Glasgow – Taphouse Bar and Kitchen

As I walking back to the city centre from Kelvingrove Gallery and Museum, I thought I’d pop in the Taphouse Bar and Kitchen for lunch.

There was a friendly staff member who told me when I entered that there was no food currently being served, so my initial food plan failed.

It wasn’t a particularly busy location (there were no customers inside other than me), but it was clean and comfortable, although perhaps a little bit more formulaic than on-trend. It’s been open for a couple of years now and there’s an outside seating area which is where the only other customers were sitting.

The draft beer selection was inadequate, the best I could really find was Blue Moon and I don’t really consider that as a craft beer, although views will differ on that matter and it’s more likely to be viewed as such in the United States. It tasted slightly odd as well, although not unpleasant, I couldn’t really establish why that was. Perhaps it’s just better drunk on the beach in California….. There were a few more cans available to widen the options, but the choice verged more towards generic rather than interesting.

I can’t find fault that the bar wasn’t serving food, as that could be for any number of reasons and I was told immediately so wasn’t inconvenienced. But, I couldn’t find anything else here that made a visit appealing and putting “taphouse” as the name of a venue does perhaps bring with it an obligation to do more with beer. I did look back on their Untappd record to see if there are anything in the past that was more innovative, but there’s very little. It makes it worse when they themselves claim “look forward to a quality selection of the finest craft ales”.

Overall, a welcoming environment, but for me at least a concept not well implemented despite the on-trend and exciting area in which they’re based. They’d perhaps be better to rebrand as more of a restaurant with some craft beer options, especially as the food menu seems to be well reviewed.