Fine drinking: 99 Hanover Street

There’s something about George Street that turns me off. When bar group Montpelier set out for world domination, New Town seemed like the obvious target. With the opening of Tigerlily and Lulu in 2006, the team who brought us Candy Bar, Indigo Yard, Assembly, Ricks and Opal seemed to have cornered the market.

Appealing to a crowd who apparently see beyond Why Not?, Garibaldis and the newly jazzed up MadDogs for their nights out, the corporate and industry masses of Edinburgh flock to these hotspots for their Whiskey Sours and White Wine Spritzers. Certainly, there is a certain charm to the Asian Fusion meets City Slicker meets dimly lit Neon Emporium. There's reassurance in the polished veneers, the staple suits and the uniform drinks menu. There's a buzz attached to the cliché of catching the generically good looking yet slightly allusive bartender’s eye and—à la Sarah Jessica Parker—ordering a cosmopolitan that the student loan may or may not cover. Far be it for me to criticise a group that has an annual turnover of over £5 million from Opal Lounge alone and which furnishes the Edinburgh festival with the heavenly Spiegel Garden. Furthermore, with a few cheaper student nights under their belt, we can’t really say its all about the bling.

There is however something missing from these bars that several groups of rising thirty-something Edinburgh entrepreneurs have capitalised on. With an ethos that treats alcohol "like food in a fine-dining restaurant," Blue Steel Limited have successfully filled a conceptual and gastronomic gap with Dragonfly Bar—which won "most stylish bar" at the Scottish style awards in 2006—the Villager and its recent addition, the Voodoo Rooms. Putting Stolen Model agency on its CV as well, the trendy and innovative owners of the company certainly manage to fuse obvious aesthetic appreciation with a creative, playful and edgy take on urban Edinburgh. Just when I thought my quest for the Holy Watering Hole was finally up, bar owner Barrie Brown sprung 99 Hanover Street on the city and I embraced it with open arms.

99 is a bit of a tease. When it opened last summer it offered a spacious, high ceiling Georgian room, lit partly by candles, partly by retro light fittings and exhibiting a mish-mash of antique-style furniture and drapings that created an exciting atmosphere of faded glamour and debauchery. A joint venture between Stade de France rugby player Simon Taylor and bar magnate Brown, the aim was to create a rustic alternative to the New Town bars, chilled but indulgent. Its upbeat barstaff really knew, and demonstrably loved, their cocktails, and were at hand to offer a suggestion, a cigarette, a shot. However, after a short reign the bar closed its doors and our livers all took a perhaps needed rest.

Thankfully, last Thursday 99 came back to us with a facelift, a new menu and a fresh determination to corner the trendy student market. With around 150 people at the launch night, made up of "industry" types, friends and family and distinguished blaggers, ambassadors for Miller’s Gin, Grand Marnier and Dragonfly pandered to our thirst, while live singers and established DJs catalysed the dancing when conversation ceased to make sense. Keen to make a point early on that this bar is not about exclusivity and VIP focus, the team even organised an online competition for the general public to win tickets to the launch by providing a convincing reason for their presence.

Among the effective was one determined application: "I am Asian and gay. So if I don’t get an invite I will accuse whoevers incharge of being racist and homophobic. Besides that, I am sure you need some color in your launch party – think about it." The PC appeal worked. Simpler tactics from the ladies just relied on an insistence on alcoholism and a damn sexy profile picture. In any case, a varied bunch contributed to the unpretentious atmosphere 99 is intent on creating.

Described by Brown as "a second living room," the interiors of the bar have been revamped but the cosy atmosphere remains. Everything in the bar is pre-1979: the vintage Bunty comic book that encloses the food menu and the old school milk cartons that display the cocktail list show a commitment to playfulness in conjunction with style. The sumptuous fabrics, antique furniture and brilliant mood lighting create a fin-de-siecle atmosphere. Add to that the shallow champagne glasses, a style that was modelled on Marie Antoinette’s breasts and enjoyed a revival in the 1920s days of decadence, and one starts to understand what Brown means when he decribes the décor as "a touch of everything."

Shunning self-aggrandisement, the 99 sense of humour pervades even the menu. Not just any old cheeseburger, their offering is a "half foot high tower of scrumptuousness." Opting for the club sandwich also appeals when the tagline teases you with "ooh get in." One of its main changes, the menu offers food from 10 am to 10 pm at prices that, considering its gastro-pub strains, are very reasonable and slightly more affordable than the George Street bunch. In addition to breakfast (Full Scottish, American pancakes, breakfast rolls at £1.95), lunch and dinner dishes, there is an appealing tapas menu that works well with early evening drinks.

Paying around £7.50 for cocktails in Edinburgh’s other bars, 99 gets you rollicking for £5.50. The playful names like "Miss Vivian" mask what are, in fact, potent drinks. Of course, the old favourites can be ordered, but the mixologists provide a kooky and original list: the white chocolate, red grapefruit and passionfruit martini instantly appeals and the "Chai Sour," combing chai tea with honey, vodka, lemon juice and gomme, is a soothing indulgence. Other peculiar ones contain lavender flowers and dashes of espresso but vying for my attention is "Handbags and Gladrags." Żubrówka vodka with spearmint, milk thistle and nettle tea, finished with a strawberry and champagne preserve is the daring equivalent to my Everest.

It all sounds fabulous but where is the impulse for the average student to up and leave their established digs and check this place out? Barrie and his team are not only keen to get students through the door but they are intent on encouraging them to while away the hours in the chilled setting. With free wi-fi and 25 per cent discount cards for the regulars, the option of passing the time with comfort food and Facebook is tempting. Having run a successful pre-drinking Wednesday night ("Chicks Dig It") before the revamp, Brown is keen to put together a team of student ambassadors who bring groups of friends in and reap the benefits of free booze. With a creative spin on the pub quiz, the 99 version, set to feature on Sunday or Monday nights, will offer £200 in prize money with benefits such as rollover weeks, Deal Or No Deal type additions and questions that range from sports to retro porn.

There is certainly a sense that 99 is intent on blurring the boundaries between adult sophistication and childish naughtiness. Pleased with Brown's focus on "not just style but personality," the 99 team are preparing to enjoy their new look for a while. However, in the not so distant future there are plans to move the 99 name further South, to party centres like Newcastle, Manchester and Leeds. Becoming a devotee now means that in ten years time, when 99 becomes a national brand, we can smugly comment over the dinner table, "yah, I drank there before it went commercial."

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