The Kenilworth

If you're wandering down Rose Street, you'll have to face one of Edinburgh's biggest dilemmas: which pub? There are plenty vying for your attention, so you're going to need Itchy to be a bit more selective for you. Luckily, there's a little known festival going on just now, and it's dedicated to beer. Well, cask ales. And with cask ale comes happiness, laughter and drunkenness.
The Kenilworth is more than willing to help on all counts. Named after a novel by Walter Scott (yep, that's the guy on the sign outside. Tell friends and behold their looks of disbelief), The Kenilworth's interior is dominated by a huge oblong bar, and the ceiling is pretty magnificent. The ceiling's beauty is especially useful since you'll probably be staring at it a lot once you have enough ale inside you. The food is good, solid, hearty pub fare, with a wide selection of mains, desserts, and even salads if you're feeling guilty about all the ale you're drinking. If you go for the Steak and Ale pie, you'll be wanting Black Cat or Batemans Salem Porter: dark, rich, and tasting of chocolate and liquorice respectively. The Kelham Island Pale Rider is a crisp, strong, fruity ale, perfect with Fish and Chips or on its own. The Young's Special and Deuchars IPA also come highly recommended, though from what Itchy could tell, they 're all damn nice. It just shows you, you don't have to be a farmer from the Home Counties or a pretentious arse to enjoy a good ale.

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