The owner of iconic Edinburgh bar on how they made it onto the prestigious World's 50 Best Bars list

It was once hard to find anywhere to be served something fancier than a pint of Tennents.

Now, thanks to pioneers like Panda & Sons, which celebrates its 11th birthday this year, it’s THE city to visit, if you fancy an excellent cocktail.

Earlier this month the speakeasy-style venue made it to number 30 on the World's 50 Best Bars 2024 list, where it was sandwiched between Satan’s Whiskers (29) in London and Tan Tan (31) in São Paulo. Also, the Scottish bar’s founder, Iain McPherson, who also looks after the capital’s bars Hoot the Redeemer and Nauticus, took home the prestigious Altos Bartenders’ Bartender Award. Those aren’t the only trophies in their cabinet.

We asked McPherson about making it to the top.

How does it feel to be in the World's 50 Best Bars list?

It feels amazing to raise that flag for Scotland - a tiny wee country and an even smaller city. We're going to be 11 years old in two weeks and to get here took patience with a goal to be the best we could be. We were probably aiming to be the best bar in Scotland, if not one of the best in the UK, and just take it from there.  I guess we've got good tourism here, so there are international eyes on Edinburgh, which is great for us, and also changes our drinks philosophy. Probably 11 years ago we were going down the route of theatrical, big, loud serves, and seven years ago, we started tinkering with freezing techniques, so that's really what we champion now, and we're the pioneers and innovators of those methods. That's something that makes us stand out, and that the bartending community appreciates. It’s helped us get here, but of course you need to have great drinks, and lovely service as well.

What were the high and low points since opening?

There have been many more highs. On an accolades level, as far as getting on the World’s Best Bars extended list, 51 to 100, that was in 2018, then getting onto the 50 best list for the first time in 2019. This year has probably been our most successful. Panda & Sons took home three CLASS Bar Awards -  the biggest UK’s bar awards - and I got Bar Innovator of the Year, again, which was incredible.

We've also been really fortunate with the team of about 15 people. There are no egos.

The highs also include creating new techniques for the global bar community. 

Low points, I mean, I think everyone can put their hands up for COVID. But what was really hard is that the UK Government hasn't been too kind, especially the Scottish Government, to the hospitality sector. It’s really hard to make a profitable business, but that’s made me a better businessperson in the long run. 

I remember straight after lockdown, there was a real boom, with a feeling of happiness and freedom. But last year was a horror show, so that was probably the lowest point. Then returning to what feels like a normal way of bartending and bars has been back to a high.

How has the cocktail world evolved in the last few years?

Its evolution has slowed down a bit recently. Business growth or survival has become a focus, but now we're going to start seeing new bars opening with fresh ideas. We have gone from theatrical drinks to a minimal style. And you see a lot of bars using techniques like rotovap and centrifuges, so touching on that science element. You're starting to see bars approaching flavour with sub-zero techniques. I think there are other great bars like Lime in Athens that have taken fermentation to a really high level, because they're collaborating with a local winemaker. We need to see bars doing their own things, with less of an overall global trend

What is your most popular serve?

We've probably got four or five. These include our coconut daiquiri, which is super delicious. It uses our freezing technique called switching. In a nutshell, we freeze white rum to a temperature where we can remove a large quantity of the water. Then we're replacing it with Thai coconut milk and roasted coconut flakes before letting that infuse and clarifying. What's left is this delicious coconut flavor, but also the protein. So you get a nice thick texture. We always find this cocktail is great for understanding the technique and opens people up to wanting to try more of our ‘out there’ cocktails.

Do your customers want something different, or classics?

We have evolving specials, so it's not always just the same 16 core drinks.  There's plenty to choose from. If we are looking at classics, we still find aperitivo style drinks are really popular. There's a bit more of a rise in what I call mid-ABV - a kind of highball style. So carbonated, longer drinks. There's an increase in old school classics like martinis, which I'm super happy about. There’s a big rise in agave drinks. So you're seeing Palomas and Margaritas. So I'd probably say right now Margarita and negronis are probably the most popular classics.

Is the interior and design of a space important, and what kind of service should customers expect?

It’s super important. When I designed Panda & Sons, I even created the music playlist, because everything has to connect. When you go to some bars, you can tell they've hired an interior designer who has followed a loose brief. Maybe the bartender's chosen the playlist and the head bartender made the cocktail menu, while the owner has decided on the uniforms. So there's not an overall feeling. I think everything has to connect together to really showcase your bar. And that's what we believe in at Panda & Sons, Nauticus and Hoot the Redeemer.

And you need to have service with a smile - genuine, not just robotic. You want customers to leave happy, after having a great time and a bit of banter if they want. If they come in twice, we're like, cool, this is a great sign that we've done a good job. 

What are your favourite Edinburgh bars (apart from your own)?

We’ve got an amazing cocktail and pub scene. There's Kay's Bar and the Canny Man's. Then there are other great cocktail bars, like Hey Palu, Dragonfly and The Last Word.

Edinburgh's cocktail scene punches well above its weight. You've got places like Bramble that have been going for 17 years now, it’s really the first bar that put the city on the global map.

What's next? 

I respect people that can open like four, five, 10, 15 bars, but that's not what I'm here for. I’ll definitely be focusing more on innovation. It's been hard recently because I've been travelling a lot. Next year, I want to clear time to work on some theories I've written down over the past 18 months and see if any can come into practice. I would never want to franchise our bars, but if we did open another, it'd be a completely different concept. Or maybe you could see us doing consultancy in a different city. Watch this space.

Panda & Sons, 79 Queen Street, Edinburgh, www.pandaandsons.com