Brand ambassador and beer whisperer Chris Moriarty has lived in Glasgow for three years and worked for the UK’s first experiential brewery, Drygate in the East End, since 2014. Taking the idea of transparency at the heart of craft beer to the extreme, visitors can watch the brewing through a glass wall. If that isn’t close enough, you can actually brew with the Drygate gang using their studio brew kit. Here Chris shares his thoughts on craft beer and favourite Glasgow hangouts.

What I love about Glasgow is the people. It’s a very open, welcoming and inviting city. The people are really friendly and now we’ve got a really good craft beer scene, there’s no reason to leave.

The number one thing I’d recommend would be a tour of Drygate. Something else I find absolutely fascinating is the tour of Glasgow Central train station. There is so much rich history. I’d also recommend Blue Lagoon, underneath central station, for a haggis supper.

My favourite Glasgow hangouts are Six Degrees North, there’s also Dog House in Merchant City. Ox and Finch is probably the best date night restaurant in the world. It does sharing plates with locally sourced produce.

Ox and Finch (Photograph by Morag McClean)

The main difference in the craft beer scene in Glasgow is that we now have one. There’s Drygate, we’ve had West Brewery for a number of years - they’re inspired by traditional German brews so create wheat beers and lagers. We also have Shilling Brewing Company - a small brew pub in the financial district, and Crossing the Rubicon in the West End - a craft beer curry house.

The best place to go for a drink depends what you’re looking for. If you’re after cask beer, I’d go to the State bar. For gin, go to Gin 71 for fantastic cocktails.

My favourite view is on my morning commute. There’s a stretch of track when you’re leaving Partick train station and it gives you this interesting dichotomy of where Glasgow’s been and where it’s going. On the left you can see the old West End, the university buildings and the spires, and on the right the old industrial areas, the new developments, the Armadillo (the Clyde Auditorium), the SECC, the SSE Hydro, the BBC Centre, the Riverside Museum and the Science Centre.

My favourite building is the Mackintosh building for the Glasgow School of Art. There’s also Glasgow University - one of the inspirations for Hogwarts.

Stravaigin

I’d spend a lazy Sunday eating as much breakfast as possible. I’d recommend the Merchant City because you have Café Gandolfi and Something is reopening there. Gibson Street would be another good place because you have Left Bank and Stravaigin - they’re all really nice for breakfast. Around the corner is Tchai-Ovna - a delightful tea house where you could spend an entire day drinking tea, eating hummus and trying to forget you have a hangover.