My Liverpool Crawl

The one thing that struck home whilst walking around Liverpool on Monday was how many quality pubs there are within a short walk. I did five pubs before dinner, then headed in the other direction after dinner and did two more. I'm a bit of a lightweight sadly as there are a number of other pubs the seasoned drinker should really have done.

There are a few jottings below of my experiences:

Pub one - The Dispensary; smart and clean; nice wood panelling; despire being owned by Cains only one of their beers on. I had Wentworth Black Zac which was very tasty and TSA Golden Thistle which was very bland.

Pub two Roscoe's Head; quaint little pub, nice snug, institution, untouchable by which I mean its place in the GBG may well be sacrosanct. My Jennings Bitter was a little vinegary.

Pub three The Fly In The Loaf; modern and almost trendy, good selection of foreign beers well chosen; four Fullers beers and only one from owners Okells. Why is that? I had Wild Walker Last Orders and Okells Bitter, both were bland.

Pub four The Pilgrim; Bohemian; great tables; cheap food; mostly students. My Phoenix White Tornado was hoppy and crisp.

Pub five Ye Cracke; tatty; interesting; doesn't need to smarten up; interesting guest beers. I had All Gates Mild At Heart and Hornbeam Winterlong Dark Bitter, both were decent enough if a little ordinary.

Pub six Thomas Rigbys; walked in just as someone appeared to be being ejected so a good start; good draught foreign beers, would have had the Aventinus Weizen Eisbock if I could guarantee I would keep it down. Instead I had Fullers Hock which was pretty nice.

Pub seven Ship & Mitre; big beer selection; intriguing beer board; fast service despite the pub being busy. I had Betwixt Storr Lager and Northern Two Tone Stout both good beers doing what they say on the tin.

I trugded home, unwittingly passing Dr Duncans where a quick glimpse through the windows revealed just Cains beers which at that time of the night didn't float my boat.

In summery a crawl around Liverpool is not hard on the shoe leather and is sure to result in a wide selection of interesting and old favourite beers. I'ev not been since 2000, I hope I'll be back before 2018.

Going To Liverpool

I'm staying in Liverpool next Monday for just the one night at a residential training seminar. There's a disco arranged in the evening and we've been told to "bring our dancing shoes"

Bugger that; I'm going out drinking. It's been years since I've been on the beer in the land of Scouse. Where should I go? I'm staying centrally and will probably head for The Ship & Mitre first.

Anybody want to design me a pub crawl? Something in the region of six to eight pubs.

GBG Survey Woes

Like Tandleman, our CAMRA branch is currently considering its entries for the 2010 Good Beer Guide. With that in mind I took the bus into town on Saturday to do a bit of surveying.

My plan was to visit seven pubs; five of which are in the current GBG and two are possibles. It wasn't a successful day. I'm not going to name the pubs to save their embarrassment, but as you will see I won't be promoting the inclusion of some of these pubs based on this visit.

Pub one on my itinery was the town's flagship real ale pub. It's a nail on certainty for each and every GBG until it has a major change of business plan. My half of Red Lion White Lion was ok. It was in decent enough condition so any flaw in the beer wouldn't have been the pub's fault. It wasn't worth staying for a second; it'll be getting my vote based on the regular trips I make in there throughout the year.

Pub two was a very short walk away. A pub I've visited probably three times in the last five years. Beer quality in the past has been below average with the sole decent beer in memory some J.W.Lees Plum Pudding a few Christmasses ago. I ordered a half of Wentworth Bee Smoked. I was warned this was an acquired taste. Well if you like heavily vinegared beers behind a sweet smokiness then yes you've acquired yourself a strange taste. It was almost undrinkable. That's that pub off my recommendation list then.

From here I decided to go to the furthest outpost on the itinery, and work my way back to the bus station and thus home. I've heard good things about the next pub which is in the current guide, but due to the fact it doesn't open during the day on week days, I've not been in since it's been this good. But it opens all day at the weekend doesn't it? Actually no. I walked all that bloody way to discover it's a four o'clock job at the weekend too. Bugger, bugger, bugger. I don't appreciate a long walk for no sustenance. I'll have to go back soon, but it's a bit of a nuisance to say the least.

Pub four, or three as it happens, is a nice corner local which serves four ales all in good condition usually. I had two halves to make up for my earlier disappointment. The Newby Wyke Bear Island was good, but the Sharps Doom Bar was a bit disappointing. I'm not a big fan of Sharps beers normally, but it worth noting that by the time I'd finished my half the barrel had gone.

My next stop is a GBG entry, but I get the feeling it got in last year by the skin of its teeth. It's a pub I do go in occasionally and it's ok but no Earth stopper. My beer if choice was Abstinence Ale from Greene King. My impression of this beer which again suffered from an undesired acidity was that this is very probably a rebadge of XX Mild. It was not in the best form and this pub will also struggle to get my vote on this performance.

My final two stops were the two Spoons. However both were absolutely heaving and getting near the bar to order a drink proved too much effort for someone who'd had such a rubbish day's drinking.

The reason for this overcrowding appeared to be football related. Northampton were playing Leicester; pretty much a derby game. The streets were riddled with police. Time for an early bus home which at least meant I felt like the bottle of Spanish red we opened in the evening. Alas that too was disappointing. It just wasn't my day.

Ramblings In Brighton - Night One

I didn't get to nearly as many pubs as I'd planned during my five nights in Brighton. It's not easy when you're in a group who, in spite of being beer drinkers, are also reticent to walk very far for their imbibing. Fortunately we stayed within 200 yards of one of Brighton's better pubs so I was happy to spend a great deal of time in there.

Arriving first on Sunday with one travelling companion my priority was to get a few pubs in before meeting up with the others when they arrived. We headed therefore for the North Laines for a wander.

The first pub we nipped in was The Heart & Hand as pictured yesterday. This is obviously attractive from the outside, and quite interesting on the inside. One roomed and furnished with a rare vinyl jukebox, it's a little bit of a throwback to another era. The pint of Harveys Sussex Best was in great nick.

From there it was to The Great Eastern, entering by one of the narrowest front doors I've ever been through, this pub was long and narrow and the chap next to me's roast lamb smelled nice. My pint of Pilgrim Porter was really good.

Onwards to The Lord Nelson. This looks like a small pub from the outside but goes back pretty far. The real draw to this pub is excellent Harveys ales. I had a pint each of Knots Of May, a 3.0% light mild, and Olympia Golden Ale. Harveys brew some great stuff, and although these are not perhaps up to their highest standards, I still enjoyed these two.

We then sadly had to leave the laines fo the town centre. Two more pubs were visited: The Bright Helm, one of the worse JDW's known to man. Eight pump clips welcomed the customer, but only one of them was on. "Our area manager tells us to keep the clips showing", I was told. My statement that Tim Martin says otherwise was met with a blank face. I was in no mood to change the look on his face but wish I had.

We moved over to the very busy Fiddlers Elbow for more Harveys Sussex Best in the company of our now arrived colleagues. The beer again was in great form. Bed beckoned after this pub, but in night one I had visited five pubs. All the beers I had were lovely, and rarely found in my neck of the woods which is a nice treat.

I was only to visit two more pubs all week. I'll write about them both tomorrow.

A Wander Round Northampton

It's not often I have a bit of a crawl around my home town of Northampton. Normally if I'm crawling, I'll go a little further afield, but yesterday, towards the end of a week off from work and to coincide with the start of the Wetherspoons festival, I decided to have a wander.

I made The Moon On The Square my first port of call. This is in the lower echelons of Spoons pubs in my opinion, for a plethora of reasons, one of which is the normally disappointing beer range. It does of course participate in festivals so the range does improve. Today though the festival had barely trickled into action. Just Okells Doctor Okells Eastern Spice, and Titanic Last Porter Call available from the festival list. Two further pumps were decorated with the clips for Marstons Pedigree Six and Greene King Abbot Reserve but these were "coming soon"; a typical Wetherspoons tactic. Four beers were on from Langton brewery, which is often the case. Clearly there is some sort of deal going on with this Leicestershire brewery; why a Northants brewery cannot be chosen I really don't know. I tried Lock Keeper which was a new one for me. I have to say that all three beers were in excellent condition and very tasty. If only this were the case all the time.

My next pub was The Wig and Pen which is one of my semi regular haunts. The pub is owned by Fenland, and four of their beers were available along with two from Great Oakley and one from Thwaites. There was one blank pump. As I was on a ticking mission I tried the draught cider Westons Traditional Draught Scrumpy which was ok. Obviously brewed by one of the big boys as it lacked a certain character.

Onwards to The Malt Shovel now ran by one of the owners, and in my opinion already showing signs of improvement. I've been critical in the past of pumps being empty which would be acceptable in slow moving pubs, but almost everyone in the pub drinks real ale, and they can sustain a full spread. Since Mike and Roz have been front of house there have been thirteen ales on at all times, which is what we want to see. I sampled five new ones on this trip: Iceni Norfolk Winter Lightening, Tring Brock, DowBridge Fosse, Banks & Taylor Edwin Taylor's Extra Stout and Burton Bridge Top Spin. All were good but the stout was superb. A beautiful full bodied roasty dry stout.

From here I wandered back into town heading for the second Spoons pub in town. However en route is The Fish Inn which sells four real ales and has the bonus for the ticker of the pumps being visible through the window from the street. Spotting a new beer Batemans Hooker, I bagged me a half. It was disappointing which I find in pretty much all of Batemans' occasional beers. It was also the dearest ale of the day. Typical!!

Next and finally to Lloyds No 1, part of the Wetherspoons chain but supposedly concentrating more on the youth market than normal Spoons. The beer festival was in better swing here though than its sister pub. Three beers were on, all of which I'd not had before. So halves of Namyslow Plum Beer, Lees Brewers Dark and Batemans Spring Goddess were supped. The Batemans was as expected; the Lees was a mild mild and the Plum beer was as plummy as it's possible to be. I shall probably do a piece on that beer and the other two foreign ones I want from the festival when I have sampled them all, but suffice to say if you see this beer you should try it if only for the plummy novelty.

I was surprised with how many new beers I found around town. There are a fair few other decent pubs I didn't get to which are a bit further from the town centre, but it's a crawl I shall certainly do again. I think we all too often neglect what's on our doorstep, but I will try to appreciate it more in the future.

RateBeer Does An Oxford Pub Crawl

Saturday February 9th saw 20 RateBeerians, partners and friends do a tour of Oxford pubs. The event has been long in the planning, but was clearly worth the wait, as a superb day of good beer, good pubs, great company and unseasonally nice weather was enjoyed by all.

To be fair the start of the day was a little inauspicious as the early starters arrived at St Aldates Tavern at around 11:30 to realise that it wasn't opening until noon. A short walk to the nearby art deco delights of Three Goats Heads found that closed too, so we trekked back to our original starting point desparate for sustinence.

Finally the doors opened and in we traipsed and sat ourselves down to await the rest of our party. The pub is fairly unremarkable but the beer condition was good although even well conditioned Brakspear beers are not that special. The White Horse beers were nice though; the Bitter was on particularly good form.

Next pub was The Bear which featured in an episode of Inspector Morse and proudly displays the ties that were an integral part of that episode. Beer range was three Fullers beers, and Hook Norton Bitter. The vast majority of us drank the Hooky which we enjoyed outside on the benches as the inside was pretty packed, including people presumably breaking from a wedding. The bloke in the purple hat was particularly fetching! The beer was nice although I am not as enamoured by Hook Norton as some Oxfordshire based drinkers I know ;-)

Onwards to The Turf Tavern, a sprawling pub with tons of outside drinking area. This pub has won numerous awards over the years and has been the scene of various historical events, such as alleged presidential drug taking. It also had more real ales on than any other pub we visited. But I just don't like it. There are not enough staff and some of those who do work there are pretty surly. Beer quality was unspectacular too, although it wasn't their fault that the Guinness Red some of our party bought was crap! The braziers in the yards are recommended though.

Next stop was Far From The Madding Crowd. This is a converted shop in an alleyway by Borders bookshop. The pub reminded me a little of an estate pub but with a classy beer range. A lot of people ate here but I did that before the pubs opened so I enjoyed a number of different beers, with the best being Hadrian & Border Tall Ships. The beer range and condition here was arguably the best of the pubs I managed to get to on the day.

Next we visited Eagle & Child, a pub famous for being the hangout of Tolkein, Lewis and some of their contemporaries. The pub is bigger than expected, and the beer range poorer. Most of us ordered Cains Dragon Heart, although we didn't all get it, as it ran out after just a few halves being poured.

Our next pub was just over the busy St Giles road. Lamb & Flag is a nice clean pub, appearing more modern inside than you would expect. Rare for this area are beers from Palmers and Skinners. Although unspectacular these beers were in reasonable form and the pub was spacious enough and quiet enough for most of us to sit together.

Sadly though, this was to be my last pub as the last bus home was calling me. Some of the others were lucky enough to do another few pubs and make plans for a further meet up later in the year. Looking forward to that one already!

I thoroughly enjoyed the day. It's always nice to meet up with old friends and make new ones. As I said a couple of times during the day: "beer people are nice people", and even though no beers were great that didn't seem to matter.

A Nottingham Pub Crawl

I had a few hours to kill around Nottingham last Tuesday so that obviously lead to a pub crawl. I thought it would be different to go to some of the pubs I don't often get to go in, so The Vat and Fiddle near the station was avoided in favour of a good deal of walking around. My journey started on Maid Marian Way, and I set off first on a pretty long and mostly uphill walk to The Lincolnshire Poacher.

This is another pub owned by what is now The Castle Rock pub group, but formally known as Tynemill. It is my favourite of their chain in Nottingham, and always serves its beer in great condition alongside superb food, and all at reasonable prices. It is multi-roomed having stools in the bar area; a lounge; a snug and seats in the indoor courtyard area near the toilets. As well as Castle Rock beers you can always find Batemans products as well as a handful of guests. Some pretty decent foreign bottles can be spotted also.

After here I walked almost to the other end of town to The Newshouse. I have written about here before, and today it was just as good as ever. I sat in the left hand room which I guess is the bar as opposed to the lounge but it's comfortable as has a good collection of old prints of all types on the walls, if people watching is not your thing.

From here I wandered back to the heart of the city and the 15th Century Bell Inn. This labyrinthine pub has a superb exterior with old Hardys and Hansons adverts, and has an interesting interior too. This is another multi-roomed pub and has 12th Century cellars which can be visited on Tuesday evenings. Beer is pricier here than in most Nottingham pubs, but that's what places that attract tourists are like. Having said that, the beer is always in good condition.

From here I went to a pub which is probably even older than The Bell. The Salutation inn is back on Maid Marian Way where I started, but I like the roundabout route. The beer selection on my visit was not excellent and to be fair the pub was feeling tatty also. The Christmas tree was still twinkling in spite of 12th night having passed. I had a swift half, and moved on.

Next was The Canal House, another Castle Rock pub, but possibly their most disappointing in town from a beer perspective. Only two were available today and I ended up drinking cider. The pub is large and spacious, with a very long walk to the facilities, but is worth a visit if only for the fact that the canal and a couple of barges are actually inside the pub, and you have to cross a little footbridge when inside.

Next door is my final watering hole of the day. Fellows, Morton and Clayton is a brew pub, but it doesn't feel like the kind of place which is particularly bothered about its beers,and probably rightly so as they are a bit ropey, but there's usually an interesting guest or two and it is fairly near to the station so doesn't make for a detour.

As good as Nottingham is, and there are other good places I didn't get to today, it does seem to be acity where the sparkler is king, and the beers on the day were spoiled by large heads and creamy textures. No beers were awful, but only Castle Rock Black Gold in The Newshouse stood out as a beer I would have had another of. It's nice to see plenty of local beers in the pubs; half of those I sampled were brewed in Nottinghamshire and there were others I didn't try.

Nottingham is one of a triumverate of great beer cities in the East Midlands, along with Leicester and Derby. And with Sheffield only a short train trip away, there's plenty of good beer to be had in this part of the World.

Notes From A Leicester Pub Crawl

I spent a pleasant day yesterday imbibing in Leicester. Leicester is one of a triumverate of great beer cities in the East Midlands; the others being Nottingham and Derby. And with Sheffield a short train journey away, drinkers in this part of the World are thoroughly spoilt. Arriving by bus at 11:40 means that the vast majority of the best pubs are yet to open. However there's always a Wetherspoons open, so I nipped in The Last Plantaganet to see what was available at the pumps. I am usually disappointed with this member of the JDW chain, but on this occasion I was pleasantly suprised to find nice beers from Ludlow and Cropton. These were both in good condition and tasty. This was my first experience of a Ludlow beer which was pleasing.

I moved on from here to The Swan & Rushes where there was one of their festivals in full swing. Here I met Simon and his friend John. Simon promised me he would be resurrecting his blog shortly, so let's see if he's true to his word. Beers were available from the handpumps, the cellar and the courtyard. All the beers were nice but it has to said those from the courtyard were impossibly cold. I guess though that's the joy of a British winter. I've yet to see a warming blanket for casks; maybe they should be introduced. I had beers here from Abbeydale, Hobsons (the champion mild), Potbelly, Thornbridge, Amber, Saltaire, and my first beer from Bridgnorth. The emphasis of the festival was Christmas or Winter beers, so a fair few of these were on the strong side. The Swan was, as ever, friendly, welcoming and good fun.

However we decided to move on, as much in search of more temperate beer but also to experience more of the excellent hostelries nearby. Next stop was The Criterion which is my favourite pub in the city. The pub has an excellent range of real ales as well as great bottled beers and wonderful home baked pizzas. Today though was all about the beer, and I had stuff from Coastal, again a new brewery for me; Fyfe, and just for a change of continent, Flying Dog. The pub was bustling and seats were hard to come by, but we pearched on the corner of someone else's table and happily imbibed.

The Criterion is quite near The Shakespeare's Head, a pub which could well win the ugliest pub exterior in Leicester prize. The pub serves beers from the Oakwell Brewery at crazy cheap prices, and tends to be frequented by an older clientele than is average for most pubs. I took the opportunity to taste the Oakwell lagers for the first time, and I have to say it was a mistake. Neither the Acorn nor Oakwell lagers was pleasant, even by English brewed lager standards. The real ales are not bad and certainly as cheap as anything available in this part of the World. I would certainly recommend these over the lagers.

With the bus home rapidly getting nearer there was just time for a quick half in Out Of The Vaults, arguably the best pub for real ale in town. I had a new beer from Vale whilst watching the Wales v South Africa rugby match. One thing you will find a lot of in Leicester are rugby fans, as the city's team is more successful than the football team!

It was now time to split, so homeward I went amply full of good beer, good pubs, and good company.

The Briar Rose - Birmingham

So after my bad experience, I traipsed to The Briar Rose. This is a JDWetherspoon pub, so in many ways I had preconceived ideas as to what I would experience.

However things are slightly different here. It is a Wetherlodge, so is slightly plusher than most JDWs in that it wants to be more inviting for its residents. It is also proud of its entry in the Good Beer Guide and is making a concerted effort to promote real ale.

Behind the bar there is a screen, much like The Wellington, advertizing the real ales available, but the screen rotates to another image proudly stating: "We sold 1567 pints of real ale last week, thanks for voting us into the 2008 Good Beer Guide". Two things strike me here. Firstly 1567 pints doesn't actually sound that much, and secondly, it is nice that they are grateful for their entry in the GBG, and hopefully will make the most of it, by advocating real ale. Certainly being just down the hill from The Welly should work in their favour.

As well as the regular beers they had Greene King Swing Low, Titanic White Star, and four beers from Cornish brewer Sharps on offer. Coming soon we are promised over a dozen more Titanic beers.

I had two Sharps beers and the GK World Cup Rugby special. I would have to say that the beers were fine, but not outstanding. This may be that they are not particularly good beers anyway, rather than the pubs fault, but it was disappointing.

My major criticism is that the flyer on my table advertized three third pints for the price of a pint. I requested this offer, but they had not yet had the delivery of the third pint glasses. I really like the idea, but for heavens sake, do not promote it before you can deliver guys

I am not generally a fan of Wetherspoon pubs. There are one or two excellent branches (The Babington in Derby springs to mind), and a few that are shockingly bad. The Briar Rose is definitely above average, and I wouldn't hesitate to look in in future to see what's on the pumps.

Utopia - Birmingham

Whilst sat in The Wellington I perused my Good Beer Guide and noticed a pub which I believe has never been in the guide before, and lo and behold, it was within a couple of minutes walk.

The guide states that Utopia sells Hooky Bitter, Taylor Landlord and a local guest beer. OK thought I, that's good enough for me, and it's a new pub for me to boot. Like The Wellington the pub can easily be missed from the outside. I say "pub", but actually this is better described as a bar. It's all chrome and light furnishings, and doesn't look like a real ale drinkers haunt at all. I noticed immediately that the promised guest beer was missing in action, so I ordered a half of Hooky Bitter instead. This is a classic light English bitter at 3.4%, so I was more than a little taken aback to be charged £1.45. Holding the glass, I was put in mind of wearing a glove. The glass was very warm, presumably being recently removed from the glass washer. I sat down in a light beige coloured leather sofa - it farted like a Reggie Perrin joke - but at least was comfy.

The beer was poor. There was a medicinal taste, none of the light citrus hops and balancing malt I know this beer should deliver. I'm not one to complain in person, and I'm not sure the staff would know what beer should taste like anyway. I drank it pretty quickly and left, never to return.

I fail to have any comprehension why this place is in the Good Beer Guide. I'm all for a bit of diversity. I don't just want good honest boozers. If smarter upmarket pubs serve good beer then they deserve a place, but this pub was just corny inside, the prices were a disgrace and the beer quality was shocking. I smell a rat.

Save yourself the short walk, stay in The Welly for a little longer.

The Wellington - Birmingham

The second stop on my mini Birmingham crawl was The Wellington on Bennetts Hill. It may be easy to miss from the outside as it doesn't resemble your average pub, but once visited you will return. Without a doubt The 'Welly' is one of the most revered real ale pubs in the UK. The pub opened in its present guise in late 2004 and has won Birmingham CAMRA's pub of the year in 2005, and 2006.

It has a vast turnover of real ales. There are presently 15 handpumps devoted to ales and three to ciders and perries. It is not uncommon for a beer to be replaced as soon as a barrel runs out, so in a two hour stay there may actually be nearer twenty different beers. It is doubtful that any British pub gets through as many different beers as The Welly: In 2005 they sold 2610 different beers; in 2006, 2332 and as of my visit this week there have been 1910 in 2007.

Ordering beer is easy thanks to their beer board which is updated in real time both in the pub and on the net. The board gives colour indication for those who care, as well as price, and customers are requested to order by pump number. The Welly's policy is not to serve food, but all customers are very welcome to bring their own, be it hot or cold, with crockery, cutlery and condiments provided. This is a wonderful idea and really should be replicated by other pubs who not provide kitchen facilities. Throw in the fact that the entrances to both toilets are probably the narrowest in the known Universe, and The Welly clearly becomes an essential visit for all lovers of beer and interesting hostelries.

It may seem churlish to make complaints about such a place, but nowhere is perfect. My personal opinion is that in the pub's chase to get through so many different beers they do sell too many short range or one off beers. This is excellent for the scoopers but I would prefer to see the stock range of brewers' production more often. Having said that I do realise that the regular customer base keeps returning (as do I whenever in Birmingham) so obviously they are fulfilling expectations.

Whatever you do, do not miss The Welly when in Birmingham, and even if within a fifty mile radius, take a detour, you will not regret it.

The Old Joint Stock - Birmingham

So the first pub on my mini Birmingham crawl was The Old Joint Stock.

This is Fuller's most Northerly pub, and is overlooked by Birmingham's beautiful cathedral. It is ironic that I chose to visit this pub only a day or two after Stonch's article which highlighted a London Fullers pub which had a ban on jeans and trainers. So suitably attired in my jeans and trainers I entered the pub bravely. Certainly there were a lot of suits, but I wasn't the only one in denim.

The Old Joint Stock is a former stock exchange building and is an architectural splendour. There is a beautiful high domed ceiling above the island bar resplendent in its dark wood. All the furnitures and fittings seemed quite classy. The pub even has its own 80 seat theatre upstairs.

The full Fullers' beer range is available, although not any of the beers badged as Gales, and there is one changing guest beer from Beowulf. My half of Beowulf Chasewater was a rather expensive £1.40 showing perhaps that we are paying for the splendour of the building. It was nice enough but too cold. I have previously drank Fullers' beers here and have always thought those beers too cold also. As well as the cask beers the full Fullers range (including London Porter) is available, although they are all fridged so again probably not served at the optimum temperature.

I am not sure the pub is worthy of its perennial appearance in the Good Beer Guide. It's certainly a nice pub but the beer quality and range are not particulalrly exciting. I do wonder whether it's the novelty of a Fullers pub that gets it in, but that shouldn't be enough.

I think my favouirte bit of the whole pub is the advert on the wall of the gents for the Child Support Agency warning us that money might be taken out of our wages if we don't pay maintenance. I'm not sure what type of men normally pee in this pub, if that's the type of lavatory reading matter!

England's Second City

I had a meeting today in Birmingham which finished earlier than expected. So, armed with my new Good Beer Guide, I visited four pubs all within a short walk of each other.

The four pubs I visited were:

The Old Joint Stock

The Wellington

Utopia

The Briar Rose

I was going to write one article about my mini pub crawl, but the pubs are all so astonishingly different to each other, and in the context of being in the Good Beer Guide, I feel each warrants a small article. We have what is considered by some to be the premier real ale pub in the country; Birmingham's only Fullers Pub; a JDWetherspoons establishment, and what is probably the least worthy entry in the GBG I have ever encountered. Hopefully the next four pieces should be entertaining and food for thought. Please pop back.

A Few Beers In Rugby And Then Home

On 11 May, I took the short train journey to Rugby to visit their festival. I arrived 45 minutes before the festival opened so strolled to The Alexandra Arms. This pub sells five real ales, sometimes including those from their own brewery “Alexandra Arms Brewery”. I sampled the Quaffers Ale, a 3.8% quaffing beer. It is light but easy to drink. A bit steep I thought at £1.05 for a half seeing it was home brewed. The pub is what I would call a local. At first glance it appears to be one roomed, although hidden away at the back is a games room which also has a loud jukebox. It is a six times winner of Rugby CAMRA pub of the year, a title though it would struggle to win at the moment as there are two better bets in town in my opinion. The pub was pretty smoky on this visit (I have found it less so before) with a chap at the bar smoking a particularly strong cigar. It’s hard to avoid peoples’ smoke when they seat themselves at the servery.

Then it was time to walk to the Festival. This is held in an indoor bowling centre which in spite of Rugby CAMRA’s claim is a 20 minute walk from the station. This is my third visit and I found the beer quality and range to be better this year than on other visits. I had beers from the following breweries:
Arran
Bushys
Great Orme
Okells
Purple Moose
Valhalla
Franciscan Well
Messrs. Maguire

My Beer Of The Festival was Bushys Old Bushy Tail a lovely malty fruity beer with great bready flavours. Very nice. I sampled an excellent Chicken and Potato Curry which is the best curry I have ever had at a beer festival and cooked by an English lady. A word on the smoking. It was barred from the room where the seating area was but allowed in the bar area where the beers were. Customers don’t have to go to the seating area but they do need to buy beer so a bit arse about face really. Smoking has been banned from most festivals for a little while now.

After the Festival I went to The Victoria Inn which is owned by The Atomic Brewery. I sampled two of their beers Reactor and Bomb, both of which were lovely pale hoppy beers. The pub has a smoke free lounge and a bar/games room where smoking is allowed.

My final pub on my crawl was back in Northampton to The Malt Shovel. Here I had the new mild from Great Oakley Brewery brewed for May, and a Hambleton beer. The pub was busy as ever and there was a small proportion of people smoking but it wasn’t too bad.

I shall visit all of these pubs soon after the ban and will report on how they have changed. All in all a good night’s crawl with some very good beers at great pubs, and only a couple of duff experiences.

A few links:

Rugby CAMRA: http://www.rugbycamra.org.uk/

Alexandra Arms: http://www.alexandraarms.co.uk/

Atomic Brewery: http://www.atomicbrewery.com/

Malt Shovel: http://www.maltshoveltavern.com/

Great Oakley Brewery: http://www.greatoakleybrewery.co.uk/