Scotland: Home of Drinking

If I had to choose a song to summarize it, it would be "Pour It Up" by Rhianna

We were there for St. Patricks Day, and let me tell you it was insane. The majority of us went out for St. Patricks after our group dinner. Our hotel was near a strip of bars (how convenient) and we bar hopped.

We first went to Stramash. Stramash literally means "a noisy commotion or an uproar". I was about to have an uproar about the techno-pop band that they chose to book for St. Patrick's Day. It is a two story live-music bar that was mainly for late 20s to late 30s crowd. We all down a variation of Guinness beer to get a St. Patty's day foam top hat or a vodka-cran which I went for. We stayed for a bit, hoping the music would become better but opted to go to the next bar. We came back here our last night and got a shout-out from the lead singer!

We then went to The Three Sisters which is a rowdier and bigger version of Murphys. They had an outdoor festival we saw earlier and we braved the crowd for it. Personal space? Never heard of her. Everyone there settled for a Guinness while I settled for my vodka cran. The outdoor space consisted of a huge tent with a DJ booth in the corner. We attempted to request a song like 7 Rings or Mo Bamba but they didn't know what the songs were. We did, however, jam out to the Year 3000 by the Jonas Brothers.

We went to another bar, I forgot its name, mainly for the people to go to the restroom. I went along because that's what girls do. While I was in the bathroom, one of the girls were singing about going to the bathroom and three Scottish girls were taken aback. They called us "Stupid Americans". Okay, well. We quickly left to go to Espionage.

Espionage is a multi-level bar and complex for nightlife. You can rent out booths or floors for your own event! We stayed on the first floor for a little bit when we had it to ourselves and went to the second floor. There is some Drag Cabernet entertainment which was definitely interesting to say the least! For St. Patrick's Day, that is all we hit.

Some other bars we went to were:

• The Hive: it was a definite college bar. We first went on a night when drinks were half-off for students. They had alcoholic slushies, glitter bombs, and all typical well drinks. They knew recent American music and it was a literal Hive. There was two dance floors, and three bars.

• Whistle Binkies: it is a low-key scene that was partially underground. It had live music that was playing 80s classic rock and had a big couch for everyone. It was across the street from our hotel so it was easy access.

• Hoot the Redeemer: This is a speakeasy. It was between two buildings and very easy to miss. Most of the time, cops are outside so if you're looking for a specific speakeasy, just look for them. When you go down the stairs, it is disguised as a fortune teller. You push on the box to go inside. The drink to alcohol ratio was off and it was slightly overpriced. We asked our waiter to take a picture of us so we could hang it on the wall. It is 60s themed and really cool! Go pokes forever!

• Bramble Bar: This is another speakeasy. On our speakeasy bar crawl, we only made it 2 speakeasies in. This was disguised as a laundromat and we could tell it was the place because of the cop. It was way underneath and extremely crowded. It felt like a literal cave with very dim lighting.

• Ecco Vino: It is a wine bar off near the Princes Street Gardens. If you have one place to go, this is your place. It was amazing and I've never had that great of Italian food in my life.

• The Albanach: It is right on the royal mile and it is the perfect date night spot. My roommate and her boyfriend used it as a date night and they recommended it. I got mulled wine and it was very delicious.

• Cabaret Voltaire: we went in here once to chill out in a cave basically. They have an underground dance floor but we couldn't go in there because of the ridiculous cover charge.

• The Last Drop: interesting fact. The name is based off of the beheading that used to take place outside of the Tavern. So, instead of "the last drop of alcohol" it is actually "the last drop of blood". Throughout the Tavern is the history shown to customers. We came in for a beer or two.

• Frankenstein Bar: You guessed it. It is based on Frankstein and it's really cool. It is a two-story bar all Frankenstein themed. It has the movie played on two screens on repeat. My only complaint is the lack of customer service here. Just order the drinks, not the food. I did have a good conversation with the bartender about how many countries come in just to see the bar.

That's all folks! Make sure whenever you go out on Thursday, Friday or Saturday night that they have no cover charge! A lot of places have a cover up to 20 pounds.

I made a speakeasy bar crawl map that we didn't make a dent into. Here's the link and happy crawling! https://goo.gl/maps/maBbCD1ZtAP2