There is a laboratory pipette on the bar here. Some customers will know what this is for immediately while others will need it to be explained. Once you’ve heard the explanation you either find the whole thing preposterous or get with the programme and do the pipette thing.It’s used to add just the right amount of water to the premium single malt whisky you ordered; god forbid you were using a jug and your hand slipped, drowning something like a 25-year-old Glenfarclas for which you paid over a tenner.
The Bow nestles in the Old Town and is among Edinburgh’s finest whisky destinations – claiming more than 300 on its list from familiar names to real rarities – although it does a fine line in cask ales and craft keg too. It dates to the 1980s and has the look of a traditional Scottish pub: one room simply furnished with wooden fixtures and fittings, old bar memorabilia on the walls. There are no frills although it does offer pies in the middle of the day as a concession to catering. Otherwise, the focus is very much on the beer, ever-rotating with excellent representation from small breweries across the British Isles, and on that uisge beatha of course.