Get bark to basics at wood-themed bar with fantastic selection of beers

One set of traffic lights can make all the difference.

The area now regarded as “The Finnieston Strip” in Glasgow was once a scruffy down-at-heel rat-run but is now Glasgow’s showiest quarter.

Look through the windows of some of the restaurants there and you might burn your retinas. There’s so many whitened teeth and bling dazzling over £9 cocktails, it’s a wonder anyone can tell when the seasons change.

As a new twist on the old joke goes, how do you know if someone goes drinking in Finnieston? Don’t worry, they’ll tell you.

But, separated from the Instagrammers by a set of traffic lights, there’s something else going on in a wee pocket on the fringes between Kelvin Wayy and the slopes leading up to what was Yorkhill Hospital.

Le Petit Cochon. Dukes. Elena’s.

And the hidden beer-stop that is the Grunting Growler.

Some might consider the name apt for the sights down the Strip trying to hail a taxi after a £1000 drinks bill and chips served in an old teapot, but a growler is actually a mainly American term for a big refillable beer bottle. And given this pokey joint is run by a guy from Chicago – who is knowledgeable and great with his customers – it figures.

Looks-wise, it’s very basic. The bar is built from wooden pallets, the tables and seating are lacquered chipboard and the decor features graffiti-style stencil art of animals. But the back wall of this hollowed-out former newsagents has one of the best and most diverse selections of beer anywhere in the city (more than 120) with four rotating taps. There’s a menu for dogs too.

A calendar of guided tasting events and takeovers by indie brewers made me think this cool slacker vibe must be what Brewdog was like before it became a corporate chain.

Any more than 20 folk here and it’s busy. And the food? Well, if praline pecans, peanut butter pretzels and wasabi peas are your idea of dinner, fine. But that’s scraping the bottom of the beer barrel.

The lamb and beef chew for dogs sounded more appetising.

Try Le Petit Cochon round the corner if scran’s a priority.

But if you’re looking for an antidote to Glasgow’s most self-conscious strip, then there’s a wee hole in the wall just beyond the traffic lights – a secret portal to a world of beer.