Meet Cornelius

A trip inside the mind of one of Edinburgh's best beer shops...

In a not so quiet corner of Edinburgh sits a shop, but not just any shop, this is Cornelius. One of the few legendary craft beer havens the city has to offer, Cornelius was ahead of the curve when it opened its doors seven years ago; offering Easter Road residents and craft beer thirsty Edinburgh locals at large the opportunity to buy truly awesome beers.

Today, there’s growing competition but Cornelius remains on top of its game – stocking a collage of names you know, love and have never heard of.

We caught up with the shop’s man with a plan, beer junky and oracle, James, to find out more:

 

“Cornelius is a local beer and wine off licence on Easter Road, Edinburgh. We opened just as craft beer was really taking off. Our policy is we don’t sell anything we wouldn’t drink – why would we drink rubbish? We're reasonably ruthless when it comes to picking what we stock.

So, if that’s not a pretty compelling reason to check out Cornelius, we’re not sure what is. Literally a beer treasure trove, on first visit Cornelius can strike you as something of a Black Books meets the beer world…shelves and shelves of bottles waiting to be discovered, a Four Tet soundtrack combined with an air of offbeat quirkiness. So where does BrewDog fit into all of this:

“It would be madness for us not to stock BrewDog. I tried Punk IPA when the boys first started and have been stocking them ever since. Libertine is currently my favourite, a great wee drop which I’ve drunk a lot of myself.

“Martin is a phenomenal brewer and has done a great job of opening up the scene for other people to follow; particularly when it comes to American beer styles and proving it can be done.”

We think that everyone should pay Cornelius a visit, even if it's just to drop in and say hi. Just look out for the monkey. Oh, and if you're on Twitter, why not follow James and the team @corneliusbeers