Edinburgh barman wins Michelin Exceptional Cocktails Award as Michelin Star restaurants for 2024 are announced

An Edinburgh bartender has won a prestigious award from esteemed bible for foodies Michelin, who were blown away by his lucious cocktails.

It comes as the The Michelin Stars for 2024 were announced at a glitzy awards dinner in Manchester on Monday night. In the latest Michelin Guide there are 11 Michelin Star restaurants in Scotland, including five in Edinburgh.

Timberyard retained the accolade a year after celebrating its 10th birthday, while Sam Yorke, who was the youngest chef to be awarded a Michelin Star for his Edinburgh restaurant Heron in 2023, retained his star. Edinburgh’s Condita also held onto their one star rating, as did Leith institutions The Kitchin and Restaurant Martin Wishart. Tipo, meanwhile, was awarded a Bib Gourmand.

Ryan McHarg, from The Spence at The Gleneagles Townhouse in Edinburgh, was awarded the Michelin Exceptional Cocktails Award.

Michelin said: “Housed within the beautifully ornate Gleneagles Townhouse Hotel in the very centre of Edinburgh, The Spence makes a fine setting for a cocktail.

“Their list includes ‘Townhouse Classics’, inspired by the six imposing statues that adorn the front of the hotel. When it comes to deciding, Ryan McHarg and his team are on hand to help; they are genial, knowledgeable and enthusiastic about their bar.”

In Crieff, The Glenturret Lalique has become the second two-star restaurant in Scotland, alongside Andrew Fairlie at Gleneagles, Auchterarder. Set inside a working distillery, The Glenturret Lalique “boasts not just a brilliant whisky selection but precise, sophisticated cooking from a kitchen team led by chef Mark Donald”, judges said.

Gwendal Poullennec, International Director of The Michelin Guide, said: “The dining scene in Great Britain & Ireland continues to be both innovative and impressive. With a new Three Michelin Star and 6 new Two Star restaurants, the selection’s global standing has grown even further. Among all of the newly awarded Stars, both the quality and variety of the dining experiences are wonderful to see.

“There are enormously talented chefs turning their hands to anything from wood-fired sharing plates to finely tuned sushi. To have so much positive news to share with the industry, at a time when restaurants are facing so many challenges, gives me great pride and is proof of the continued vitality within British and Irish dining.

“That this has happened in the 50th year of the Great Britain & Ireland Guide is proof of how much gastronomy has grown and evolved in that time.”