The Bar That Defined Edinburgh's Cocktail Scene
Bramble opened in 2007 in a basement on Queen Street in Edinburgh's New Town, with no sign, no press release, and no social media presence for the first several years of its life. Word traveled through the city's hospitality community instead, which is how the best bars always get discovered. By 2012 it had won more awards than any bar in Scotland and had trained a generation of Edinburgh bartenders who went on to open their own venues.
Founders Mike Aikman and Jason Scott built something unusual: a bar that feels genuinely underground without being performatively so. The entrance is a barely-marked door down a few steps from street level. The room is low-ceilinged, candlelit, and lined with exposed stone. The music is well-chosen and kept at conversation volume. The cocktail menu changes regularly, built around whatever the bar team finds interesting that season, which might be Scottish spirits, forgotten European bitters, or a particular cocktail movement from another country entirely.
The bar played a central role in establishing Edinburgh as a serious cocktail city. Our guide to Edinburgh's hidden gem bars starts here, because every subsequent recommendation exists in Bramble's long shadow. For the full picture of the Scottish and Irish bar scene, see our Scotland versus Ireland bars comparison.
What to Drink at Bramble
The Bramble Cocktail, which the bar did not invent but which they make as well as anywhere in the world, is the obvious starting point: gin, lemon, sugar, crème de mûre drizzled over crushed ice. It is sweet, tart, and completely right in this setting. Cocktails run £11 to £16, which is fair for the quality. The seasonal menu typically runs 10 to 14 cocktails organized by flavor profile rather than spirit, with 4 to 5 non-alcoholic options that receive the same creative attention.
The bar stocks around 300 spirits, with particular depth in Scotch whisky and Scottish gin. The whisky selection is extraordinary for a cocktail bar, covering distilleries from all five Scottish regions, with regular additions from independent bottlers. The bartenders will happily walk you through a whisky flight if the cocktail menu does not call to you on a particular evening.
The drinks that define Bramble.
Getting There and What to Expect
Bramble is at 16a Queen Street, New Town, approximately a 10-minute walk from Edinburgh Waverley station. The street entrance is minimal: look for the steps down and a brass plate. There is no queue management system because the bar does not accept reservations. Arrive early on Thursday through Saturday or accept a possible wait of 20 to 30 minutes. The bartenders at the door are transparent about expected wait times and will suggest coming back if the queue is long.
The room seats around 45, with bar stools at the counter and low tables throughout. The best seats are the bar stools, where you can watch the team work and ask questions freely. Come hungry: the bar does not serve food, and you will want to be in a state to appreciate the second round properly. Solo drinkers are genuinely welcome, possibly better catered to here than in any other Edinburgh bar.
Bramble operates in context with the city's other strong offerings: the Jazz Bar for live music later in the evening, The Devil's Advocate for whisky and craft cocktails down Advocate's Close, and The Voodoo Rooms for Art Nouveau glamour on West Register Street. Edinburgh's cocktail circuit competes with any UK city outside London.