Suzy Pope

Suzy Pope

I'm an Edinburgh-based freelance writer and editor specialising in travel, food and drink. Since graduating with an MSc in Creative Writing from Edinburgh University, I've had features published by The Guardian, Bradt Travel Guides and National Geographic Traveller and have worked as a restaurant reviewer and Food & Drink Editor at The List magazine. 

Fodors Travel Guide •

There’s a Shocking Ingredient Included in This Whiskey

Iceland’s first and only whiskey distillery uses a traditional technique that raises a few eyebrows. Iceland’s relationship with alcohol is rockier than the lunar lava plains of the Reykjanes Peninsula. This isolated island in the North Atlantic was under strict prohibition for most of the 20th century and the untamed, near-Arctic landscape doesn’t lend itself to verdant farmland for hops or grapes. However, pure glacial water streaming down from vast ice caps, the hardiness of Norwegian barley
Sustainable Journeys •

Low Food Miles: The City Restaurants Embracing the Natural Bounty of the Baltics – Sustainable Journeys

The natural bounty from the cold-water seas, rivers and forests has fed the people of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia for centuries. Realising the best way to keep food miles low is to embrace the cooking techniques and traditional ingredients of their ancestors, innovative farm-to-table restaurants have cropped up in Vilnius, Riga and Tallinn, creating a sustainable food scene akin to Scandinavia’s New Nordic movement. This editorial reflects experiences you can enjoy on Sustainable Journeys 12
The Independent •

How to spend a day in Portobello, Edinburgh’s swinging seaside suburb

Three miles from the tourist-trodden Old Town of Edinburgh, Portobello has a completely different feel from the medieval spires and haunted snickleways the Scottish capital is famous for. The shoreline here has been on a rickety wooden rollercoaster of rebrands over the centuries, from a thriving industrial base in the 18th century to an upmarket seaside destination for the Victorians and then a slightly neglected suburb of faded grandeur at the turn of the millennium. Slowly and quietly since,
the Guardian •

Festive spirit: how a master distiller created a new whisky that’s ‘Christmas in a glass’

Between the heather-bruised hills and sweeping glens of Scotland’s western countryside sits a traditional distillery where Julieann Fernandez is distilling and blending away with the precision of a forensic scientist. She is creating a distinctive whisky for M&S, part of a new range of spirits specially crafted for Christmas. With its festive character profile, the whisky begs to be cracked open on the big day – as a cocktail base, nightcap or punchy addition to mulled wine. The spirit is stee
The List •

Review: Camille O’Sullivan: Dreaming ★★★★★

An intimate and raw showcase by this Irish cabaret icon proves she’s still queen of the Fringe Camille O’Sullivan has returned to her band of loyal Fringe followers. She shares a few in-jokes with the crowd, speaking of ‘the wheels falling off’, poking at and playing with the erratic collection of bric-a-brac she shares the stage with including a cat-faced tea cosy, wolf costume, and one illuminated rabbit and its baby (‘it’s his first Fringe’, O’Sullivan says, fondly). Her between-song banter
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