Mediocre Beer Adventures

Dan's Golden Pints 2013

2013-12-22T19:38:00.000+00:00

OK, so in the back part of 2013 I became an ex-blogger. Why? Two words - the Birmingham Beer Bash. Post-Bash I was a spent force: sick of beer, craftiness and extensive flavour profiles. I had to recuperate on East European lager for a looonnng time and subsequently forgot to start blogging again. Whoops.

Then again, maybe it was a blessing all round.

When I started writing in January 2012 I was crusading for a better beer Birmingham, one which could provide me with all the delights I wanted. Here, at the back end of 2013 that Birmingham now exists. Is the battle over? Perhaps. With a clear mind in 2014, I reckon the time will be right to revisit the state of Brum's craft scene and decide whether I am needed any longer. Either way, I know that my place in the history of the second city is secure: as a pioneer, a visionary and a person who made things happen - sort of like a boozy Matthew Boulton or James Watt. Yeah?

Anyway, at the end of a superb year for UK beer, here are my 'Golden Pints', because if nothing else, I still love making lists and top 10s.

Best UK Cask Beer

I think that this has to be Oakham Green Devil IPA, which still crushes the competition. Of all the categories, this was probably the clearest margin of victory. In fact the only other beer which Ratebeer tells me came close was (and bear with me, cos I can't believe this either) was... Ringwood XXXX Porter, in a Wetherspoons. It was luvverly.

Best UK Keg Beer

A couple of standouts here - Moor Hoppiness at the Three Tuns in Bristol was fabulous. As was Arbor/Moor Double Dark Alliance, but then again that was sampled at the Birmingham Beer Bash, so it was always going to be great experience. Looks like Moor have this category wrapped up.

Best UK Bottled or Canned Beer

Salopian take this prize for Black Ops, which is smooth, hoppy and moreish. Yep. This has been a big year for Salopian - Vertigo, Automaton, Boomerang, Black Ops, Kashmir, Oracle and Darwin's Origin were all in great form.

Best Overseas Draught Beer

Dieu Du Ciel Aphrodisiaque was amazing at Brewdog Birmingham. What a great brewery.

Best Overseas Bottled or Canned Beer

This year has delivered a whole skip-load of foreign bottles and cans of the highest possible order. Honourable mentions are well deserved by Bruery Tart of Darkness, Cantillon Mamouche, Struise Pannepot Grand Reserva and De Molen Hemel and Aarde, but one name tops the pile:- 3 Fonteinen Armand'4 Oude Geuze Herfst was a mind-blowing experience, which preceded the best beer tasting evening ever, with 2 great friends.

Best Collaboration Brew

Weird Beard/Northern Monk Bad Habit was certainly an awesome collaboration. A great UK Tripel, enjoyed on keg at the Birmingham Beer Bash, surrounded by friends, respected associates and the brewers themselves. Dreams are made of this kind of stuff. Ja.

Best Overall Beer

That'll be 3 Fonteinen Armand'4 Oude Geuze Herfst

Best Branding, Pumpclip or Label

Hard to look past Magic Rock, but Siren and Salopian are cool too.

Best UK Brewery

Here is a list. There are three names on the list. The list is probably in order, but all three breweries have had a fabulous 12 months.

1. Magic Rock
2. Siren Craft
3. Salopian

A close run thing, but I reckon Magic Rock are the top dogs this year, for delivering fresh tempting High Wire and a powerful series of specials, of which Un-Human was massive.

Best Overseas Brewery

Errrrr. Tough one. Can I say Cantillon? I'm saying Cantillon.

Best New Brewery Opening 2013

Siren Craft. By a mile. Fresh out of the box and everything of theirs that I've tasted, has been accomplished and rammed hard with flavour.

Pub/Bar of the Year

Birmingham now has a great range, but my favourite of the new batch and my favourite overall is the Craven Arms, which combines a great welcome, good bottles, kegs and casks, supplemented by cobs, obscure music and a curmudgeonly host (who I love).

Best New Pub/Bar Opening 2013

Ah. You'll notice that I chose the Craven above; and they did open in 2013. But in order to squeeze in a further new bar which is well worthy of a mention, I'm nominating Cherry Reds for this category (their new, second, city centre venue). Great vibe. Great decor. Great beer.

Beer Festival of the Year

Only 1 winner here - BIRMINGHAM BEER BASH. Is it cheating for me to nominate BBB? I don't care. It was an awesome weekend for the whole of Birmingham. Roll on Twenty Fourteen.

Supermarket of the Year

Dunno. Waitrose maybe.

Independent Retailer of the Year

Cotteridge Wines. They've gone from strength to strength, adding draft keg beer to an unparallelled bottle range. Wow.

Best Beer Blog or Website

I'm a Ratebeer man, from way back. No reason to change now.

Simon Johnson Award for Best Beer Twitterer

I've never met Boak and Bailey, but they seem like really, really cool people.

Best Brewery Website/Social media

Evil Twin perhaps?

So that's your lot. I LOVE YOU ALL. See you next year. OK bye.

The Birmingham Beer Bash (2) - The Actual Thing

2013-08-11T19:03:00.000+01:00

OK, so my previous post tried to give a context to the event; the event being the Birmingham Beer Bash.

This bit of text [mit piccies] is an attempt, instead, to try and capture my sense of how the two days actually went. That sounds rather vague and is, because my overriding memory of the 26th and 27th July was threefold, a) mega stress, ii) time whizzing by at a break-neck pace and 3) enormous relief.

Normally I try** to sprinkle my writing with wry, pithy prose. This post however, verges on mawkish sentimentality and I make ~~lots~~ some no apologies for this.

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The set up of the Birmingham Beer Bash took place over a 3-day period leading up to the first session on Friday lunchtime and it was characterised by eerie intervals of slack and {conversely} intense periods of insane and often sustained madness. But anyway, as the doors opened, we were prepared, we were steeled, we were eager and we were ready to seize the day.

Being as I am, a thoroughly impractical and unskilled person, my role in the execution of the event was always going to be a case of slotting in where I could cause least damage. There was never any possibility of my understanding how cask and keg bars need to be operated and I hate getting my hands dirty, so, therefore, I gravitated to a front of house position, which was entirely appropriate, given my upfront PR efforts to promote the Bash*. I shook hands with quite a few brewers as they are arrived and tried to ensure a warm welcome, but more (or equally importantly) I also tried to provide a professional and friendly 'bonjour' to all of our brilliant customers. I was determined that people's first impression of our event would be a positive one - professional and enthusiastic. It helped that I had some awesome volunteer staff alongside me and is worth noting that all of the volunteers who gave up their time to help at the Birmingham Beer Bash were sensational and crucial for us.

So then, during that first session, as the punters cascaded through the doors, the intense dread seemed to wither slightly..... it appeared that people were enjoying themselves and that we had not really delivered any massive cock-ups. By the inter-session break I was already tired, but the adrenaline ensured that during those few minutes between chuck-out and re-opening of the gates, I was running around like a mad thing, because the big Friday night rush was on the way, we were smelling a sell out and the place needed to be restored to it's earlier, tidier state. By around 21.00 on the Friday, having been at the venue for some 14 hours already, I finally started to relax. On that beautiful Summer evening, I started to get a sense of how happy our customers were. The venue was working beautifully, with people creatively using the outdoor spaces to compliment their drinking. The air was filled with satisfied chatter, the food smelled excellent and the bars were surrounded by excitable throngs of craft beer drinkers. It was looking good.

The mix of people was beautiful: young, old; male, female; beer geeks, beer novices; the enthusiastic, the curious. One of our first customers of the day was a lovely older chap who shook my hand and said "Thanks for putting this on" - I could have kissed him.

In those last few hours of Friday, I took the time to catch up with chums who had come along to support the event. Without exception, they told me how much they were enjoying themselves. "You've done it" said one, "You've created something in the Birmingham beer landscape, and people have bought in to it.". It started to get to me.

As that first evening drew to a completion, I stopped to glance at the tweetwall which we'd set up in our main bar area: positive comment followed positive comment. Rapturous, universal acclaim; the online buzz was tangible and I finally knew that we had delivered something which people had loved. By the end of that first day, I realised that we'd done what we set out to do, we'd provided the precise experience that I imagined/dreamt. As I looked once more at the tweetwall, the lump in my throat hardened and a couple of tears escaped a duct and drizzelled down my cheek. It was mainly relief.

One always wants to impress one's peers. The desire to impress those who impress you is lifelong. So when Beer Beauty hugged me at the end of the session and told me how much she had enjoyed herself and that she felt emotional for us organisers... that made me emotional too.

Interestingly, during that entire Friday, I did not allow myself a single drop of beer until we closed. I was so wired that I couldn't risk losing my focus. That first beer of the evening was well worth waiting for - an Arbor/Moor Double Dark Alliance on keg - utterly outstanding. This was quickly followed by small tasters of Siren Craft QIPA, Wild Beer Ninkasi, Northern Monk New World IPA, Buxton Black Rocks and Redwillow Witless III: all delicious. It seems that we stocked a bagful of great beers - no wonder people were happy!

Saturday was equally fantastic. An effort of will was required, as energy levels were depleted, but the satisfaction was all around me. A succession of great Twitter friends came and went - all loving the experience. Laughter, big smiles, delight at the beer selection, handshakes aplenty.

By Saturday evening, the rain came down in droves, but it didn't seem to hurt us - we sold out again. In fact, on that rainy evening, people were queuing for returned tickets. Mind boggling. Towards the end of that last session I finally stood behind a bar for the first time (in order to show off to my sister). Behind our International Bar, it really was lovely to talk to customers, recommending great beers and sharing my enthusiasm. Those few scraps of conversation which I remember were special - a unique opportunity to invite strangers to your gaff and delight them with delightful beer - a captive audience to proselytize to. Me in the pulpit at last.

During the last few minutes of the Birmingham Beer Bash, the main hall was filled with the sounds of Motown and grown men were dancing - probably due to lovely beer, but I'd like to think it was due to pure joy.

And that was it. It was suddenly over. All gone too fast. Me too wired to properly enjoy myself, but, in retrospect, the satisfaction palpable and real. Phew.

*Wordsmith, rather than practical person = moi.
**I do. I'm not saying I succeed at this, just that I try.

All photos are taken from the Birmingham Beer Bash Flickr group, and as such all rights are reserved.

The Birmingham Beer Bash (1) - The Build Up

2013-08-04T21:27:00.000+01:00

It won't (or will) have escaped your notice that I have become an absent blogger over the preceding 3 months. The reason for this is that I have been busy on the Birmingham Beer Bash, assisting my fellow team members in ensuring that it was a roaring success. This was a big collective effort, but was more than worth it.

So then, now that the Beer Bash is over* I suddenly find a lapse in a my life, a lull in my stress. It is only fit and proper therefore, that I resume my typing duties today and reflect upon the Birmingham Beer Bash - which I am absolutely convinced was a momentous occasion in the history of beer in the Second City.

In order to properly cover the various aspects of BBB that I wish to cover, I am resolved to produce a triptych post - dealing with the before, the during and the after of the Birmingham Beer Bash. This first part will deal with what was going on, in the lead up to the 26th and 27th July 2013.

For the sake of telling the whole story, the Birmingham Beer Bash was effectively born on the 21st April 2012, which was the date of the first Birmingham Twissup. This event was the first time that the Birmingham Beer Bash team had ever met each other in the flesh. Of course, at that point we were not a team at all, we were just a group of bloggers and tweeters who shared a set of values with regard to good/craft beer and it's availability in Birmingham. During that first meeting, we toured the city's pubs and chatted about the kind of pubs and brewers who we hoped would come to Birmingham sometime soon. We were exasperated that beers from the toppest, freshest, most excitingest microbrewers never seemed to pop up in the pubs of Birmingham. At all. We drunkenly discussed the idea of mounting a showcase event - a new kind of beer festival, which would present these fantastic new brews to the beer fans of the Midlands, and introduce the city of Birmingham to all those cool breweries.

And thus the idea was born. In the following months, things started to get a little bit organised: a company was formed, paperwork was signed, there were shareholders. With a group of enthusiasts signed up, the ball started rolling. Fast forward to the Birmingham Beer Festival of October 2012 and we were {mostly} all together once more. By that time we'd already ditched out first version of the event name (Brumcraft anyone?) and needed to decide whether we really were going to do this thing. Well... as we crowded around the international bar, we looked each other in the eyes and sort of knew the answer. The answer was "Yes". (The question was does Birmingham really need a craft beer event.)

Post Christmas, it all got serious. Suddenly, in a cavalcade of developments we had a new name, a new logo and a venue. Our Twitter account started to gather a large number of followers, people were mad keen. This was going to be a cinch, yeah? Build and they'll drink, right? Well, sort of. Between 1st January 2013 and July 26th 2013, an incredible amount of progress was made, and each step was paid for in stress and sweat. Mainly that sweat belonged to David Shipman (our Leader and inspiration), but all of us did our bit.

My bit was the social media and PR portions of the project. The Twitter thing was OK - we'd tapped into a rich seam of goodwill and were grateful for it. But what about those people in the world who weren't beer geeks? How could we get them to come along to our Bash? That was the tricky part and it was that which drove my preciptiously steep PR learning curve. Thanks to the generous support of some clever PR professionals, I was able to try a few things to spread the word. Of course, they didn't all work, but lessons were learnt and we started to play the game, a bit. Appearances on Radio WM and in the Birmingham Post and Mail were important for us - they won us extra credibility. The production of our fabulous beer Rotunda poster was also an important step - giving us visual appeal and a bit of class. Meanwhile we turned up the volume on Twitter and Tim played a blinder of Facebook.

Against a backdrop of wonderful brewers signing up for the event, plus speakers, beer celebrities and talented caterers, we suddenly had a fully formed, enticing offer; a multi-dimensional beer experience awaiting our public.

Now obviously this could not have happened without the support of our sponsors, nor the vision of the organisers (again, I must tip my hat to our Leader). Perhaps our real success in the first 6 months of this year, was to effectively and persuasively translate our raw passion and enthusiasm into a credible and deliverable business proposition. Because after all, this wasn't just a bit of a jolly boys' outing - big money was involved in mounting the Birmingham Beer Bash - it cost a fortune and needed to cover it's costs. This was a RISK. And with financial risk comes BIG STRESS.

Putting aside for a minute the hard physical work in setting up the event in the 4 days beforehand - the thing that most tired me out was the nerves. The fear of failure was palpable - not through any lack of planning or organisational skills, but purely because it was our first time. We did not know what to expect, and the cold, bony finger of doom certainly bumped it's way down my spine on that sleepless night before we opened....

But that's melodramatic isn't it? It seems a bit OTT given that I'm now on the other side of that stress. But it was real. As we opened the doors on Friday morning, I felt nauseous. I knew that I would give it the full welly, to make sure we achieved our objectives.

And it's worth reminding ourselves what those objectives were. Where have we come from? And what did we tell people we were going to do? A grand statement perhaps, but the original idea, spouted at that first Twissup meeting was this - we wanted to change the beer landscape in Birmingham. Could we do it?

*for this year, at least

10 beers to 'go to', AKA my Top Ten goto beers.

2013-05-07T00:17:00.000+01:00

I have been monumentally slack in writing any fantastic blog pieces for the last month. There aren't any especially good reasons for this, but here is my attempt to make my excuses anyway.

Work has been crazy. Cliched, but true. My job has recently involved me applying for my own job and simultaneously moving to a new building. It has been pressured.

Family stuff. This never goes away (for anyone). Thus, a rubbish excuse.

Birmingham Beer Bash. Ah now, this one is genuine. In [brilliantly] managing the social media arms for this wonderful, upcoming celebration of progressive beer, I have found myself becoming increasingly confused: which 'voice' am I talking in today? Who am I representing? Have I got anything interesting to say? Now on the latter point the answer is obviously 'Yes'. Why? Well, the BBB is shaping up very nicely indeed. Loads of great brewers are on board and people are working very hard behind the scenes. Not me (obviously), but others. I'm the type of glory hunter who likes to associate themselves with success*, therefore I want to associate myself with this fest. Keep an eye on local media over the coming months - I will be trying to make myself famous and steal all the credit.

*I'm a Leicester City fan.

Anyway, after that extended preamble, here's the succulent fillet of this post, i.e. here comes some juicy meat.

Top 10s - we all love them. Here, without ado is a list which I have come up with tonight, of 10 beers which I would like to 'go to' whenever possible. These are 10 beers I would like to have in my fridge/cupboard/ottoman at all times. If I won the lottery, I would buy a crate of each and hand them out to tradespeople, whenever the fancy took me.

For the sake of brevity, I haven't bothered to try and define what constitutes a 'goto' beer. Use your own interpretative powers - you won't be far off. <no particular order>.

1. Rodenbach Grand Cru. I'm drinking one now. It's a sour, funky pleasure.

2. Svyturys Baltas. A delicious white hefeweizen from Lithuania. The best looking beer on the planet.

3. Jever. My favourite lager. A dry grass temptress.

4. Lion Stout. Smooth, strong, supremely drinkable. I've just entered a competition to win a case of this on Facebook.

5. Westmalle Tripel. I have a thing for Tripels. This may well be my favourite. Is it yours?

6. Brodies London Lager. I want this every moment of the day. You don't know how much I want it.

7. Cantillon Gueuze. I used to underrate it. I no longer do so. The fact that the Craven Arms now sells it for a bargain price may have something to do with my new-found, glowing fondness for it.

8. Ska Modus Hoperandi. A canned IPA? Yes. Squelchingly hoppy and delectable.

9. Oakham Green Devil. If only they'd continue to bottle it (SOB).

11. Schneider Hopfenweisse. A booming Weizen Bock, with US hops. Always a source of fulfilment.

12. Fruh Kolsch. You'd have to be demented not to love Kolsch and/or be able to differentiate between different Kolschs.

13. Thornbridge Jaipur. Discussed ad nauseum. For good reason.

Sorry that was a bit short. I'll try to feed you some Birmingham Beer Bash snippets in the upcoming weeks.
For the avoidance of doubt, this is NOT a sponsored post. No one would be stupid enough to pay me for this rubbish. However, if you are loaded and gullible, why not buy me a few crates of beer? - I'll make it worth your while.**

X

**I won't.

March - Monthly Report FULL OF GREAT STUFF

2013-03-23T21:55:00.003+00:00

Realised that I hadn't written anything for over a month. Felt shame-farced, so decided to rectify.

This is a sort of headline thing where I write something about a number of different things, meaning topic. OK.

1. Report on booze-free January

Pretty rubbish really. A silly idea to give up booze. Proved nothing, to no one. At least I managed it though - good old me!

In fact, the first couple of weeks were really hard, but it did get easier. I ended up dreaming about the aroma of particular beers and looking longingly at beautifully captured beer images. True story that.

You know the weirdest thing? On the day that I was once again able to drink, I didn't really fancy a beer anyway. I still had one (or two), but didn't massively enjoy it. Why? Hard to say - but I think abstinence attached a sense of guilt to the drinking, which I couldn't just turn off on 1st Feb - it lingered.

Also interestingly, during booze-free January I felt rubbish. My health was up and down and low-level depression which perhaps would ordinarily have been chased away by beer, was instead allowed to drag it's heals.

Might not bother next year.

2. Birmingham Beer Bash Update

Eagle-eyed viewers will have been pleased to see the recent BBB updates regarding the involvement of Purity, Freedom and Thornbridge. This is really fabulous news and shows the World (and ourselves) that we mean business. This is real.

We saw our venue in action at the recent Whisky Birmingham Festival. It is such a cool place: the canal, the railway arch, the rooms, the space. Everything points to a chilled out venue for a buzzing beer sipping experience.

Our logo is now out and looks grrrreat. Our website will be launched shortly and, at that point, you'll be able to bag your tickets.

3. Memorable Beer Tasting Evening

Myself and two great chums* convened round the house of one of them, one evening in mid-February and supped a simmering succession of some of the greatest beers ever brought together on an occasion when I've been present.

3 Fonteinen Armand’4 Oude Geuze Herfst - a peerless Gueuze
Rodenbach Caractère Rouge - a marvellous Sour Flemish Red Ale
Struise Black Albert- and bone crunching Imperial Stout
The Bruery Tart of Darkness - a scintillating and pretty much perfect Sour Ale
Magic Rock Clown Juice - a thick and sweet draft Belgian Wit
AleSmith Wee Heavy Scotch Ale - a malt heavy US Scotch Ale
Nøgne Ø Citrus Hystrix IPA - a fruity IPA
Evil Twin Even More Jesus - a big, smooth and brutish Imperial Stout
Cantillon Mamouche - a blisteringly good Elderflower Lambic
Ragutis Smetoniška Duonos Gira - an almost undrinkable Kvass, which featured the most rankest stench ever encountered in a beer.

The company was excellent, the cheese was great top.

Unprecedented quality all round.

4. Craven Arms makes it a hattrick

Birmingham's "brand new" craft beer quarter now has a third spoke in it's erm tripod. The Craven Arms formerly a lovely but scary place, has now been acquired by Black Country Ales and is being landlorded by friend** of Mediocre Beer Adventures Chris Sherratt. Offering a range of handpulled bitters, cobs and Cantillon Gueuze (at £3.90), the Craven has quickly vaulted towards the top of my Birmingham pub ranking system (DBPRS). Add in the fact that it sits atop a lovely hill behind the Mailbox, the other fact that it has comfortable seating and the erm other and third (probably last also) fact that it is very easy to pop into the Victoria and/or Brewdog on your way there/back and you have a winner on many (all fronts) fronts. Yes.

Fronts.

Best.

*I'll insert their names if they allow me.
**Well, he said "hello" when I walked up to the bar and "thanks" when I paid for my drinks.

Taking ones own advices

2013-02-19T23:32:00.001+00:00

Some while ago I wrote a post about the ideal Birmingham pub crawl - it's here.

Now over the course of the year this has proved to be quite popular (in so far as my blog statistics appear to show). This post also seems to have had bursts of sporadic popularity, where I am gratified to say, people appear to be actually using it to plan real-life crawls. So I decided to do the same.

The opportunity throated itself when my long-standing and brilliant chum @joneso76 came a-visiting from Leicester. He's fairly new to Twitter and had quickly become enraptured by the exciting adventures that the West Midlands beer community always seemed to be involved in. So, on arrival in Brum he begged for the chance to hit as many hot 'spots' as possible, during his one-day duration. This situation seemed set-up for revisiting as many of the locations on my ideal pub crawl, as could reasonably be fisted into a day.

Before my arrival in the centre, Jones already ticked off Brewdog and walked past Post Office Vaults (2 down).

We rendezvoused in the Victoria, where we were honoured to be the first people in the pub to ever sample cask Magic Rock. In fact, we were possibly the first people to ever sample cask Magic Rock, in the whole history of Birmingham. Ku. dOS. It was Curious. It was history.

After the Victoria it was back to Brewdog for some delicious Mikkeller Beer Geek Breakfast and a chance meeting with two of Birmingham's foremost international beer connoisseurs Hazel and David. Unfortunately Brewdog didn't have any lager from Bhutan, so they had to drink something nice instead. Ho hum.

Next up, Citra and delicious Thai grub at the Bartons, having walked through Bacchus en route. The Bartons never disappoints, although the lack of bottled Green Devil IPA did remind me just how baffled I am that Oakham will no longer be bottling it - madness.

From there to the Lord Clifden, where it was yeasty Budvar and one of the city's most impressive hand dryers.

The LC is an Urban Art Bar, as is the Red Lion, which I'll come to in a minute. But before that, it was the Drop Forge and a pint of Malvern Hills Black Pear. What a smart place.

So then, the Red Lion for more lager- this time some Estaminet Pils, which was extremely tasty and served in a splendid, ribbed beaker. Golf.

Finally, for a quick pint of Bathams (which turned into several), it was to the ever [and always] brilliant Black Eagle. It has been too long since I visited this esteemed and fabulous location, which seems to transcend the vicissitudes of beer fashion; so I made the most of my stay. 1) Free chips. 2) Bathams served in tip-top condition. 3) Dancing with, and for the entertainment of, an older and surprisingly sprightly clientele (old ladies).

If I say one thing about the above mentioned pub crawl, it is this: it was brilliant. If I say a second thing, it's that Birmingham has loads of great boozers, and sometimes I forget that. I increasingly find myself drawn to a handful of crafty joints in the city centre these days, but in order to de-narrow my beerview, perhaps I need to be more stringent in making sure I remember to visit the other venues of legend, in this, the Second City.

~ ~

In the coming weeks, I will endeavour to bring you posts on the following:
i) The greatest beer tasting evening I've ever known
ii) My reflections on a booze-free January
iii) An update on the Birmingham Beer Bash

The 2013 Top Ten Movers and Shakers on the Birmingham Beer Scene

2013-02-11T19:46:00.004+00:00

A year ago, I done a blog post, which I was actually rather proud of. It constructed a list of the 10 most influential people in Birmingham's crazy 'world' of good beer.

12 months on and much has changed (or is in the process of changing), therefore we need to do a follow up. The only slight problem is that the formulae used to determine how influential people were/are, and therefore where they ranked in the list, has disappeared into the mists of time - in fact these formulae may never have existed in the first place. As such, these ten are served up to you in alphabetical order (by surname). Annnnnnnnnnnyway, here is this years list - the Top Ten Movers and Shakers on the Birmingham Beer Scene for 2013.

Nigel Barker (Wellington and Post Office Vaults)

The Wellington yet again took CAMRA's top prize as the Birmingham pub of the year, but it was with Nigel's newer venture - the Post Office Vaults, that he made the biggest impact on Birmingham this year. With a mind boggling range of Belgian and German beers, crammed into a tiny space, the POV has quickly become a staple of any Birmingham pub crawl, and finally (FINALLY) offers somewhere for us to consistently drink world classics such as Orval, Rodenbach Grand Cru and De Molen Vuur and Vlam. Tiny Rebel often feature on cask too, which is a big plus. Strictly speaking, this ranking is sort of shared between him and Mike Perkins, with them both being co-owners of the POV, whilst Nigel, is sole licensee of the Welly.

Dr Paul Bennett (Beer Geek Brewery)

Launched in February 2012, Beer Geek are a common sight in the pubs of Birmingham, plus their excellent branding is now being recognised in London and other faraway places. Following the demise of the Two Towers' brewery tap at the Brown Lion, Beer Geek are now Brum's most recognisable local brewer and have the chance to broaden their range to seriously tickle the fancy of the city's swelling band of actual beer geeks.

Marverine Cole (Beer Beauty)

Not just an award-winning beer blogger and former Sky News presenter; this local-girl come good, is also a veritable tour de force banging the good beer gospel on television and radio (as in here). Savvy, well connected and glamorous, Marverine is ideally placed to use her national celebrity and local pride to bear on the Birmingham beer scene, with hopefully marv-ellous results.

Paul Halsey (Purity)

If this list had been written in a few months time, I would expect Paul to be higher up the list*. This would be because of the projected opening of the Purity Craft Beer bar, which is, I believe, due to touch down near John Bright Street to form (along with Brewdog Birmingham, The Victoria and the also imminent Craven Arms) the city's 'Craft Beer Quarter'. However as it stands we don't yet know what the new place will look like. Purity Mad Goose is still delicious however, and with their three beers still being ubiquitous in Birmingham, Paul is still a shaker.

Jaz and Kal Kandola (Cotteridge Wines)

This time last year I didn't even know that Cotteridge Wines existed. Now they are a nationally recognised off licence, with a range of 700-800 different bottles, offering access to US brewers not previously glimpsed in our city. It is an astonishing rise. Via a twin assault of well priced UK craft beers (and a big range too), plus access to foreign beers (Mikkeller, Evil Twin, Anchorage, Bruery et al) Cotteridge now present an irresistible offer, which has undoubtedly diversified the craft beer audience in Birmingham.

Gerry Keane (The Anchor)

The Anchor keeps rocking and rolling. The line up of great cask beers keeps coming, with a excellent representation of lesser known brewers from around the country. Also their range of beery events is as impressive as ever.

Dan Muldoon (Brewdog Birmingham)

Finally, in December, the big boys arrived. Brewdog, undoubtedly the superbrand of UK craft brewing, finally killed off Brum's reputation as a desert for kegged craft beer. With a dozen or so taps of unadulterated quality, BD now bring us their own highly flavoured offerings, plus guest beers we would previously have had to get to London to sample (Nogne, Mikkeller, Evil Twin, Brodies etc). With imperial stouts such as Tokyo, AB:12 and Paradox they are the first place to offer high strength beers on tap. With regulars such as Dogfight, Punk IPA and 5AM Saint, they are pretty much the only place in Brum to guarantee hoppy draught choices. Two big pluses. Since opening, they have also killed off the myth that Birmingham couldn't support such a 'craft' establishment, or that there simply wasn't the demand in our great city for premium beers. The place is rammed each night - go figure. With a De Molen tap takeover on the horizon, and other such events in the pipeline, we now have a place to light up the beery imagination of a generation and blaze a trail for independent outlets to follow. He built it. We came.

Jen Nadin (Cherry Reds)

Cherry Reds is a wonderfully homely and friendly bar/cafe in Kings Heath, which has made a concerted effort to stock good beer in bottles and on tap. Jen has also programmed a consistent range of themed beer tasting events, and a held their second annual beer festival last August. This would be enough to earn Jen a place on this list, but, coupled with her participation in the Foreign Beer Bar at the Birmingham Beer Festival, and, perhaps more intriguingly, the projected opening of a city centre version of Cherry Reds this year, Jen is right at the heart of the good things which are afoot.

Krishan Rajput (Stirchley Wines and Spirits)

Krishan and his father are Brum beer pioneers; perhaps last year was the year where we saw his spiritual children begin to emerge, blinking, into the Birmingham sunlight. Stirchley Wines and Spirits continues to be a nationally recognised off licence, with an awesome range of bottles, PLUS they now have their own tap, offering fresh, draught craft beer to take away - to my mind, one of only two places in the city to offer this! In addition, Krishan again brought beer quality to the Birmingham Beer Festival, with a powerful selection at his foreign beer bar.

Matt Scriven (Bitters and Twisted)

Matt's Bitters and Twisted chain continued it's expansion this year, by opening the steak-fuelled New Inn in Harborne. More importantly (for me) however, this year the beer range in his pubs was certainly on the up. With consistent cask offerings from Dark Star, Thornbridge and Red Willow and with a range of excellent bottles, the choice of good beer for Brum beer geeks suddenly got better overnight. Not only were the Victoria, New Inn, Jekyll and Hyde the first pubs in the city (to my knowledge) to stock beer from UK craft brewers such as Kernel, Summer Wine and Arbor, but they remain amongst the few to do so. (plus Magic Rock on tap is in the pipeline...)

---

Initial observations on the list? Well clearly it shows the importance of entrepreneurs. 12 months ago, there was space on the list for people who headed up national companies - this is no longer the case. In fact, apart from the Brewdog, whose brand power in the world of 'craft' beer is irrefutable, all of the other people who make this ten are local, highly motivated individuals, seizing Birmingham's beer scene by the scruff of the neck.

Next year (if I'm still alive) I fully expect the following people to appear in the list, for a variety of reasons: David Shipman (Birmingham Beer Bash), Keith Marsden (Prince of Wales, Moseley), Chris Sherratt (Craven Arms).

Having completed the above list, I sit here perambulating in my own glory.

<5 minutes elapse>

In this post-perambulation period, I have also come to a sort of encapsulation regarding exactly what it means to be a 'mover and shaker' on my list. It is part to do with the impact on the progressive beer scene in the city, and secondly, it's to do with the personal trajectory of the individual - have they improved or remained steady, etc etc. I hope that's clear.

*even though, as Carl Durose has pointed out - this sentence is complete nonsense. After all, for someone to move up the list, it would involve them knobbling all/some of the people ranked alphabetically higher than them on the list. Watch out Paul, Nigel and Marverine! Happy now?

The Birmingham Beer Bash, which is a progressive beer festival

2013-01-29T20:52:00.002+00:00

This is unusual. In normal circumstances, when writing a blog post, I just sort of prat around and generally make rather a show of myself.

This time however, I want stroke a differing note. This time I am reporting on something meaningful, concrete and above all - exciting.

The Birmingham Beer Bash is a festival which will take place on 26th and 27th July. It has been in the pipeline for a while, but having settled upon a brilliant, city centre location, it now has no choice but to be real. No longer will it exist only as an abstract possibility; but by sheer force of intent and raging desire, it hath forced itself skywards, screaming for life.

The main thing I'd like to say at this stage is/are theses:

1) Our festival will be a collective effort.
The organising team are not hardened marketing gurus, or grizzled brewery tycoons - we are beer fans first and foremost. We (and I include I in this) have sat back watching the craft beer scene bubble and fizz in cities around the UK, wondering when our turn would come. In the end, we decided to make it happen for ourselves. In putting this fest together, we are going to utilise hard work, passion and the spirit of cooperation. We are reaching out to like minded, prospective partners: people who also want to deliver a shed load of the very best beers into the mouths of an expectant Birmingham audience.

2) We love great beer.
Let's talk about quality. It's a matter of opinion, certainly; but it's also something tangible and tantalising. Our team shares an appreciation of what the UK's best brewers are creating right now: a scene stuffed with hops, flavour, wit and style. We want to bring the very brightest British and World brewers under one roof, (located in a Birmingham postcode), to give the venerable folk of the Midlands, a chance to be a part of this revolution, which is now encroaching upon our beer drinking lives.

3) It won't be much of a festival without you.
I mean that. We mean that. We are bringing the best beer to Brum, so that you can drink it. We will try to drink it also, but we'll be busy serving you. So please come. Bring your chums and sample some fantastic brews. See what the fuss is all about. Have a ball.

We will keep you up to date via Twitter and Facebook. Our website will appear shortly.

I will, at some point, introduce you to the team behind the event; a team you can join as a volunteer (which is what we are also).

As for me, I have but a small part. You may read my words promoting this event, but most of all I hope you will read my passion and excitement.

Until July then. Let the days count down.

Giving up drinking (for a bit)

2013-01-25T19:42:00.000+00:00

(I was going to post this at the beginning of January and then do a comparative piece in February, but got sidetracked. I am awfully sorry, therefore, for the delay).

What is the point of giving up drinking? Rehab is for quitters, blah blah, blah.

This January I decided to see if I could quit beer (and indeed alcohol generally) for one month. Why? Well that's an interesting question. In part it was personal challenge - the sort of pointless masculine test of mental strength, by which Gamma males are supposed to define their faculties. It was also a response to post-Christmas guilt. Having done my bit to party hard during the festive season, I got to Boxing Day feeling portly and guilty at the levels of my excess. In short: physically and mentally jaded. In truth also, having reached my late 30's, I have all of a sudden become [slightly] aware of my own mortality. Perhaps that is being overdramatic. Oh well, I like being dramatic, darling. At the very least I have become aware of my own ability to pile on the pounds.

In any case, I decided to have a month off.

Now this presents a number of challenges, which are summarised as follows:

One) I spend most of my waking life daydreaming about beer
Two) All my social life revolves around pubs
Three) In these days of marriage, parenting and responsibility, it also happens that most of my active friends, are people from within my interest/hobby group (e.g. beer)
Four) I am a beer blogger. Not drinking beer may have a potential impact on my output*
Five) Beer defines me, it makes me the interesting*** person I am

OK, so for a whole month, I have to deal with these things. In that 'dealing', I will run into these sorts of problems:

i) Twitter. All the people I follow on Twitter are beer people. They will all be talking about the delicious beers they are drinking and the marvellous pubs they are in. There will be photos also.
ii) There will be times, like this week, where I have a spare hour after work, when I would usually nip into Brewdog Brum for a quick snifter. No more.
iii) Every time I get pasta or teabags out of my kitchen cupboard, I will see this. It will hurt me.

iv) What will I do in the evenings?
v) What will be my reward for a hard day/week at work? It'll have to be a Biscuit Boost or summat.

All of that is, of course, rather flippant. It's also true BTW, but it is flippant. The serious point underlying all of this, and yes there is one, is this: have I been drinking too much? How much beer is too much?

Being a beer geek is brilliant. We all know that. But isn't all this beer talk getting a bit much? In terms of being part of the beer community, I sometimes feel pressure to keep up, pressure to try the latest beers, hit the latest pubs and collect enough fresh experiences, to fuel Twitter and Ratebeer conversations over the coming days/months. Ratebeer urges me to try new beers and keep rating. Twitter stokes the embers of beer desire, making me salivate via vicarious sampling. Has anyone asked or dared to wonder whether we {me}are drinking too much? It's different for every person (obviously) but for a fingersnap of time over Xmas, I felt perhaps I was over my limit. So I decided to take a step back, a chance for reflection and a breath.

Yet darker thoughts also cloud my mind; namely, at what point does extreme beer geekery/obsessiveness become borderline alcoholism? What do beer geeks think about alcoholism? Do we turn a blind eye to this potential outcome, or do we refuse to let the possibility enter our jolly good world? If we don't ever talk about the big AA, why not?

Yes, there's a lot of bravado in beer and drinking generally. There's also a lot of escapism and making merry. I'm prepared to spend this empty month, making sure that beer is an accoutrement to my life rather than something which I'm using to fill a yawning chasm in my soul.

What an effing downer.

*Who knows it may actually make it more** interesting***.
**Although 'more' is a very perjorative term
***Ditto for 'interesting'

Superfluous Beer Photos

2013-01-17T12:48:00.000+00:00

In a transparent attempt to put out a blog post which doesn't require much text, here are a few beer photographs (all taken by myself), which I have taken during the past few months.

1. The truly delicious Baltas from Svyturys. This is a Lithuanian Hefeweizen, although actually, I think it sits stylistically, mid-way between a German Weisse and a Belgian Witbier.

2. Castel from Ethiopia. Pretty ropey Lager.

3. Phoenix from Mauritius. Another pretty ropey Lager.

4. Coral from Madeira. Another pretty ropey Lager. (Is this getting boring yet?)

5. Oakham's AWESOME Green Devil IPA. Justifiably considered one of the UK's greatest beers. Pictured here in the lovely Bartons Arms.

6. The highly delicious Schneider Hopfenweisse, a hoppy German Weizen Bock. Yum.

7. Leute Bokbier from Belgium, in the Post Office Vaults. Note the extremely strange glass, which is egg-shaped, sitting on a wooden block, with concave gap. (Sorry for rubbish photo).

8. Idiot [Imperial] IPA from Coronado. A delicious assault on all the senses.

9. The awe inspiring Beer Geek Breakfast from Mikkeller. Truly one of the world's great beers.

10. From the sublime to the ridiculous. Saris from Slovakia - an average Lager.

11. Volfas Engelman Stalo - a rather dignified and tasty Lithuanian Lager. (n.b. the Tic Tacs were not mine, so I can't confirm whether they tasted as good as they looked).

12. The Waggon and Horses, Halesowen. Awesome boozer.

13. The Windsor Castle, Lye. Imperious brewery tap for Sadlers, and inaugural winner of Mediocre Beer Adventures' Birmingham and Black Country Pub of the Year 2012.

14. The rather ropey and duplicitous Zlata Praha from Ukraine, which masquerades as a Czech Lager. For a few days after drinking this I rather thought it had given me the 'two-bob bits', but 'luckily' it turned out that I merely had Norovirus, so that was a relief.

16. And finally, always a pleasure - SCANNERS from Kernel, in collaboration with Brodies. Because hey, you can't drink mediocre beer all the time.

The Festive Period. An exciting 'round up"

2013-01-03T19:53:00.000+00:00

The onset of January, and indeed the onslaught of 2013, recently began in earnest. Before that becomes a grinding inevitability, let's just take a minute to look back over an exciting December, which turned out to be a month.

As Birmingham residents will be only too gratefully aware, our branch of Brewdog finally opened it's doors on 11th December. It's opening was met with a wave of people going in and buying beer and then tweeting about how nice it was[is].

I managed to hold back for a full half a day before peeking inside and buying my first ever {Birmingham-based} kegged Brewdog. It was Movember, a Black IPA and it tasted, like, victory.

Since then I have popped in as often as my wife/wallet/boss/child/slim-fit jeans will allow and even during this short timescale, have already sampled some incredible draft beers, including Cocoa Psycho, Punk IPA, Jackhammer, Hoppy Xmas, Tokyo, Imperial Red Wheat and guest offerings from the likes of Mikkeller, Brodies and Rogue. Fabulous. A range which is blatantly of a different order to any other draft offering in the city.

Coincidentally, the opening of Brewdog Brum came just a few days after I visited their Nottingham sister, during a short, punchy crawl of that city. Nottingham is somewhere that conjures fond memories of Selectadisc, Rock City and massive LCFC victories (cough). I was pleased to see that its boozers are up to scratch, with King William IV, Kean's Head and BD all brilliant venues. I supped Whim, Navigation, Brewdog, Castle Rock and Rodenbach; and almost missed my train.

<The second half of this post drags rather. Thus, to brighten/spice things up, I have changed the text colour. Does this work as a technique?>

In other Brum news, the Christmas period offered the yearly chance to visit boozers whose doors I don't usually darken**:

Sometimes this is because I am frightened to venture in - like i) the Crown, which I was delighted to find was a beautiful old pub, in great nick. Terrible beer choice mind, but space to sit down and kegged Brew XI were a compromise worth taking.

Sometimes I assume a place doesn't serve beer and/or I'm not trendy enough to go in - like ii) the Island Bar, which I was delighted to find was a buzzing place, offering bottled Marstons Oyster Stout.

Aside from Brewdog, another regular stop-off during the party season was the Victoria, which boasted 3x handpulls of Thornbridge on the visit I can remember, including delicious (ever-delicious) Kipling.

I also popped into the Old Joint Stock and enjoyed a Fullers Past Masters Old Burton Extra, which was mellifluous malt indeed.

My final note is of brief stop-offs at two of the Shakespeares* in the centre: I quaffed Pilsner Urquell on Summer Row and succulent Jaipur at Lower Temple. Both were delicious.

***

Happy NY.

* There is a third one in New Street station. You have to have a train ticket to get to it and I certainly would not advise buying one for that specific purpose - it's not a good enough place.
** Because all of my usual haunts are rammed.
*** I also went to Leicester over the holiday. Lots of Everards Tiger - yum yum.

Happy Christmas

2012-12-21T13:54:00.003+00:00

from Mediocre Beer Adventures.

Big love to everyone who has taken the time to read my blog, during the past 12 months. I love you all.

Even bigger love to the Birmingham beer community (they know who they are). We have made enormous strides in 2012, but 2013 is where things go SUPERMASSIVE.

"We're bigger than US steel"

A Year of Achievement

2012-12-16T23:05:00.002+00:00

A short while ago, a colleague was commenting on the massive admiration he had for this blog, given all the successes it's helped to bring about during the past 12 months. He thought it would be good (and a sort of end of year treat for you all) if I did a quick post summing up some of Mediocre Beer Adventures' successes:

1. Invented a phrase
Back in my earliest posts, the 'stolen crawl' appeared. 12 months later it's a phrase which entered general circulation to such an extent that the OED is set to include it in it's next edition.

2. Organised a Twissup
Way back in Spring(?) MBA thought it was about time that the various Brum beer Twitter people sat down and looked each other in the eye. Hence the inaugural Twissup, which took in some prime pubs and cemented several friendships, borne out of a load of blokes saying 'you're me besht mate' over and over again.

3. Named a beer
To celebrate Ian Harrison's 10,000th review on Ratebeer, Steel City kindly offered to brew a beer in his honour. Stumped for a suitable name, who stepped into the breach? Yes, Mediocre Beer Adventures. The name? Olymp-Ian. Genius.

4. Became the voicepiece of Industry
In perhaps my most genuine-est piece of investigative journalism, I took a long hard look at the major players in the Birmingham beer scene. This went up a storm and allowed me to use stake my claim as 'a player' in my own right. Since that date I am able to walk into any pub in the city and people offer me free beer (in exchange for me giving them money). But seriously (great album btw) this blog post was a fascinating experience and allowed my readers to see the men and women who control their beer lives.

5. Did a 3-way collaborative blog post
Way back in April, I instigated a beautiful blog collaboration, which saw 3 bloggers review 3 beers, all of which were under 3%. All the beers were rubbish, but it was a brilliant idea. Thanks to Simon at CAMRGB and the much missed Richard at Porter Pages for taking part.

6. Carried out 2 x craft beer reconaissance missions
Selflessly I visited both Sheffield and London, to assess their beer scenes and report back to the eager drinkers of the West Midlands just exactly what they were/are still missing. Namely a Euston or Sheffield Tap, a Craft Beer Co and a Brewdog. By Wednesday 12th December, we'll be able to scratch one of those from our collective wish lists.

7. Predicted the future
Along with erstwhile blogging colleague David Aleman (of the OthertonAleman blog), I wrote what can now be seen as a prophetic post, outlining exactly what sort of characters were required to instigate a craft beer revolution in our city. As if by magic, I become a beer maven for a seething mass of drinkers, ready to smash down the doors of perception*, in search of acceptable beer choice.

8. Built an off-licence map
No one else saw the need for a map of Birmingham off licences. No one else had the foresight. I did. I dared to dream. Now, every time a fellow beer lunatic drives halfway across the city, to purchase a bottle of rubbish Ukrainian lager, from a East European food shop, they have me to thank for it. My number #1 ranked post (by page views).

9. Drove the craft beer revolution
Through constant harrassment of pub chains, landlords and brewers, good beer has seeped into Birmingham like a dyke from which a finger has been removed. I demanded that Brewdog come to Birmingham - now they are. I asked for other beer bars - some are on the way. I demanded UK craft beer choice in our established boozers - it is here. I don't want to become a victim of my own hyperbole, but as I sit here, fully clothed, it occurs to me that I may just be Birmingham's beer Messiah. Is this getting too much yet?

10. Invented novelty beer photography
A good idea was waiting to be discovered. It was so simple, why had no one thought of it before? All you need[ed] is beer, a camera and a selection of seemingly random objects...... Behold, a new craze was born.

11. Dominated the local press
Oh, and I was featured in an article in the Birmingham Post, written by a top PR guru.

12. Galvanised, nay initiated a Birmingham Beer Scene
Through my Twissup effort I gathered together the disparate Brum beer strands on Twitter. I then charmed them at beer tastings and festivals, and, for my pains lent my credibility to beer and brewery launches. Some thought I was spreading myself too thin, but I just couldn't stop giving. And now the rewards are clear, as the children of my revolution go out into the Birmingham heartlands, spreading my good words and propelling the Brum craft beer scene into larger and bigger erm things.

13. Generated 18000 hits
Is that a lot? It sounds like a lot. Even discounting the number of people who feel obliged to log in, because they know me, that is still a lot of people who have dropped by. And I'm grateful. And no, although my Dad is mad keen on MBA, even he wouldn't be prepared to log in 18,000 times, just to pump my ego.**

So there you have it. What started out as a bit of fun for me, a place to flex my linguistic and punctuational muscles, has turned into a radical, some might say vital campaigning force, which has brought about real change on the Birmingham beer scene. 2013 is lift-off for craft beer in Brum: who knows what we, or rather I will be able to achieve this year. Let's have, errr, it.

Deluded? Moi? Non.

*a reference which makes no sense. Whatsoever.
**but I love him anyway

Golden Pints 2012

2012-12-10T22:07:00.000+00:00

Hello, yes.

Last year I sent off my nominations for the Golden Pints awards, even though I wasn't a blogger. A year on and I am, in the words of my wife "always typing on the ruddy computer", so I feel fully justified in making a proper 'blogger's' response to the 2012 version.

Here are my award WINNERS:

Best UK Draught Beer

Tiny Rebel Urban IPA

Best UK Bottled or Canned Beer

Brodies Hoxton Special IPA

Best Overseas Draught Beer

Ska Modus Hoperandi

Best Overseas Bottled or Canned Beer

Nogne India Saison

Best Overall Beer

Brodies Hoxton Special IPA

Best Pumpclip or Label

Anything from Moor

Best UK Brewery

Kernel

Best Overseas Brewery

Mikkeller

Pub/Bar of the Year

In Birmingham and the Black Country = Windsor Castle, Lye

Nationally = Sheffield Tap, err Sheffield.

Beer Festival of the Year

Not a big festival fan. Only been to one in 2012, so it'll have to be Birmingham Beer Festival.

Supermarket of the Year

Tesco

Independent Retailer of the Year

Cotteridge Wines

Online Retailer of the Year

Beers of Europe

Best Beer Book or Magazine

None

Best Beer Blog or Website

The one and only.... Mediocre Beer Adventures

Best Beer Twitterer

Simon Johnson or Pierre Van Klomp

Best Online Brewery Presence

Brewdog

Food and Beer Pairing of the Year

I don't eat and drink simultaneously

In 2013 I’d most like to...

Visit Birmingham's new range of craft beer bars, on a regular basis

My Best Post of the Year

A typical day in the life of Mediocre Beer Adventures

Now, eagle-eyed viewers will spot that I've adopted a slightly provocative, 'Liam Gallagher' style posture in my nominations. I'm not sure if I like it, so you may not see this persona a second time.

Love

Dan

Birmingham/Black Country Pub of the Year 2012

2012-12-08T00:42:00.001+00:00

A short post this, as I am trying to learn to be conciser that what I have been known to be.

My pub of the year is based on a combination of two things, of which the latter is the subordinate.

First: I look for good beer - either a big range, or a smaller range of good beer. Ideally a big range of great beer. Extra points are gained here for uniqueness of the offering.

Second: a like a pub with a nice feel - friendly staff, nice furniture, good music, cool decor et al.

For Birmingham, I believe this year has been a transitional one for pubs: we are betwixt the great craft beer 'lift-off' of 2013, but much {much} better off than the pre-Wellington days of 2004. In the Black Country meanwhile, the old classics plough on undaunted, even while the next generation of pubs and breweries chomp at the/a bit.

And so, without further ado, here are my Top 3 [Brum/Black Country] pubs of the 2012 year, in reverse order.

3. Post Office Vaults, Birmingham
Loses points for being cramped and very expensive, but gains big points for having a marvellous Belgian range. To be able to go into a city centre boozer and be guaranteed Orval, De Molen, St Bernardus, Slaapmutske etc is fantastic and not to be taken for granted. For donkeys' years we have begged for a place like this, and now we have it. Tiny Rebel on tap, on a regular basis is appreciated also.

2. The Victoria, Birmingham
Scores highly for being a cool place to hang out. Also garners enormous praise for being the first, and largely the only city centre pub to stock UK craft beer, albeit in bottles. I love the idea (and the reality) of leaving work, and then 5 minutes later being able to drink Kernel or Red Willow, whilst listening to some cool choons. The Bitters 'n Twisted pub chain deserves credit for seeking to fill the craft beer gap in Birmingham and the Victoria is a place I enjoy spending time. Bravo.

1. The Windsor Castle, Lye
A wonderful place. A short train journey from Snow Hill station brings you to the home of Sadlers, a West Midlands brewery who are absolutely at the top of their game. This place scores well for cleanliness, comfort, staff and decor, but let's not pretend otherwise - it's the beer range that brings me back. To be able to walk into a pub and be confronted by 10 or so handpulls devoted to fresh, local produce is fantastic. Added to this is the fact that Sadlers are churning out big, hoppy beers; more so than any other local brewery. Hop Bomb is marvellous, but Dr Hardwicke's is the one what does it for me the mostest. If I can recommend a pub crawl to people in 2013, it is the Number 9 crawl which takes in the Duke William in Stourbridge (for Craddock's beers), the Windsor Castle in Lye and the Waggon and Horses in Halesowen. Black Country beer heaven - I'M TELLING YOU.

Well done to Sadlers and well done to the Windsor Castle - the Mediocre Beer Adventures Birmingham and Black Country Pub of the Year for 2012.

The Fetishization of Beer. (My)

2012-11-15T21:54:00.000+00:00

For a while now, I've realised that some of/perhaps most of the fun I get from beer, isn't actually always the beer itself. Very often I get a real buzz from all the peripheral stuff...... I present the following evidence:

i) I am hoarding beer. My cupboard overfloweth. I so cherish the idea of having a large and splendid collection of beer in my stash, that I am often loathe to drink any of my 'treasures'. Even when I know that I have a cupboard full of lovely beer at home, I still desire to go beer-shopping. I dream about it in fact. Generally I only allow myself to drink the really good beers, when (due to over shopping) I can no longer hide* my beers in my cupboard. Having to drink the good stuff however, makes me feel a bit wretched. This, in part, leads to second phenomena (see ii)

ii) The sourcing, acquisition and discovery of beers. As often stated, it gives me enormous pleasure to find an obscure Polish or Lithuanian beer in an obscure local shop. The pleasure of finding is very often larger than the pleasure of drinking these 'finds' - BUT they serve the purpose of allowing me to consume beer regularly, without having to eat into my 'treasures'. DOUBLE WHAMMY!

iii) I take photographs of the beers I drink. I'm not sure when this started, but it's getting worse. Now, not only do I take photographs of particularly noteworthy beers, I also snap pump clips, glasses of indistinguishable liquid and anything that I buy from a beer shop. Not only that, but a new breed of beer photography has been spawned from this - artistic beer photography. Twitter reveals that I am not the only one who likes to snap their beers.

iv) I rate my beers. This is a very longstanding symptom: for ten years I have been reviewing and recording every different beer I sample. This gives rise to a whole panoply of statistical beer geekery, allowing me to tick off countries, beer styles, drinking establishments and actual beers. This pretends to give legitimacy to the innate, blokey need to hunt/gather beers and shout about it to the other members of the 'tribe'. Even though it pretends to be cooler, Untappd fulfils this function also; so for all you Untappd dudes, please be assured you are just as sad as me.

v) I talk endlessly about beer. Whenever I can, I do this with people in the room with me; when this isn't possible, I go online. In fact, by seeking out and forming a peer group of like minded beer geeks, I have fundamentally changed the dynamics of my friendship circle, via the medium of Twitter. Again, and rather obviously, I am not alone in this.

Now points iii), iv) and v) are connected: they are clearly outward expressions of the need to be a part of the crowd and feel accepted. However, as for points i) and ii) - your guess is as good as mine. Perhaps I didn't have enough Star Wars figures as a child. Perhaps I am overvaluing each beer too much, instead of drinking them and yielding to their dirty pleasure. Perhaps my inner puritanical streak shrinks from the wanton lust of actual beer consumption, and therefore turns the acquisition of them into a guilty, exciting pleasure. Others in my 'circle' are less obsessive than me and are able to buy, consume and enjoy: but for me, the possession is part of the excitement.

I also love 'the choice'. In life generally I often find that 'the choice' is much more exciting that 'the choosing'. What does this mean? Well, when I walk into Cotteridge or Stirchley Wines and behold the shelves stacked with colourful treats, my heart is aflutter. When I have to actually select 5 or 6 bottles, I feel constrained, limited and cut short, because the wide expanse of 'the choice' is behind me and and I must live with the results of 'the choosing' (forever wondering whether the grass was greener on the other side)**. This torment repeats itself in my beer cupboard - the thrill of having a really healthy stash, somehow seems more boundlessly exciting than the rather limited excitement of having to select just one to actually drink.

Am I a complete weirdo? Am I alone? No. No I'm not alone. Twitter proves this. And in fact, even for those who do not obsess about beer, they are free to get jiggy with trainspotting, or go wobbly at the knees for vinyl.

I accept that I am a beer fetishist. After all, I actually sat down to write this blog piece about the subject - that's how twisted I am. You (yes, you!) on the other hand have read this article. You're a fetishist too. Accept it.

*from wife
** rather horrifyingly, this seems to correspond with aspects of my romantic life, during the mid part of the Noughties. Epiphany!

Beer of the Year 2012

2012-11-10T00:09:00.001+00:00

The ever excellent Campaign for Really Good Beer recently issued their call for Beer of the Year selections (**and then announced the winner, which I'll mention at the end).

I'm a stats geek, I love lists and I use Ratebeer to record every new beer I try. In short, I was built to choose my beers of the year. In fact, I took the whole nomination process so seriously that I ended up writing copious notes for myself, to ensure the rigorousness of the submission.

Here then, for your information and 'enjoyment' is a schemata showing how I came to settle on the eventual selection of my 3 beers of the year for 2012.

First task was to scour my reviews on Ratebeer, to see which beers earned the best marks during 2012. The results are as follows (showing which beers scored 4.7 out of 5.0 and so on):

{I'm not doing links in this post, otherwise I'd be here all night. I have been here all night anyway, but .....}

4.7

1. De Molen Mooi and Medogenloos

2. Mikkeller Beer Hop Breakfast

3. Kernel Black IPA III

4. Lindemans Cuvee Rene Gueuze

5. Brodies Hoxton Special IPA

4.6

6. Brewdog/Mikkeller I Hardcore You

7. De La Senne Jambe de Bois

4.5

8. Mikkeller Beer Geek Breakfast

9. Lion Stout

10. Kernel Double SCCANS

11. Nogne India Saison

12. Ska Modus Hoperandi

13. Mikkeller/Grassroots Wheat is the New Hops

14. Gouden Carolus Hopsinjoor

15. De Ranke Saison de Dottignies

16. Kernel IPA Summit

17. Tiny Rebel Urban IPA

18. Brodies Smoked IPA

Now aside from beers specifically falling within those three highest score 'brackets', I also felt that there were some which, though they had scored lower, left such a positive impression on me, that they deserved to be included in this conversation. These are they:

Selected highlights

19. Kernel Brick

20. Brodies London Lager

21. To Ol Raid

22. De Molen Amarillo

23. Buxton Imperial Black

24. Beavertown 8-Ball Rye IPA

25. Guinness Foreign Extra Stout (Nigerian)

26. Arbor Single Hop Citra

27. Brodies Hackney Red IPA

28. Nogne Imperial Stout

Now inevitably there will have been other beers which I really enjoyed but have missed. I've tried to minimise that risk, but it's still an outside possibility. That's life. I'll live with it.

Having selected the contenders, I still needed to pluck three from within. The most straightforward thing would be to pick the 3 beers I liked best, from that group which scored 4.7 - such a trio would look like this:

Top 3 by score

De Molen Mooi and Medogenloos

Kernel Black IPA III

Brodies Hoxton Special IPA

The other [alternative] thing to do, would be to nose through the whole list and then pick the three which give me the warmest, fondest feelings - such a list would look like hence:

Top 3 by ‘hunch’

Brodies Hoxton Special IPA

Tiny Rebel Urban IPA

Nogne

India

Saison

OK, have you noticed anything? Yes, we have a clear winner, which is Brodies Hoxton Special IPA. Well done to them, very well deserved. However, in terms of submitting a trio to CAMRGB, I still needed to make a decision. It came down to one of my enduring internal wrangles - i.e. does scoring/reviewing a beer on Ratebeer always reflect exactly how much you enjoy it? If you think yes, then the beers with the best scores are the best. Simple as. However, if you think that there is some contextual x-factor which impacts upon how much you enjoy a particular beer, then there is a real chance that your Ratebeer scores (based as they are on technical proficiency*) will not capture the pleasure gained from imbibing the beer in question. Now obviously this is deeply boring and naval-gazing beer geekery, so I will cut to the chase and say that I decided to pick my three 'hunch' beers, i.e. the ones which I believe I loved the most this year.

But it's been a great year for beer. No debating that.

As an addendum, here is a list of breweries and how many times their products featured in my Top 28.

Mikkeller - 4

Kernel - 4

Brodies - 4

De Molen – 2

Nogne - 2

Buxton - 1

Brewdog - 1

Guinness - 1

Beavertown - 1

To Ol - 1

Arbor - 1

Tiny Rebel - 1

De Ranke - 1

Gouden Carolus - 1

Lion - 1

Dottignies - 1

Ska - 1

Lindemans - 1

De La Senne – 1***

Almost as equally fascinating (I think), and by this measure then Mikkeller, Kernel and Brodies are joint top of my tree - which pretty much sums it up.

**The Overall Result

In the time it took me to write this post, CAMRGB performed the much more impressive feat of counting up all the votes and publishing the results. According then, to the members and supporters of the Campaign for Really Good Beer, the beer of the year was Kernel S.C.C.A.NS. IPA. I must admit, that even though it wasn’t on my list, I’m pleased that a Kernel beer won, as they are a magnificent brewery.

So I didn’t back the winner, but ho hum it’s no biggie. The main thing is that loads of people have managed to identify loads of lovely beers this year, which made this year a 12 month celebration of erm lovely beer. [unbelievably poor sentence].

*I have always intended to write a fulsome blog post, which attempts to explain the fascination of and the mindset required for a full appreciation of Ratebeer. I daresay I'll do it, once I perform some significant self analysis.

***Eagle-eyed UK beer fans will be aghast to see that no Magic Rock beers made my list of 28 finalists. I’m a bit surprised myself, but there is good reason: almost 11 months after beginning this blog, with the aim of trying to bring Magic Rock and other top breweries to the pubs of Birmingham….. they have still not arrived. Aside from the odd [extremely] isolated occasion and at beer festivals, I have still never, NEVER glimpsed a Magic Rock beer on a handpull in the city. I have witnessed not a single one of those lovely Magic Rock pumpclips winking at me, as I entered a bar. Surely, surely this cannot go on for much longer? Next year’s new batch of Birmingham ‘craft’ pubs must surely right this wrong (surely).

Brum Beer Fest 2012 + other stuff

2012-10-29T20:13:00.000+00:00

Hello yes.

The 2012 version of the Birmingham Beer Festival 2012 took place last week (24th-26th October). I attended on Friday and here are a few 'observations' (which is a posh way of saying that I'm going to tell you things about it).

First off, it was a massively good chance to catch up with fellow beer lovers from Birmingham and the surrounding sectors; people one regularly converses with on Twitter. In fact, the Thursday and Friday evening sessions were designated #Twissups, allowing me to check in with a selection of friendly faces. This was obviously a massive pleasure.

Second, the Foreign Beer Bar being run by Krishan and the Stirchley Wines team was a big plus, offering access to treats such as Emelisse Triple IPA and Duvel Tripel Hop, as well as £5 shots of 32% Brewdog Tactical Nuclear Penguin.

From a very personal point of view, the foreign beer options made up for the rather pedestrian cask beer list, which offered up a series of so-so beers during my foray. Now, I'm not not trying to be sniffy, but having been denied some promised Summer Wine beers, and with a hugely in-demand barrel of Magic Rock High Wire refusing to clear sufficiently to be sold, I was left slightly disappointed at a lack of cutting edge/well-hopped beers. Indeed, it was tricky to move beyond standard Bitters or Golden ales, but I did enjoy a Revolutions Paranoid Porter and a Tyne Bank Southern Star. Sadlers also came up with the goods (as they usually do), with a very nice double IPA entitled Sweet Leaf. But sadly, there were not many other cask beers sampled by me, which put their bubbly heads above the parapet.

Lastly: music at beer festivals. What's that about? By about 9.00 on this Friday evening, the upper floor of the festival venue was 'rocking' to a heavily metal band. This band may have been brilliant for all I know, but the volume, and my consequent inability to have a conversation with fellow beer geeks, meant that effectively the national beer floor became off limits. Which was a shame.

Still for all the mixedness of the above bag, the experience was undoubtedly positive. As a member of the BrumBeerTwitterati pointed out - it was good to feel 'part of something [a community]". The organisation of the fest was exemplary and the queues outside the venue on Friday evening were clear testimony to the popularity of the event. It has to be said that I don't really enjoy beer festivals (I prefer pub crawls) but I did enjoy my visit to the Birmingham Beer Festival.

**

The following day, I had another lovely beer experience. Following an exciting LCFC loss against Crystal Palace, I managed a mini-crawl of Leicester which took in the Swan and Rushes, Criterion, The Pub and the Ale Waggon.

I'm happy to say that the Swan came out on top, by retaining a dynamic selection of foreign bottled beers and by offering bar staff with the wit and knowledge to coherently discuss your potential choices. Because of the staff intervention on Saturday, I managed to add a DELICIOUS De la Senne Jambe de Bois, to the Kneitinger Bock and Forsting Festbier which I had already necked. When I was starting my beer journey in the early noughties, it was this pub that grabbed my tackle and got me excited. 10 years on and I still relish every visit.

The Criterion no longer has a bottled range to rival the Swan, but I did pick up a nice bottle of Krusovice Imperial. The Pub meanwhile had St Feuillien Brune on tap, which was a deliciously smooth Belgian treat.

Finally, after nipping into the Ale Waggon, I managed to grab 3 off licenced treats: Slovakian Saris, UAE Barbican (pineapple flavoured, alcohol free) and Ukranian Obolon. Cheering indeed.

***

Thirdly.

On the day previous to the Beer Festival (Thursday) I had a super, smashing, great sightseeing trip to London. Having visited all the 'hot' spots and scoffed a delicious falafel sandwich, I managed a lightning visit to the Euston Tap, which never disappoints, and which didn't disappoint. 3 x halves of Bristol Beer Factory Acer, De Molen Blikken and Blozen and Red Willow Soulless were all extremely well tasty and sent me on my way happily.

More soon.

Birmingham Beer Heroes, No.1 - David Byrne

2012-10-22T09:46:00.002+01:00

In this, the first of an unspecific series, we meet the first of our nominated Birmingham Beer Heroes. Birmingham Beer heroes, people who have added a touch of pizzazz to our drinking landscape with their ingenuity, skill and fortitude. Here then is David Byrne* (@DSByrne), who is on a quest to [literally] drink himself around the planet. What follows is the text of an actual interview between me and him. It's like real journalism, isn't it?

So tell us about your project - you're aiming to drink at least one beer from each of the countries in the world, is that right?

Yes, the aim is to drink 280 beers: no more than one from each country, each state in the USA and each county in England.

First question (the obvious one) - Why?

A personal challenge, and something to encourage me to try different beers. Just a little bit of fun really.

So that's your answer and you're sticking to it, but honestly, what drives you to do this - is it a love of collecting/documenting, or an appreciation of World beer heritage?

Mostly I like drinking beer and trying new things. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have a collectors streak and this is something to spend my money on other than late 80s alt-rock records.

Presumably you keep notes, photos details of each beer as 'proof'?

Of course, every beer is documented on twitter with a photo and it’s number in the challenge. I’ve got a scratch off world map and have documented on a map on the internet as well. Initially I considered a blog, but it turns out drinking a lot of beer and then making time to write it isn’t so easy!

You're a ticker. We all are. It's what makes us sane. How far are you along? Have you nearly finished?

I’m about 130 beers in. Just less than half way numbers wise... not in time though!

OK, so stating the beetling obvious, but some countries must be easier to tick off than others?

Obviously it’s getting progressively more difficult. I’ve exhausted anything I can get in supermarkets, specialist off-licences and it’s even getting tricky on online specialists.

Of the ones that you have not done, what are the common factors - small countries? Far flung? No beer heritage in that country?

A number of factors: prohibition (although this hasn’t stopped all), no exports or small far flung places which the UK just doesn’t trade with. There are a couple of annoying countries which have alluded me – who knew South Africa was so hard!

How will you tackle countries where alcohol is actively discouraged or banned?

I’ve had to accept that some of my beers with be non-alcoholic. I’ve recently had UAE and Iran – there’s just no way around that.

I know the answer to this one, but will ask anyway..... what type of beers are you mainly getting hold of from these varied locations?

I’ve had flavoured “malt” drinks which are advertised as beer (and acknowledged as beer on Ratebeer). One was lemon, one was apple. Not the same as a proper beer but fairly drinkable.

Hmmm. you must now be an expert on Pale Lagers - are they much of a muchness or have there been some standouts?

I’ve gone for – wherever possible – a range of different styles of beer. There have been a lot of pale lagers. A lot of the asian beers have been fairly poor lagers, but I do really like the robust Eastern European beers such as Zywiec and Viru.

Time to put your money where your mouth is - what is the best beer you have tried during this project?

By far and away my favourite beer has been Einstok Toasted Porter from Iceland. I’ve gone on to try all of the Einstok range of beers which I can recommend highly.

And what was the worst?

Uinta Brewing Company XVII anniversary Barley Wine Ale from Utah. Who knew an almost entirely dry state made such bad beer?! It may well be to somebody’s taste, but it tasted to me like someone had spiked my beer with vodka.

A project like this requires a strong support team; who have you enlisted to help out?

My girlfriend has helped a lot – she’s a serious cataloguer/organiser and I quite often find her trawling the internet for beer. She also managed to persuade her friends and family to send beer from holidays and travel – managed to get Cape Verde and Tanzania this way! My friends have been great too – helping with making my incessant online ordering a little more normal and of course stopping me from having to drink all on my own – so thanks to @grammaticalrecords and @natef15her.

There must have been some moments of euphoria, as you located a new country. What has been your greatest moment to date?

After having bought Nogne #100 (Norway) quite early on, I managed to save it to drink as my 100^th. Not a bad beer, but a great feeling of achievement.

There must have been some surprise finds too...... tell us about them.

The biggest surprise was finding the non-alcoholic beers – mostly because it was a find that I wasn’t looking for it. One of the most satisfying finds was finding a South Korean supermarket and realising they stock South Korean beer (Hite – and very reasonably priced too!). It’s lucky we live in such a multi-cultural city.

Will there come a point where you give up or will you still be doing this in 30 years time?

I don’t intend to give up until it’s a completed project – however the pace of new beers slows quickly and I imagine it will continue to do so.

Has this project changed you? Will you ever be able to enjoy beer like you used to?

The project was more a sign of how my beer drinking had changed, rather than the other way round. When I first started drinking, I only drank premium lagers such as Stella or Kronenbourg. However, during my early twenties I started discovering ales and stouts.

And what beers would you like to drink were you not on this mission? What is your favourite style(s)?

Guinness would be my “go to drink” or often whichever guest ale I haven’t previously tried.

Mediocre Beer Adventures loves this project. I use Ratebeer to keep track of my finds in exactly the same way, and as is well documented, I love to visit small off licences, looking for obscure beers. We are brothers.

Thank you for you time - any closing remarks?

It’s good to see that with the help of Stirchley Wines, Cotteridge Wines, Rai Wines, as well as pubs like The Post Office Vaults and The Wellington it’s now really easy to get good variety of quality beer.

Couldn't have said it better myself. If anyone spots beer from any obscure countries, or is going on holiday to Bhutan, perhaps they could drop David a line, via Twitter.

*This link is a hoax.

September Round Up

2012-09-23T18:34:00.002+01:00

A. There are a few bits and bobs I can update you on, and a few photographs you can drool over.

Q. What is the point of this post?

First up, some sad news. Apparently the Brown Lion has closed. This is really sad, for not only was this a friendly venue, but they were also Birmingham's only genuine brewery tap, offering Two Towers' beers, such as Jewellery Porter and Complete Muppetry, both of which were very drinkable indeed.

Way back in April I reported on quiz night at the Brown Lion and (I hope) conveyed my enjoyment. Fingers crossed that the Brown Lion will return in some form, but perhaps by then, Birmingham's sights will have moved to John Bright Street and the impending Brewdog Brum. Speaking of which...

Brewdog Birmingham is now scheduled to open in errrrr, not sure. It was originally due in August, but the last official word was that it'll be mid-November. I don't suppose it matters when it gets here, as BD's fans are so rabid, that they'll lap it up come what may. I probably will too.

Last week I had a lovely super quick tour of Leicester, which mixed Richard III tourism, with visits to some of the City's lesser known boozers/hidden 'treats'.

I hit the Salmon, the Ship and the Longstop, of which the first one was the best. All were interesting though.

In Twitterati news, this week I, along with Carl Durose and Tania Nexust hosted national beer legends Jezza, Martin Ridge and the enigmatic Black Haddock. This was a good opportunity to sample excellent Thai food and Oakham Carioca at the Bartons Arms, some Saltaire at the Anchor and bottled UK 'Craft' beer at the Victoria.

Speaking of which, did I tell you that a Birmingham pub has finally taken the plunge and started stocking bottles from the UK's best new breweries, i.e. the ones who have invigorated and/or reinvigorated our national scene? Kernel, Bristol Beer Factory, Arbor and Summer Wine are all (or certainly have all been) available, with highlights such as Amarillo Pale Ale and Cohort. It is worth saying again, simply to highlight how gobsmacked I am that it has taken this long, but let me emphasise that the Victoria are still the ONLY pub in Birmingham stocking bottles from our top breweries. Well done to the Victoria, I hope that their adventure is rewarded by people buying the new range by the truckload and that therefore the experiment widens and becomes a permanent feature.

But honestly, all other Brum pubs need to look hard in the mirror and ask themselves why no one else has been prepared to have a stab at stocking UK bottled craft.

In happier, or rather equally happy news, here are some of the best beers I've sampled in the last fortnight:

Raw Citra Black Ale - a magnificent Black IPA sampled at the Anchor,

Flying Dog In De Wildeman Farmhouse IPA - a deliciously funky Saison, which utilises New World hops.

Raw Dark Peak Stout - sampled at the Salmon in Leicester, this is the second delicious Raw beer I've tried recently; with this one being a super smooth and tasty Stout.

Great Heck Powerhouse - as recommended by @ckdsaddlers, this was a well balanced UK Golden Ale, replete with many hops and sampled at the Anchor.

Ksiazece - a lovely Polish Hefe Weizen, picked up in Whitmore Reans, Wolverhampton

Finally, as previously mentioned,

Oakham Carioca - a wonderful tropical fruit salad of hops and that. Smelt like an Avon saleswoman's basket.

Oh, one final thing - here are a photo of bottled "treats" which have latterly been placed in my beer cellar [cupboard] for future consumption.

Lager is for life, not just for Michaelmas.

Black Country - Parte Un

2012-09-21T22:47:00.000+01:00

The</\>Black<\/\/>Country</\/\>

Parte the First.

Cannot believe I haven't previously written about the Black Country. But then again it took me over a decade of living in Birmingham, to discover and appreciate this geographical wonder on my doorstep.

Actually geographical wonder might me a bit misleading, instead the Black Country is more like a frying pan of sociological, demographical, cultural intrigue. Moreover, it is a mecca for beer and pubs: and really, that's
where I come in, isn't it?

Where to start? Now that is a tough one. In introducing you to the Black Country, (or simply offering my perspective), my work is going to be split between a guide to it's pubs and a guide to it's beers.

Pubs.

The BC is a wide and many-varied place. Consequently, pubs are scattered across the region and offer a good ratio of gems. In fact, by head of population, the BC is much better than Brum for pubs - and that may be a fact. I'm splitting this mini guide into a clutch of guides covering routes or sub-regions:

The Number 9 Bus Route
This pub crawl involves getting on the Number 9 bus, either in Birmingham city centre, or Stourbridge and then getting on and off, periodically, at the following pubs:

Waggon and Horses, Halesowen

Classic scoopers pub - crammed with character, wonkiness, cheap grub, over a dozen handpulled ales, plus Belgian kegs. Unmissable.

Hawne Tavern, Halesowen

Up the road from the W&H, this is a homely backstreet boozer, with a nice range of real ales.

Windsor Castle, Lye

Home of Sadlers Ales, and as such has about 10 well kept and extremely tasty beers always available. Good food options too.

Shovel Inn, Lye

Quite a few real ales available and themed food nights. Up the road from both the Windsor Castle and Lye railway station.

Duke William, Stourbridge

Very sympathetically tarted up trad-pub. A few guest ales, a fistful of good bottles, and several beers from Craddocks microbrewery, who own this place and another in Stourbridge.

Roberto Ross is the man to give you a full run down of the other excellent Stourbridge offerings.

Gornal
"A little corner of beer heaven". Some of the best pubs ever, which can be traversed by walking from the bottom to the top of a big hill (or vice versa). Going between Lower and Upper Gornal will make you love the Black Country forever.

Old Bulls Head, Lower Gornal

Home of Black Country Ales, which is either a good thing or a mediocre thing, depending on whether you like their beers. Pretty unspoilt blokey type place.

The Fountain, Lower Gornal

Clean, welcoming pub halfway up Gornal. Nice food (including juicy faggots) and several real ales and foreign kegs. Good.

The Black Bear, Upper Gornal

Great country style pub in Upper Gornal. Good beer, good views.

Britannia, Upper Gornal

Wonderfully preserved boozer. Could almost have been plucked intact from 1931 and dropped back in the present. Great f&f and Bathams' beers.

Jolly Crispin, Upper Gornal

[Yet] another traditional boozer, which has a low-beamed front room, and bright airy eating area out the back. Usually around 6 or 7 great handpulls in operation.

Dudley and Surrounds
Dudley is the heart of the Black Country, as far as pubs are concerned. Unfortunately it can be a bit tricky to get to, but don't let that put you off.

Court House, Dudley

Owned by Black Country Ales, this place has a really good range of real ale, and used to be a, wait for it, Court House. Bang in the middle of Dudley.

Park Inn, Woodsetton

The tap for Holdens, adjoining the actual brewery. A bit of a strange mish-mash of decor, but worth a visit to get your fill of Holdens - who provide some sweet, bitter Black Country beer legends, such as Golden Glow.

Beacon Hotel, Sedgley

An absolute, cast iron legend. Home of the Sarah Hughes brewery, this is a wonderful pub, with a very strange central serving hatch, where you shout your beer order through a chest height hole and are served without ever seeing the barman/maid's face. A beautifully preserved treat. Unmissable under no circumstances/not missable under any circumstances. ?????

Tame Bridge, Great Bridge

Pillar box red, just down the road from Great Bridge Library - this is primarily a locals' pub, next to Sheepwash Urban Park and offering a few guest ales. Worth a look.

Waggon and Horses, Tipton

The brewery tap for Toll End Brewery. This is another one which will require a bit of perserverance/organisation to get to, but if you are prepared to head to Tipton, you could possibly get the train, and combine with visits to other local boozers, like the famous Pie Factory. If you do get to Tipton, look out for horses - the locals tend to keep them tethered on urban grass verges, or in their back gardens.

Ma Pardoes/Old Swan, Netherton

Another [yet another] legend. This, along with the Beacon Hotel, the Waggon and Horses (Halesowen) and the Bull and Bladder, are rightfully the most famous pubs in the Black Country. Ma Pardoes is the home of the Old Swan brewery. The front bar, including it's ceiling needs to be seen to be believed. Great and cheap beer.

Metro Run
For those who don't know, the Metro is a tram service which runs from Birmingham Snow Hill to Wolverhampton. It's very helpful in planning your pub visits to the Black Country and can indeed form the basis of your crawl - as here>>>>>

Great Western, Wolverhampton

Magnificent boozer, extremely close to Wolverhampton railway station. Train themed pub [duh], owned by Holdens and serves their range in addition to Bathams and guests (the former of which is a massive draw). Really charming. If you start your Metro run here, you might be tempted to stay all day.

Olde White Rose, Bilston

This place is a bit of a maverick. A good choice of ales, very cheap carvery, but occasionally comes across as a bit grubby. I like it though. Very close to Bilston Central Metro station.

Trumpet, Bilston

A jazz pub in the middle of Bilston. Owned by Holdens.

[Ye Olde Leathern Bottle, Wednesbury]

I've mentioned this place because Wednesbury is one of the most obvious stop-offs on any Metro Run. However.... when Steve and I got off the tram at the Wednesbury Parkway stop on our Metro pub crawl, we didn't find any good pubs. It transpired that we walked in the wrong direction, and thus didn't make it here. Take a map. And if it's not up to much, don't blame me. But it probably is a very good place. People say it is.

Wheatsheaf, West Bromwich

I'd say that this is the only decent pub in the centre of West Bromwich - which is itself [one of the] centre[s] of the Black Country. This is on the High Street, closest to the Lodge Road Metro stop, and an extremely pleasant, cheap and quite welcoming place. Contextually, a real gem.

The Vine, West Bromwich

Lovely old fashioned boozer, popular with Baggies fans and well served with excellent an Indian grill menu. Not much beer, but that isn't everything [wha??] in this case.

Right, to complete this Black Country run, you have to actually leave the Black Country, so just to be clear, the next four pubs are not in the Black Country.

[Black Eagle, Soho]
Use the Soho Benson Road stop.

[Red Lion, Jewellery Quarter]
Stop at, wait for it, Jewellery Quarter.

[Lord Clifden, Great Hampton Row]
Stop at St. Pauls.

[Old Contemptibles, Snow Hill]
Stop at the end of the Metro line, AKA Snow Hill.

Misc

Vine/Bull and Bladder, Brierley Hill

Very possibly the best pub in the entire West Midlands, but an absolute bugger to get to, by public transport. For over a year, I have been wracking my brains about how to shoehorn this into some kind of crawl. This is, of course, the home of Bathams - meaning beautiful beer + friendly locals + an absolutely charming and comfortable multi-roomed old skool boozer. People come from miles around to visit - and quite rightly.

The Waterfall, Cradley Heath

Another slightly tricky one to get to. A very well-loved Holdens' pub, close to Cradley Heath/Old Hill.

Waggon and Horses, Oldbury

A Brains' pub, slap bang opposite Sandwell Council House. A really lovely, beautifully preserved and clean place. The best in Oldbury, which a bit of a transport hub, rather than a destination in itself.

The Malt Shovel, Blackheath (aka Rowley Regis)

Let me state that I need to return to Blackheath, to ensure that my pub knowledge is bang up to date. Having said that, I know that this place was very nice on my visit and featured several guest handpulls.

So that's it for now. This took me ages to write, so I'm now off for a rest, but will return at some point, to do Part II of my Black Country guide - focussing on the beers.

Special Report - Gurd's Trip to Marylebone

2012-09-14T21:24:00.003+01:00

For a late Summer treat, this article, for the first time ever*, is penned by a guest columnist. Gurdeep Singh is primarily known for his pioneering work in 15-minute drum solos, but is also a well respected respecter of beer, social activist, gardener and pigeon fancier. So then, please enjoy his handcrafted report of a recent trip to Marylebone. If it goes well, maybe he'll be allowed to write a regular column**.

Enjoy.

Preamble: [not sure about the underlining here- Ed]

This was very much a “stolen crawl” in every sense of the ~~word~~ phrase, as the intention was to have just one pre-homeward-bound-train drink that turned in to quite a few more. The night before, I had experienced easily one of the top 3 gigs of my life, watching the Afghan Whigs (doing a one off UK show after a 10 year hiatus) at KOKO in Camden. Before venturing to Camden, we'd supped a sunset hued Staropramen overlooking the lake in Victoria Park, before the tube whisked us to Mornington Crescent, where a pre-venue Brooklyn lager was drunk to limber us up for haggling with (predominantly unspecific) ticket touts. Cold cans of Red Stripe were standard “gig drink” fayre, but we did manage to find some late bars after the gig that sold real ale into the wee hours.

After a relaxed brunch at a greasy spoon on the Roman Road in Mile End we headed off to Marylebone to get the train home before our ticket cut off point of 3pm – the rest did not quite go according to plan…

The crawl itself

Marylebone is a much more pleasant and civilised way to enter (or leave in this case) the big smoke by train, rather than coming in to the concrete mass of Euston except.... when it comes to watering holes - in a word mediocre!

We had a pint of Heineken on the station bar, which was as suitably acceptable and refreshing hair of the dog as I'd imagined on a scorching early afternoon. It certainly washed down my fry up well enough, so much so that it actually gave me an appetite to scope out some proper boozers and sod the 3pm train - “we’re on holiday” after all.

Round the corner was a place called the Allsop Arms, which had a lovely line (literally) of young, female, olive-skinned European visitors outside it, waiting for the Easyjet bus to ferry them to the airport. Shame about the choice of drinks though. Peroni was supped by us both [Gurd was accompanied by his chum, pro-cyclist Sean] and onwards to find the next joint. [I believe that 'joint' is a cool, slang word for venue - Ed].

Next stop was the Harcourt Arms whose only real ale was not on, but a decent pint of Budvar in a real suntrap of an intimate concrete beer garden, was enjoyed here leisurely, as the music was decent. The street was home to all things Swedish, which was quite interesting, but we never did get to find out why, as we were on a time limit and I was itching to get to the next gaff for some proper ale.

Winsdor Castle was a peculiar place, with an amazing amount of cheap English paraphernalia tucked in to every nook and cranny of this mid-terrace haunt, and whose barman was very, very strange indeed (imagine the John Inman character in “are you being served” crossed with Kenneth Williams in a Carry On film). We were genuinely unnerved by his opening gambit (or it could have been the cumulative effect of the 3^rd day of solid boozing). Anyhow, a half of nondescript bitter was necked quick time in search of somewhere with a more unchallenging welcome.

We heartily cheered up when we discovered the Wargrave Arms just around the corner with its bright, huge open plan bar/restaurant and beautifully kept hanging baskets and shrubbery adorning the outdoor seating. A decent choice of ales was on here with Sean and I "keeping it Pale", by going for a lovely pint of Liberation Ale.

Sean at the Carpenters Arms

Things were on a steady incline of improvement by now, as we hit the best pub of the day next - The Carpenters Arms. Small, busy, independent, loads of ales and Sky Sports to boot. Sean had a Harveys Ale, I had a 5% IPA that was very nice, but I can't remember the name. [tsk tsk - Ed]. What more could a man ask for? Errr maybe a meaty snack of the kebabish variety? Being so close to Edgware Road it would be rude not to patronise a café of the Kurdish brethren while in the vicinity, so we had what we both agreed was the best kebab of our lives from a street food stall called Cafe Helen - a very Kurdish name I'm sure you'll agree.

The view out of the Larrik window

The final place we hit before the train, with one of the nicest, biggest ever window views I've ever experienced from a pub called the Larrik (and you know how much I love them). The beers were just standard fayre, but we were struggling by now, so Marylebone station was a welcome sight.

The moral of this story is: when in and around the Marylebone vicinity, the pub you should head for is the Carpenters Arms, which is about a 10 minute walk away. But to say that would only have taken up two sentences and that wouldn't have been very good, would it?

*And probably final time ever.
** I wouldn't bank on this. In fact, for the removal of all doubt, I make no promises of any future columns. Whatsoever.

A Challenge for you/Off licence map update

2012-09-03T18:11:00.001+01:00

It's been a while since I did anything regarding the Off-Licence Project, i.e. that lovely Google Map which the readers of Mediocre Beer Adventures helped to populate with the City's best purveyors of East European lager and World craft beer.

The map is still here:- BIRMINGHAM OFF LICENCES

Recent additions are a couple of venues in Erdington, specialising in Polish beer and the deletion of at least one Dudley Road venue, which had gone to seed.

Now I think this still requires a little work, so I would exhort you and everyone you know to remain vigilant and look out both for interesting offies, but also good beer ranges in non-offie locations.

That was part 1 of this post.

Part 2 of this post is a plea.

Looking at Ratebeer (which I do regularly), I have been alarmed to see that my beer ticking brethren across the UK seem to be uncovering a range of East European beer treasure, which I are not clapped eyes on in Brum.

This is a worry.

It's not a worry because I'm missing out on good beer per se, but it is a worry because I'm an obsessive and one of my obsessions is questionable lager. I'll be blowed if Scunthorpe folk are getting access to obscure Polish, Latvian, Lithuanian, Ukrainian stock, while I'm not. Sadly however, this seems to be the case.

So I would like to enlist you all (yes, both of you) to help me find some of these new, 'mysterious' beer treats. Here is a hit-list:

From Latvia:

Cesu Nefiltrētais

From Lithuania:

Bauskas Gaisais Specialais
Butautu Dvaro Alus Sviesus
Butautu Dvaro Alus Tamsus
Fortas Stiprus
Fortas Ekstra
Fortas Stipriausias
Kauno Senasis Porteris
Kauno Biržieciu Alus Stouts
Kupiškio Kupiškėnų Šventinis Alus
Kupiškio Magaryčių Alus
Kupiškio Keptinis
Tauras Porteris
Taruškų Kanapinis Alus Tamsus
Volfas Engelman Rinktinis

From Poland:

Książęce Pszeniczne
Lomza Export Miodowe
Perla Miodowa
Tyskie Mocne

From Romania:

Timisoreana

From Russia:

Baltika 6 Porter

From Ukraine

Zlata Praha Svetle Pivo

Please tell me if you spot any of these during you travels.

N.B. Tesco and Asda may not be the best places to start your hunt.

N.B. (2) There may be a prize for the person who locates the most - sort of like a scavenger hunt.

N.B. (3) Off licence owners of the region - please, please do not buy a crate of these beers purely on my say-so. I am, by no means, providing a guarantee of quality, nor am I certain that these will be 'big' sellers.
However, if you do want to take a punt on these, why not do so? Only please don't kick me, when you're flogging them off at 10p per can, come Christmas.

Beer Tasting in the State of Cotteridge

2012-08-29T21:50:00.000+01:00

Hello all.

Rah rah rah, it's really important as a blogger, to declare your interests, tell everyone if you've been sent a free bottle of beer to review etc. After all, the two people reading (hello Richy) might be wondering.

In light of that, please read the following report into a fantastic evening, safe in the knowledge that I had some free beer and thoroughly enjoyed it. I wasn't the only one.

Cotteridge Wines tell me that they have been around for 17 years, but being a Johnny-come-lately myself, I've only really been aware of their existence for about 6 months. But during those 6 months they have demonstrated to me, and perhaps to themselves also, that they are capable of stocking a really excellent range of high quality beers, from around the World.

On Monday evening they did something a bit different, or different for Birmingham at least: they held a beer tasting. Now obviously beer tastings sort of take place every evening in pubs and homes around the country, but I do mean a sort of organised tasting in which people come together to taste beers and say "hmm" quite a lot, and scratch their forelocks, and marvel at the blend of malt and hop flavours, and so on.

And so it went on Monday evening. A group comprising Birmingham Ratebeerers (The_Bish, RichTheVillan, Tomman and moi), Paul from Arbor Ales and assorted members of the Brum Beer Twitterati (@Kaufmanised, @RobertoRossUK, @CarlDurose, @tania_nexust, @MarbleTim, @nebolland) gathered at Cotteridge Wines to sample some incredible beers.

I may or may not have forgotten some of the bottles on offer, but the ones I sneaked a nip of, were as follows (in no particular order):

De Molen Bommen and Granaten
- a blindingly good 15.2% Barley Wine

Fyne Ales Jarl
- a full flavoured 3.8% UK Golden Ale

Arbor Goo Goo G’joob
- a super smooth Imperial Stout

Arbor Ginger IPA
- a hoppy IPA infused with ginger??? IT SHOULD NOT WORK. IT DOES WORK.

Zwiesel Dampfbier
- a malty, nutty German Lager variant

Rogue Chipotle Ale
- a US Amber Ale, made with chipotle chili peppers - smoky/spicy

Durham St Cuthbert
- a medium strong hoppy UK ale

Haandbryggeriet Røyk Uten Ild (Smoke Without Fire)
- a deliciously smoky and smooth Norwegian dark ale

Lambrate Ghisa
- an Italian Smoked Stout

Durham Diabolus
- an exclusive sample of this Imperial Stout brewed with gueuze yeast - a blend of dark malt power and sour tang. IT SHOULD NOT WORK. IT DOES WORK.

Mikkeller The American Dream
- a Lager so good, you wouldn't even know it was a Lager

Moor Northern Star
- one of the best, most hoppiest UK 'session' beers around

The beers were clearly delicious, but honestly the beers were only one half of the evening's fun. The other half was the excellent conviviality on show, both from fellow guests and of course from our gracious hosts. The final half of fun, as an extra treat, was the presence of Arbor Ales, ably represented by Paul. Arbor are obviously one of the better breweries in the UK: even when sober (which I am now) I know that this is a fact. It was cool to get the background to some of Arbor's excellent beers - such as the two mentioned above and other top hits like Single Hop Citra and Oyster Stout.

A 'tasting' and a 'Meet the Brewer' in a single evening - a double first for me.

So then, in short, it was great to attend a fantastic tasting event, celebrating solidarity and the existence of nice beer, deep within our midst. It would be remiss not to pay tribute to our hosts for putting such a nice event on, and inviting us along, so I happily voice my gratitude here.

<>

On a separate note, the Bank Holiday Weekend also marked a very impressive Craft Beer Festival, held at Cherry Reds in Kings Heath. Unfortunately I was not able to get to the festival, but I know several people that did attend and loved it. The beer list was very impressive, and I hereby send an electronic pat on the back for a job well done.

Short and to the Pointless

2012-08-21T20:11:00.001+01:00

A quick heads up on some good recent beer experiences:

Allgauer Buble Bier

An example of what Ratebeer classifies as a Zwickel/Keller/Landbier - 3 [minor] related German beer styles which equate to an unfiltered, slightly cloudier Lagerbier than normal. Sometimes they approach amber in colour, but often they are the standard blonde - which is what this one was. I don't go in for the history of beer styles as a rule, as they are the cause of too many arguments, but if you are interested, why not research
Zwickel/Keller/Landbiers on the Internet?

Any road, this was lovely. All the refreshment and clarity of a Lager, cutting through thirst and all that. BUT with the added, delightful sweetness offered by all the subtle muck, which would normally be filtered out, in the name of a crystal clear beer. This was purchased from Cotteridge Wines, and I know for a fact that they have a few Z/K/L beers, so why not dive in? Other good examples are Hacker Pschorr anno 1417 or St Georgen Brau Kellerbier.

Beavertown 8 Ball Rye IPA

Beavertown are one of the wave of new London microbreweries and I would say that this is their best known beer at present. Certainly it's the only one that I've tried. It's an IPA, so it has a range of lovely hops - particularly lovely in this case. What it also has is the addition of Rye, which gives the beer both a lovely rosey hue, and a subtle sweetness/fruitiness. This tipped it above a good percentage of the burgeoning number of hoppy beers, which are now flooding our better beer establishments. This was bought from Stirchley Wines.

Brodies Hoxton Special IPA

I necked this beer immediately after sampling another Brodies beer - London Lager. I was musing that it would be difficult to top the London Lager which was an unbelievably tasty and well-hopped lager. However, I was clearly mismusing, as the Hoxton Special IPA gently nuzzled the Lager with it's warm, fuzzy [metaphorical] snout, before brusquely nudging it aside. Yes, the Special IPA was that good. In fact, it was one of the best beers I have ever tried. UN-B-LIEVE-ABLE. I already liked Brodies, who are clearly the, if not one of the most brilliantist of the new London brewers, but this sort of bottled majesty is very likely to make me paint my arms purple due to unfettered beer frenzy. Brodies are amazing. Cotteridge
Wines are carrying a range of Brodies, including the London Lager, Big Mofo Stout, Hoxton Special IPA, Hackney Red IPA and Dalston Black IPA. I dare say that none of them will disappoint you.

The Grant Arms, Cotteridge

It has lovely leatherette, curved banquette-style seating (in places). It also has competitively priced clingfilm-wrapped cobs behind the bar, which I am a sucker for.

I have been a bit poor at blogging recently. As such I am currently coming up with some new ideas.