’ve been noticing how many couples come into the pub to sup ale together so we thought that, for the first time, we’d try and find some beer to go along with that special day for lovers - February 14.  If nothing else, it’s great fun finding the beer!  We’re still trying to find a lovers beer glass - government stamped, of course!

During the latter part of January, we’ll be offering some of the very best in stouts and porters (to go along with CAMRA’s seasonal theme).  Don’t miss out, Scotland produces Black Gold (Cairngorm), Dark Munro (Swanney), Vital Spark (Fyne), Trumpeter (Strathaven), Old Jock (Broughton) to name just a few of the great dark beers you can try.

Stouts and porters nowadays aren’t the sweet beers that they used to be and anybody who imagines that Guinness is a classic porter is in need of serious re-education!  Come along and sample these examples of the brewer’s art, you won’t be disappointed.

THE HALFWAY HOUSE has received the accolade of an entry into the GOOD BEER GUIDE” again for 2008.  This time, the pub has been lucky enough to have a photograph included, as well.  Very few photographs appear in the “Good Beer Guide” (only two in the Scottish section) so we feel especially lucky.  The picture is of the pub sign which was designed for us ten years ago.  The man who not only designed the sign but built and fitted it, also built a sign for our the other pub that we owned at the time at Allanton in Berwickshire.  The signs were displayed at a show in Frankfurt before being fitted and won an award for design so the “Good Beer Guide” is not the first to recognise the quality of THE HALFWAY HOUSE pub sign.

The Halfway House offers a selection of souvenirs ranging from our hand drawn post cards at 30p to our embroidered shirts at £15.  There is also the new edition of the Edinburgh Pub Crawl posters for the wall of your bedroom or lounge (depending where you prefer to plan these trips) at £3.50.  You can, of course, buy these things at the pub but, if you can’t make it to the pub, just let us know and we’ll send you your selection. 

The other day, a book arrived at the pub through the post.  Called “Charlie’s War,” it is being published at the start of December by Pan and is written by David Fiddimore.  David is a customer and, in the book, he not only gives a recipe for stovies but also pays tribute to ours saying how they sustain him when he’s between trains at Edinburgh and describes them as, “state of the art.”  It is very nice indeed to get a mention in the book so, do go out and get a copy of a book by a fellow customer - he knows not only where the best beer is but also where the best stovies are!