September Round Up

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.

My ten favourite breweries that I forgot to put in my top ten favourite breweries

As is already tiresomely well established, I love top tens and indeed lists of any type.  They keep me off the street.

Now, in last week's issue I listed my top ten breweries and was happy to do so.  Unfortunately it seems that in the course of that top ten I a) took leave of my senses and b) have subsequently remembered some more breweries that I really like, but which I failed to include, but which I now want to pay homage to, in whatever cockeyed route is still available to me.  What an appalling opening to a blog post this has been so far.  Genuinely terrible.  >>>Fast forward>>>

So then, here are 10 more outstanding breweries, who I love for my own reasons, and who could quite easily have been interchanged with any of the previous top 10*.  These ones are in no particular order. 

i) Stone

Original Yank powerhouse brewery.  I tried Arrogant Bastard and Ruination in 2004 and was blown away.  More recently in 2011, Sublimely Self Righteous was the first good Black IPA I ever tried.

ii) Great Divide

Can't believe I didn't include this lot in the original list, not least because my two highest rated beers of all time, were both brewed by them - Hercules and Yeti.  Wowsers.

iii) Andechs

Fabulous Munich** brewery - great lagers and weisse beers.

iv) Oakham

Another headshaker.  Cannot believe that I forgot to include the people who gave me Citra and Bishops Farewell, in my original list.  Green Devil is a new favourite. 

v) Buxton

I just cannot resist Buxton.  Such a sweet hop blend in all their beers.  Their Black IPA is magnificent, and so is Axe Edge.

vi) Brodies

Wonderful London microbrewery.  So fresh and full of experimentation, and yet so weighted down with finesse and quality. 

vii) Everards

Yes, they are from Leicester, so they sneak in through the local connection, and through happy memories of childhood.  But, in all fairness, Tiger is a brilliant ruddy Bitter.

viii) Crouch Vale

They predate the 'craft revolution', but their attention to hops fits well into this new paradigm.  Brewers Gold was a classic back in 2003, and they continue to churn out hoppy golden treats. 

ix) Paulaner

A wide variety of German proficiency is available from this giant.  Their Hefe is a classic, but it's their Roggen which is, for me, a classic beer sadly absent from these shores, in recent times.

x) Dark Star/Marble/Bristol Beer Factory/Magic Rock/Moor

Lists are always unsatisfactory (and yet I love them).  There will always be breweries I'm not able to include, but whom I love.  Here are a fistful of massively brilliant UK names, who deserve to be namechecked in any list of top breweries. 

I may write shortly about the lovely story which featured in the Birmingham Post.




*perhaps. To be fair to the previous top 10, they deserved their exalted status.
**not actually based in Munich, but close-ish.

 

Brand Focus no.1: Oakham

I sometimes take Oakham for granted.  I think perhaps all UK beer fans do.  They have been doing their thing for as long as I have been rating beers.  Unencumbered by fashion, unaffiliated with 'craft' beer, this Peterborough-based powerhouse have been steadily churning out peerless Golden Ales, with a level of consistency which is breathtaking: to wit, I cannot remember having a bad Oakham. 

When I look back to British real ale in 2003 (around the time I was 'discovering' it) brown bitters were ceding ground to a new breed of well hopped British beers, all golden in hue.  Crouch Vale were there (and still are), Hopback Summer Lightning was an early archetype of the style, Dark Star Hophead was about to land and Oakham JHB was tasting marvellous.  Coincidentally, in early 2004 Oakham opened a pub in Brum - the peerlessly beautiful and carefully restored Bartons Arms, replete with a range of Oakham's best on handpull.  Here was easy access to fresh JHB, White Dwarf and Bishops Farewell.  As I said, marvellous.  But that wasn't the end of it: over the succeeding 8 years Oakham have continued to deliver beer after new beer, all well hopped, flavoursome and with the balance of an Olympic gymnast.  Here are some highlights.

Citra

Supped throughout the evening of Christmas Eve 2010, with my brother Chris, in the homely Black Eagle.  This. Blew. My. Chops. Off.  A hoppy taste yes (I expected nothing less), but oh! what hops.  Like a basket of freshly sliced mangoes tipped down my eager gullet.  So clean, powerful and delicious.  Wow.  It's now a regular at the Wellington, but my first taste of Citra was a beer experience that will be branded on my soul, till my toes turn up.  Terrible headache in the morning, mind.

Hawse Buckler

A bottle purchased from Global Wines not long after the birth of my daughter; this, unusually is a dark Foreign Stout, but is delivered with the standard precision and level of hopping you would expect.  Smooth, flavoursome and with diversely profiled, but equally generous portions of roast and big hop.  I actually believe this was a precursor to Black IPA - a style which is now 'all the rage'.  It disappeared for a while, but I was happy to sample it at the Bartons a couple of months back.

Bishops Farewell

A mainstay of the Oakham range, this one kills it every time.  So rich, so tongue crushingly, unrelenting hoppy, but served in soupcons of such tonsil caressing care, that my heart skips a beat with every swig.  This is the archetypal UK Golden Ale, as far as I am concerned.*

Dreamcatcher

Sampled at the Swan and Rushes in Leicester, just after witnessing LCFC beat eventual Championship promotees Southampton.  This is a big, purple IPA, with an Ikea shelving system full of unusual tastes and flavours, vying for supremacy on one's tongue.  Forest fruit, marzipan, deep radiant, bitter and powerful hops. Big, even by Oakham's standards, and one of the first, and still rare, genuine UK cask IPAs that I have tried/loved.

I could go on and on.  I could wax lyrical about tropical Preacher, super solid Taipan, light, yet merciless Tranquility or bitter, smooth and powerful Green Devil.  But I'll try to wrap up here.  My Ratebeer records show that I have sampled 42 Oakham beers, and the scores I've given show that I've loved them all.  Oakham are masters of producing consistently high quality beers, and if pushed, I might even say that they produce the best beers available on cask in the UK.  Even when pitted against the likes of Kernel and Mikkeller, Oakham punch at and above their weight.**


*Unless I say otherwise at a later date.
**Unless I say otherwise at a later date.    

 

The Ideal Birmingham Pub Crawl, or is it Beer Crawl?

Given the pubs that Birmingham has, what would be the best achievable pub crawl?

More specifically, since I prioritise beer over surroundings/decor/atmos etc, what would be the ideal beer crawl in Brum?

Here's an imagined (but rooted in reality) attempt.

Starting slightly north of the centre, I'm kicking off with a pint of Oakham Citra in the Bartons Arms.  This is a double whammy, as the pub is a beautifully restored Victorian gem, with lovely tiles; and... it's owned by Oakham, who are one of my favourite/the best breweries in the country.  Citra is a deliciously crisp, hoppy and piquantly fruity beer, with a tickle across the tongue. Lip-smackingly moreish.

Next, a short bus ride away from the Bartons is the Bull - a small, homely, genuine old pub in the Gun Quarter.  Here, I'd probably plump for an Acorn Barnsley Bitter, which seems to be consistently available.  The comforting genuineness of the bitter, would echo the surroundings nicely.

Next I'd swing up to the Jewellery Quarter, to tick off the Lord Clifden, Brown Lion, Rose Villa Tavern, the Drop Forge and Red Lion (in that order).  In those pubs I'd hope to be able to sample [halves obviously] of Bathams (in the Clifdo), Complete Muppetry or Jewellery Porter (in the Brown), Thornbridge Kipling (in the RVT), a Malvern Hills Black Pear (in the Forge), and finally a Purity Mad Goose (in the Red).  Why those beers?  Well, because they are, respectively: i) a pleasure to drink and should always be sampled when available, which it usually is at the Clifdo and Red Lion; ii) the best of Two Towers' current range; iii) Bitters 'n' Twisted pubs usually carry Thornbridge beers, and they are always good; iv) usually on offer around Brum, and a pleasant Golden ale; and v) the best of Purity's 3 ubiquitous Golden ales.

A detour would be required to get to the Black Eagle, and once there, I'd hope for a Brewdog Trashy Blonde.

Heading back to the centre, I'd hope for a pint of Moor Somerland Gold in the Shakespeare [Summer Row], then an Otley Thai-Bo at the Old Contemptibles.  2 x Nicholsons' pubs, with 2 x of the better breweries on their Spring ale roster.

On the homeward stretch, I'd swing by the Old Joint Stock and umm and arr about whether to have a Chiswick Bitter (toasty and tart), a Bengal Lancer (quite hoppy) or a London Porter (rich and roasty).  The Porter would probably win.

In the nearby Wellington, the rotating ales make it difficult to pin down a guaranteed choice, but Wye Valley HPA IS always on, so that would 'do' me.

In the Post Office Vaults there are lots of bottles that I KNOW will be in the fridge on any given day, and a good number of them would tempt me on EVERY given day.  On current form, I think I would have to plump for a De Molen Amerikaans, which has the best aroma EVER.  However, having chosen Amerikaans, I would obviously have to live with NOT having chosen Rodenbach Grand Cru or Lindemans Cuvee Rene Gueuze - but those are the kind of tough choices I make every day.

Before the final leg, I'd head to the Victoria and certainly sample a Thornbridge Jaipur if possible. 

Final 2 stops would be in Digbeth.  First up the Lamp Tavern, where I would hope to sample an Everards Tiger, which is not only a delicious Bitter, but also a small taste of home.  And then the Anchor, which has a retinue of ales which rotate at a similar speed to the Wellington: therefore I would cross my finger and hope to sample a Gargoyles Citra or a Steel City Vane Tempest.

After that I would be fit to drop.

But what conclusions can we draw from this imagined crawl?  Well, firstly that the sort of breweries guaranteed to be available on any given day, in our best pubs, are not really members of the burgeoning 'Craft Beer' scene.  My ideal Brum pub crawl would not allow me to sample Summer Wine, Magic Rock or Buxton.  But, on the positive side, it would allow me to sample some nice Golden ales.  Lots of Golden ales.  Mainly Golden ales in fact.  Golden ales seem to be doing rather well in Birmingham.

The other conclusion, is a rather more obvious one, and that is that Birmingham has lots of lovely drinking venues.  Rather more than you might imagine in fact.  And perhaps more than we realise - which is a sign of improvement is it not?   

In the style of Tony Hart, why not come up with you own imaginary pub crawl, using this ever improving Birmingham Pub Guide via Google Maps?

Post St. Patrick's Party

Having neither the energy, nor desire to spend Saturday evening supping Guinness on Broad Street, I instead resolved to stay in my house, visualising Leicester beating Chelsea in the FA Cup Quarter Final the following day.

By 4.00 Sunday, having watched Leicester narrowly get thrashed lose to Chelsea, I then headed over to Digbeth, belatedly keen to grab whatever Irish cheer was still remaining.

Once settled at the trusty Anchor, I sampled three Irish microbrewed ales, which were by turns pleasant, very nice and then nice.  They were Or, a Golden ale from Trouble Brewery, White Gypsy's Red Oak and 8 Degrees' Sunburnt Irish Red.  It's unusual to sample a single tasty Irish Red ale, let alone 2 in one pub, in 15 minutes. Very nice.  The Anchor was totally empty during my visit - I guess everyone was partied out.

However, following a spirit crushing football loss, during which I was accompanied by only Tetley's Extra Cold, I wasn't in the mood to go home yet.

So I popped into the very plush Hennesseys, where I sampled a quick half of Camerons Hurleys Irish Ale (yep, another one, also nice), then scuttled on, around the back streets of Digbeth.  Wherein I saw two lovely looking, but sadly closed pubs (Spotted Dog and the Old Wharf), then a Casper Polish supermarket, where I picked up a can of Perla Niepasteryzowana, which will be consumed in due course.

Finally, before heading home, I had a very productive (and quick) visit to the Post Office Vaults, where I sampled the marvellous Oakham Tranquility, which was perilously smooth, hoppy and drinkable; and a bottle of De Molen Amerikaans.  The big, bouncy bouquet of the latter, dripping with hops, will live with me for a long, long time.  Buoyed by the De Molen I got a bottle of their Bed and Breakfast, to be gulped at another later date.

A good miniature crawl. Short, but sweet, but a happy [day after] St. Patricks Day to me.

The Top Ten Movers and Shakers in Birmingham's Beer Scene

This blog, obviously, is about the beer scene in Birmingham: part commentary, part rallying cry.  So far all I've really done is report on the situation as is, but how about we do a bit of digging below the surface?  If I don my Famous Five hat and Clark Kent trousers, perhaps I can pretend to do a bit of real journalism and take a look at the movers and shakers on the Birmingham beer scene.  Who runs the show in Brum, and how?  Once we know that, perhaps we can work out an effective brown-nosing lobbying strategy to keep things moving in the right direction.  Here goes then, in reverse order:

10.  Paul Halsey (Managing Director of Purity Brewing Co.)

Purity aren't based in Birmingham, but they may as well be, as their products have an enviable tendency to pop up in nearly every good boozer in town.  Their three beers are consistent and tasty, but just think... if they were to produce a red IPA, a delicious Porter or a super rich Stout they could use their network of clients to stick experimental, challenging beers under the noses of half the drinkers in the West Midlands.  The possibilities are tantalising and intriguing.

9.  Adrian Posnett (Managing Director of Oakham Ales)

Oakham delivered a beautiful gift to Birmingham, back in 2004: The Bartons Arms.  It's a gift that keeps on giving - delicious Thai food, sensationally kept [delicious] Oakham ales and wonderful pub architecture.  Oakham are also the best represented of the UK's top quality brewers, in Birmingham's pubs.  By remaining committed to the Bartons, Oakhams are maintaining one of our essential pubs, a key source of fantastic beer.  

8.  Mark Arnott-Job and Trevor Harris (Co-Directors and Head Brewers at Two Towers Brewery)

Their beers are getting better and now they have their own pub - the Brown Lion.  Brum is not over blessed with microbreweries, in fact with this post being written prior to the launch of the Beer Geek Brewery, there is only Two Towers and ABC.  Two Towers therefore need to keep up the good work and start throwing out some big, flavoursome new beers. 

7.  Bob Ivell (Executive Chairman of Mitchells and Butlers)

M&B has four of its Nicholsons pubs in the City centre, offering good beer, often from some of the UK's best breweries.  If Mr Ivell turned round tomorrow and decided to turn the Old Contemptibles, the two Shakespeare pubs and Bacchus bar into Wacky Warehouses, then as a City we'd instantly be much poorer as a result.  Think about it. 

6.  Mark Delaney (Birmingham CAMRA Chairman)

The results speak for themselves.  Are things improving on the beer front in Birmingham? - Yes.  Do we have more pubs serving real ale than before? - Yes.  As sure as eggs is eggs, the local CAMRA branch must be doing something right.  Plus, importantly, last year's festival was tremendous fun, with an improving range of beers. 

5.  Matt Scriven (Bitters n Twisted)

Bitters n Twisted have four bars in the City, each offering something slightly different: Jekyll and Hyde is a modern day gin parlour, Island Bar is a hip cocktail joint, the Rose Villa Tavern is a beautiful old pub turned gastropub, and the Victoria is a hipster hangout.  Clearly Mr Scriven knows what he is doing and I'm grateful that all of his venues recognise the importance of good beer, offering a smattering of bottles, taps and handpumps.  Now, if they could keep that moving in the right direction and increase the range and quality of the beers, that would be lovely.  In fact if they would like to open a new place, seeking to fill the remaining good beer niche, then they can talk to me and I'll point them in the right direction.  I'm serious.

4.  Graham Smith (Urban Art Bar)

Urban Art Bar has two pubs in the Jewellery Quarter: the Lord Clifden and the Red Lion .  Both places have placed beer at the heart of their appeal and have been important in acknowledging that a cool pub, can and should serve real ale.  Both of these venues were old pubs which were tarted up in a most tasteful way - so that they are both great to spend time in.  Mr Smith - more please. 

3. Gerry Keane (The Anchor)

The Anchor has been in the Keane family for donkeys years.  For all of my time in Brum, they have been offering a fantastic range of real ales, often from smaller breweries.  They were also the first place to offer Erdinger on tap and Belgian bottles.  Regardless of whatever else is happening in Brum, the Anchor remains a reliable oasis of good beer and good cheer. 

2. Krishan Rajput (Stirchley Wines and Spirits)

In 2002 I bought a house, partly because it had easy access to the fantastic off-licence Stirchley Wines and Spirits, with it's range of beers unparallelled in Birmingham.  In the 10 years since then, SWS has gone from strength to strength.  It is now the only place in the City offering access to some of the country's top beers (such as the Kernel) and and the best imports (Stone, Nogne, Mikkeller).  The owners expend a lot of energy in continuing to source new products: every day I get tweets from them, trying to lure me back for the latest unmissable treats.  This year they also ran the Foreign beer bar at the Birmingham Beer Festival, which brought more positive exposure.  They are spreading the good word, giving access to the best beers and opening eyes.  We would be lost without them.  If they opened a pub, they would nick top spot.  

1.  Nigel Barker (The Wellington/Post Office Vaults)

Before Nigel opened the Wellington, Brum relied totally on the Anchor for access to guest ales.  But since late 2004, things have got better and better, as we now have 16 handpulls of real ale, slap bang in the centre of town.  You don't need me to tell you that the Welly does alright - the fact that it is usually packed is a clear indicator.  With fast rotation of ales and regular beer festivals, Nigel gave Birmingham a venue which was essential, not just for Brummies, but for beer fans across the country.  In fact, in 2011 the Wellington amazingly ranked as the 36th best beer bar in the World, according to Ratebeer.  At the back end of last year, Nigel sprinkled some of his magic on the Post Office Vaults, another city centre real ale haunt, this time offering a massive selection of Belgian bottles - something the City definitely needed.  So why does Nigel get the top spot?  Quite simply he altered the direction of good beer in our City, he showed us what we had been missing and raised our expectations.  It should be noted that his arrival in the City also coincided with the re-energising of the local CAMRA branch.  Top man indeed.  

Saturday's stolen 'crawl' and a craft beer checklist

Well it was stolen, but not a crawl.  I left work yesterday, pinched borrowed 5 bob off leather-clad chum Malcy, legged it straight to the Welly and necked two halves in ten minutes, as follows:

Black Iris Bitter - a proper old-skool, 'real man' type Bitter, which makes no concessions to fruity transatlantic flavour, just a wallop of grizzled UK hops and chiselled sandpaper malt.  It was alright though.  Interestingly enough, having tried all five beers from this newish Derby-based microbrewer, I am now their top rater in the World.  Consider personal trumpet thoroughly parped.

Second was a new beer from Oakham - always a pleasant sight to greet a weatherbeaten beer fan, upon entering a boozer.  This one, entitled 'Preacher' was a suntanned bronze colour, with a luscious aroma of tropical fruit.  Taste was right upfront in the 'delicious mango and passionfruit' department and as balanced as my current account* throughout.  Really good from Oakham.  As always.  Which got me thinking....

How many of the top, top UK breweries' products actually make it to Birmingham on a regular basis?

Oakham - We are lucky to have one of their own pubs serving all their best stuff, plus their beers always make it to the Welly.

Crouch Vale - they pop up in the Welly, fairly frequently.

Moor - Nicholsons carry them, so four chances for their beers to appear in the City centre.

Brewdog - no bar in Birmingham as yet, and their stuff hardly ever pops up on cask, except occasionally in the Bleagle.  Nowhere in Brum serves craft beer on keg, so we are fairly scuppered for Brewdog generally.  Their bottles make it to Stirchley Wines; as do >>>

The Kernel - no pubs in Brum take these bottled masterpieces.  Thankfully Stirchley Wines are doing Birmingham proud.

Magic Rock - to my knowledge, none of their beers have ever appeared in a Birmingham pub, which is nothing short of a scandal, given their reputation as one of the UK's hottest new brewers.  Thankfully Stirchley Wines have just picked up their bottled range (are you noticing pattern here?).

Summer Wine - they very (very) occasionally pop up in the Welly - I've sampled them there twice. 

Thornbridge - pretty good coverage with Post Office Vaults, Wellington and the Nicholsons' pubs taking them.  Unfortunately no one serves their keg efforts, so we have never seen Versa, Italia or Kill Your Darlings, to name but three.

Dark Star - these appear in the Welly with almost acceptable frequency.

Brodies - never glimpsed in Brum.

Redwillow - spotted twice in the Welly by my good self.

Marble - occasional visitors to the Welly, but a full bottled range is at... wait for it.... Asda Stirchley Wines.

Bristol Beer Factory - not spotted in any Brum pubs for a good wee while, luckily someone has some bottles for your delectation. 

Hard Knott - Stirchley only.

Hawkshead - interestingly enough, Wetherspoons are your best bet for these Cumbrian beauties.

Gargoyles - The Anchor is your best bet to try these Devonian treats on cask, which is the same story for...

Steel City - only spotted in the Spanker.

Camden Town - only Nicholsons have sported a beer from this lot so far, but then again, they are primarily keg only.

Buxton - yawn, I'm boring myself now ... these are spotted very occasionally in the Welly, but Stirchley take their bottled range.    

As a City, the end of term report reads "Must do better".  Beer fans like you and me must request these brewers' products and our band of dedicated landlords must seek them out. 



*perhaps more so actually.

Wellington Wednesday and a Killer Stout

Wednesdays can be beautiful.

Last night was a night dans le boozer, which unusually, involved spending time in the company of other people - people I know. Amazing and much needed.

The Wellington beckoned and was pleasantly empty.  The pre-Christmas crushes experienced at this venue had become exceptionally tiresome - a trip to the Welly usually involved squeezing through the front door, flighting to the bar, just about managing to get my order heard, then necking it and legging it, having shifted my own body weight in sweat during that time. But last night, aaaah - a seat, some chums and I didn't have to shout to make myself heard.  Bliss.

So what of the beers: first a fittingly mediocre Elland Diablo, which was a bit thin and taste like chocolate melted on a bar-b-q [that word has been spelled in a deliberately annoying way].  I also had a pint, yes a whole pint, of Oakham Citra which is the epitome of reliability.  It's tasty too.

The best offering though, was Beowulf Killer Stout, a 7.9% UK Imperial Stout, from a brewery I have made my own - by which I mean that, according to Ratebeer, I am the top taster/reviewer of Beowulf beers in the World.  That may make it sound like I love all of their beers, which is not true at all.  But I do appreciate their dark efforts - Dark Raven, Finns Hall Porter, Dragon Smoke Stout and now this Killer Stout, which is a very flavoursome, drinkable and balanced attempt at a beer style usually only mastered by our American cousins.  It's a real shame that more of these stronger beers simply so not turn up on tap in Birmingham pubs; but then again, if they did, I wouldn't have been inspired to begin this blog.

After leaving the Welly, and having popped into Tesco, I followed some good Twitter advice from the previous night and was lucky enough to sample Moor Unfined Confidence on tap in the Lower Temple Shakespeare. It was a ruddy tasty and ruddy coloured ale, which the lack of filtering had rendered mushy in the mouth and with some murkiness added to the hoppy bitter.

Finally, a dash through the Post Office Vaults en route to the bus stop; a flying visit which yielded a well priced bottle of De Molen Op and Top - a strange beer which sat somewhere between a UK IPA and a Belgian Ale ala Leffe.  Largely pleasant.

A good evening's work.