Sadlers Ales at the Windsor Castle Brewery

The Windsor Castle brewery - where Sadlers Ales are produced - is based in Lye, a Midlands town along the route between Birmingham and Stourbridge. I had first come across their Jack's Pale Ale being served at Inn on the Green (Acocks Green, B'ham) several years ago, but it is in recent years that their beers have gained more prominence, with award-winning established recipes alongside new and hoppy beers emerging. So when earlier this year I organised a Number9 #Twissup, that would take us by Number 9 bus from the centre of Birmingham to the door of the brewery, it was a great opportunity to see inside the brewhouse, try their range of ales, and have a good chat about hops with their head brewer, Chris Sadler.

Chris explained that the Windsor Castle brewery was originally founded in Oldbury by his great-grandfather, but that brewing operations ceased in 1927 – these were resurrected in Lye by Chris' father John in 2004. They have developed their portfolio since that time, and now have around 8 regular beers, and several seasonals and specials appearing. The Windsor Castle also serves as the Sadlers' taphouse, and is renowned for it's food offering as well – but it was the array of 10 cask Sadlers ales along the bar that immediately caught our eye and lifted our spirits when we entered. The bar staff explained they don't usually feature a guest as the house beers are so popular and turnover is quick, and there are usually seasonal brews to form a counterpoint to the core range, giving drinkers a wide choice of styles and strengths to choose from. They also have bottled versions of some of these beers in the fridges.

After making our initial purchases to start checking out the ales available, we met Chris in the bar area; he took us through to the brewery's hop store, and talked us through their current range. There are several traditional styles covered, such as Red House, a 4% Black Country mild, and Worcester Sorcerer, a 4.3% Best Bitter. Their Mud City Stout (6.6%), with cocoa and vanilla richly complementing a blend of dark malts and oats, is multi-award winning, and an immensely flavoured beer whether from cask or bottle; and the JPA (Jack's Pale Ale) is a very sessionable 3.8%, which has recently had it's recipe tweaked to make it a 100% Citra-hopped beer. This tasted fantastic on cask and came out on top as my beer of the day, despite the many other lovely beers we tried during the Twissup. 

Chris explained that as he has now taken over the Head Brewer duties from his father, it has given him the opportunity to 'play around with hops' a lot more and develop new recipes and specials, such as their Hop Bomb – available in 330ml bottles as well as on draught, this caused quite a stir in the Midlands beer scene when it appeared, with the 5% abv providing a good base to carry through the Amarillo and Citra hop flavours and aromas. It was great to see such a range of exciting hops in the storeroom, and we easily spent the best part of an hour discussing characteristics and uses, as our party had two professional and at least two homebrewers who were all eager to talk with Chris about alpha acid values and aroma characteristics, and how crop variations in different years give rise to recipe changes and adjustments.

But back to the beer – and we heard about two recent beers that Chris has been working on – the Dr Hardwicke's Double IPA, which is continuously hopped throughout it's 85-minute boil and comes out a hefty 8.5%, and an Imperial Stout, which was still in development but Chris seemed pretty excited about already and described as 'something special'! We were able to have a taste of the latest batch of Dr Hardwicke's to be brewed – just about to go into the conditioning tanks – and this certainly had a lot of hop bite and full body even as an unfinished beer that still has to receive it's dry-hopping, so I'm looking forward to tasting this when it's finally ready.

We spent a while longer having a look round the 10-barrel brewery and the cask store, where sacks of used grain from the mashing process were stacked up ready for a local farmer to take away, and returned casks awaited cleaning and refilling with ales to be sent out again, before returning to the bar to work our way through the rest of the range and pick up some bottles to take home. I tried their delicious crisp Red IPA and also Basilisk, a bitter with some slightly sweet notes but a clean finish, and took home bottles of the Mud City, Hop Bomb, and Mellow Yellow, a pale ale with a hint of honey.

It was great to see a truly family-run brewery (Chris's sister also runs the taphouse and restaurant side of things) that is still keen to create new recipes and experiment with different hops coming to market, and it certainly marks them out as the most progressive brewery in the Birmingham area to my mind, and the only one bringing truly well-rounded but sparkily hoppy ales to Midlands punters.

And if you are yet to discover their beers, and like the sound of their hop-experimentation and special recipes, you can find some at the upcoming Birmingham Beer Bash festival on Friday 26^th and Saturday 27^th July 2013; there are rumours there may be some Imperial Stout available in bottles, and on draught will feature the hefty Dr Hardwicke's Double IPA, and 'Lion Hart', their 4.2% July seasonal beer – which is described as a blood orange ale brewed with juicy American hops and fresh pineapple – sounds perfect for a summer festival!

(Beery) Things I will Miss About Birmingham

So now it's a reality, I have moved away from my “second home” where I'd lived for most of my drinking life, and taken up in pastures new. I can't deny it's a wrench to leave somewhere I'd become firmly rooted to, and where I'd been a participant in the beer and food scene for so long, watching it develop and change, and eventually blossom into an ever-increasing array of great pubs, independent restaurants and food producers; seeing a community grow up both online and in person to move the city “Forward!” - Birmingham's motto!

Of course, there are plenty of non-foody/drinky things I'm going to pine for too – the Brutalist but firmly for-the-people architecture of John Madin; the vibrant suburbs of Harborne, Stirchley, Kings Heath, Moseley; the beauty of Bournville in the spring; leafy canals and lofty buildings; spaces with 'hidden' history where nightlcubs, factories and cinemas used to be; the secret parts of the city that are imbued with personal meaning.

But this is a blog primarily about food & ale, not melancholic psychogeographical contemplation, so here are the top 10 beery(ish) things that make me sad to be leaving:

The Bartons Arms – my number one pub hangout in Brum, that I came to consider my “local”, even though it took two bus journeys right across the city to get there from home. But the Bartons has held a special place in my heart since Oakham took it over and invested heavily to bring it back to it's former glory – with it's amazingly beautiful historic interior of etched glass and Minton tiles, serving good value Thai food and those quaffable Oakham ales. I've seen different landlords and bar managers come and go here, but they each brought character and a warm welcome, and ensured 'regular's corner' remained a fixture where I could always find a friendly face any time I visited. When Oakham introduced the Citra hop to these shores, my cross-town visits increased further, and I never stopped appreciating what a great pub we were lucky to be able to visit regularly. Visits here helped me through sad times and to celebrate many good times, and it's always felt like a 'home from home', so it seemed fitting to have one of my last pub outings in Brum to the recent beer festival here with a bunch of chums.  I hope it continues to excel in being all that a pub should be.

The Electric Cinema – some time back, myself and a friend worked hard to get Purity beer and the Electric linked up via Twitter, so we could have a decent and local ale to drink while basking in its comfy sofas. The Electric was my haunt when it was more of a run-down, underfunded, shabby porno-chic hangout, but I loved seeing interesting Arthouse double-bills there, while sitting on the worn seats and enjoying some 50p homemade cake and coffee. Now it's been brought back to life with a retro feel under the steady hand of 'local boy done good' Tom Lawes and it's the only place I want to go to see films, while supping on a Pure Ubu or movie-themed cocktail.

Stirchley Wines and Cotteridge Wines – two amazing bottle shops that were a short bus or cycle ride from my home, whose range just kept getting better and better over the years and through the hard work of their owners. I'll doubt I'll ever again be so close to not one but two “Aladdin's Caves” of beery joy and friendly proprietors. I've talked more about their delights in my recent blog post here.

Great Western Arcade – again a great destination for Brum foodies, with Anderson & Hill (great Italian deli, also sells local bottled ales) and Loki Wine (a wine merchant where you can sample the wares before buying, with a smart seating area up above) facing each other, an artisan bread maker at one end, and the Whisky Shop there too (selling some whisky cask aged beer like Harviestoun's Ola Dubh). It also hosts Hollingsworth's for your cigar and tobacco needs, an old-fashioned sweetie shop, a refined chocolatier, and Druckers patisserie. If more specialist food or drink retailers move in, this has the potential to be the most exciting shopping street in the city – perhaps this is where a city centre craft beer shop should be appearing!

Festive Frankfurt Market – for the Hogan's Cider Bar

Some Brum-dwellers hated the crowds and hustle this caused in the city each November and December, but I loved it for the multitude of yummy stuff it brought within easy reach – and also because weissbier is a favoured drink in our household. But best of all was the Hogan's Cider Bar – quality draught cider and perry, hot spiced, vintage bottled – and Allen Hogan always willing to dispense some cider knowledge while we hung out with cidery chums from Leicester and further afield.

The Victoria – I first visited this pub when it was a dingy bar, more than a little run down, but providing useful meetups for the LGBT scene courtesy of the two ladies who ran it. But after a period of dereliction, it was taken over by the budding Birmingham indie pubco of Bitters N Twisted, and embodied everything I'd want in a 'night out' pub – music erring on the rock and indie side and cask beer in cutely decorated surroundings. In the past year they've upped their game on the beer side too, and now scene stars like Red Willow, Hardknott, and Thornbridge often make an appearance on the pumps; they were also the first pub in the city to start stocking the type of bottles a beer geek would make a beeline for – Partizan, Arbor, Kernel, Tiny Rebel, with some great soul food to go with it.

Craven Arms – this may be Birmingham's newest ale pub, but from the minute it opened I knew I would be missing it when I left, because it's run by two lovely people – Chris and Sharon – who are dedicated to good beer, and it's got a lovely 'proper pub' feel to it. With Chris striving to bring in the most interesting ales, around 9 ciders and perrys, and bottles of Cantillon and De Molen for a very reasonable fee, it became my Friday evening hangout of choice, especially as Chris's music policy seems to cover just about every indie and alternative band I'd want to hear!

Past drinking spots – now closed, The Foundry and the original Edwards Number 8 – I never drank anything 'decent' in here – it was all bottled Pils and K cider – in the days before I discovered real ale, though I don't think the Ansells keg bitter would have done much to help me down the path if I'd tried it – but these were places where I spent a huge amount of time and helped me feel rooted to Birmingham, and interested in the history of its pub, brewery and nightlife scene, so I'll mourn their passing from my regular thoughts as I won't be looking out of a city centre office window being reminded of them every day.

Black Country bitters – Bathams and Holdens, I'm looking at you – with anguish, knowing that even though I don't get to see you on draught that often in the middle of Birmingham, I'm going to see you even less now I'm 100 miles away from the Black Country. This is painful to contemplate as these were already beers I got cravings for when they were practically on my doorstep – what torture to maybe only get a drop of these on cask about once a year from now on! I'd love to see these breweries feature even occasionally in London, but it's also perversely pleasing to think that this kind of bitter is still a regional treat, for those who can make it back to the industrial heartlands.

Lastly, but very definitely not least, the beery people I have met over the years – from becoming active in the local branch of CAMRA when I first joined, volunteering initially to run the cider bar at the beer festival and increase the range of cider in the city, and eventually organising the beer festival itself, and the many great people I have met via CAMRA or 'down the Anchor' over the years who I now count as good friends; to more recent friendships formed with Twitter as the medium, getting to meet a fantastic bunch of great folks – I'm going to miss them all like hell and hope that somehow I'll still see a fair bit of them if I get to make trips 'back home', at beer festivals round the country, and if they come to beer geek gatherings in London. At the very least, I hope a large swathe of them will be at the Birmingham Beer Bash festival in July, so we can catch up over some of the most amazing beer Birmingham will have seen!

There are many more things about my adopted Brum homelands that I'll miss with a passion, but in the spirit of Beer and Food Adventuring, I know the flipside is that there are also many things to explore and discover around my new home – so I'll take Birmingham's motto with me as I go - “Forward!”

Birmingham Metro pub crawl

Birmingham has a tram system – the Metro - that extends up the path of the old Great Western Railway trackbed, through the satellite towns, and ending at Wolverhampton. This offers a pleasant way of getting between a few quality pubs along the route, too many to fit in on one day, but in being selective you can visit some gems for a relaxed pint or two.

We started by travelling the length of the route from Snow Hill in Birmingham to St George's tram stop on Bilston Street in Wolves, and then negotiating the underpasses on a circuitous route to the Great Western on Sun Street. This seems to me to be one of the most unspoilt pubs in the Midlands, and worth several visits just on it's own - it's part of the railway heritage of the area, occupying an atmospheric spot beside the old low-level GNWR station and goods yard, and is filled with signage and train memoribilia that fits in with its old-world character. 

Cozy in winter

Being owned by Holdens, you can guarantee pints of Black Country bitters will be flowing, and Bathams is also regularly found as a guest. You can pick up cobs (filled rolls) and pork pies for a pound or two, but there's also a 'conservatory' room at the back for more substantial meals and functions. On our visit, the guests were one from Holdens seasonal range, "Noddy Holden" (Lucy Holden explained the theme of this year's Holdens specials, and their artwork, in my earlier post here) and a guest from Derby, and they also had Holdens Mild, Special, Bitter and Golden Glow. It was easy to get cozy while supping the malty goodness and enjoying the open fire and the welcoming chatter of the regulars and locals streaming through the door, but before long we knew we had to move on or the crawl would be in danger of abandonment!

 
Next we walked through the tiled pathway to the train station and up to the centre of town, to visit the Posada. This is a GBG regular, and has some lovely old features - a tiled facade, more tiling around the doors and walls, and some stained glass partitions inside inbetween the alcoves and nooks. Although we had a couple of draught ales from the four on offer (Wye Valley HPA, Davenports IPA, Banks's and Marstons) it was interesting to see a 'craft beer' menu on the tables, listing 4 bottles from Brewdog at around £3.30 - clearly the owners have taken note that the beer scene is expanding and are keen to try offering something different to Wolverhampton drinkers.

Then it was back on the tram, and down the line to Bilston. The Old White Rose is a long-standing real ale pub just a minute or two from the tram stop here, and very handy if you're on your way to a gig at the Robin venue a few streets away. There had been a few changes since I was last in here - notably they have reduced the amount of real ale pumps on the bar, and taken out the Belgian keg font, perhaps to improve turnover; they've also extended the opening hours to 11.30pm, to take in post-gig drinkers. The carvery & dining area has also changed a bit, which I think creates a more pleasant (less hot & steamy!) seating arrangement. Ales sampled here from the 8 or so on offer were from Kelham Island, Ludlow, Sarah Hughes and Cottage. No particularly exciting choices and condition was just OK rather than outstanding, but that seems to be the way with some long-standing ale pubs - something crisp and hoppy would have been welcomed at this stage. I also noticed they have a function room in the cellar - I'm not sure if this is a new development - this has an impressive Lowenbrau banner over the stairs down, and is styled as a Bavarian bierkeller. It would be great if they staged a festival of decent German beer here at some point, with wurst and pretzels to go with it!

Our next hop on the Metro was to Kenrick Park station, where you alight in a rather anonymous residential street, for the few minutes' walk to The Vine. I hadn't been to this pub before, but had heard they served good value Indian food all day long, and some local ale to go with it. I wasn't prepared though for the busyness of the place at the start of a Saturday teatime - although the rooms towards the front retained some of the original pub-like character, all tables were either full of people about to dine, or reserved for those coming for dinner shortly, and through the narrow corridor bar were two larger rooms reserved entirely for dining, full of people and with an air of chaos! However a friendly barmaid soon squeezed us in to a spare table and we were able to take a look at the curry menu printed up along one wall while sipping our Blue Monkey BG Tips - very nice. The back 'BBQ' room features a long cast iron grill, cooking up marinaded kebabs and skewers which looked mouthwatering, but on this occasion we decided to try out the curries, including the spicy goat and lamb with spinach. These were great - just as good as any found in the best balti restaurants of Brum - and extremely good value, with our whole meal of two mains and two sides coming in at under £14. They serve food all day on Saturdays, so I think I'll have to make a return visit sometime to try the skewers from the grill as they looked spicy and again great value at about £3.50. We would have liked another drop of the BG Tips as it was in great condition, but unfortunately it had run out at this stage. Never mind - next on was Bathams! Excellent - a trip into the Black Country would not be complete without coming across this iconic beer, so we had some for dessert. At £3.76 this was perhaps the most expensive pint of Bathams I'd ever purchased, but the cost was mitigated somewhat by the good value food.

It was getting rather dark now so it was good to be heading back towards the centre of Birmingham - but a Metro crawl wouldn't be complete without visiting the award-winning Black Eagle, just down the hill from the Benson Road metro stop in Soho. This is another lovely unspoilt pub, where genial host Tony provides a welcome haven hidden in the city's backstreets. Although slightly off the beaten track, this pub is always busy on a Saturday evening with many regular faces, and we bumped into some friends here, reminiscing about drinking in Belgium together, while checking out the cask line up. The Black Eagle was the first place I ever tasted a Brewdog beer, and Tony used to have one Brewdog on the pumps at all time before they stopped doing cask beer – so instead he had some from Salopian, Ludlow and others. As well as being a welcoming venue for a winter night, this is a great pub to visit in spring or summer too, to enjoy it's pretty beer garden, and they also have a great beer festival towards the end of July.

It was then back to the tram to return to Birmingham. If time had allowed, we could have stopped off at the Jewellery Quarter station to visit the Drop Forge or the Lord Clifden, but with Birmingham's buses being a tad unreliable late in the evening, we opted to return home, satisfied with our day's exploring. As detailed on this site, there are several other places we could have stopped too along the way, but I think it's best on a crawl to pick and choose, allowing a bit of time to relax and enjoy each pub rather than a 'splash and dash' approach! The proximity to the tram stops to the chosen pubs had the bonus of no more than 10 minutes' walk to most of them on a wintery day, but it would be great to repeat this when the season is more clement, and check out some of the other Metro-accessible bars too. I think I'll definitely be returning to the Vine for some spicy skewers when I do!

Brum #twissup on 30th December

A plan is afoot to have a Brum #twissup on 30th December, for the opportunity for Birmingham and Midlands-based (or further afield) Twitter-ers to meet up in the flesh, and imbibe a few quality ales at three of the best beer bars in Birmingham.

The rough plan as proposed by @CarlDurose is:

- Meet at 2pm at the Bartons Arms in Newtown. This is probably my favourite pub in Brum - beautiful Minton-tiled Victorian interior with etched snob screens; now run by @OakhamAles and featuring their beer range - I usually make a bee-line for the Citra or one of their seasonal beers and hop experiments, but they have the usual Oakham range and Belgian bottles available as well. There is also excellent Thai food, so I'll be having lunch here while the #twissup attendees gather, and I'm sure others may want to join me in that to give them a good fond - which a Belgian friend told me is their term for lining your stomach - i.e. a meal that creates a good "foundation" for an evening's drinking! The Bartons is an easy 5-minute bus ride out of the city centre - either the 33 or 51 from near Rackhams, or the 7 from Colmore Row.
*UPDATE: I have reserved an area of the pub for us to meet in - just past the staircase in the dining room - and asked for 14 places to be set for dining. So far (as of wed 26th) we have 12 people signed up for lunch - going from the comments on this post - and I'm due to confirm numbers on Friday - so if you are coming for lunch but haven't said so in the comments yet, please do so soon!
*UPDATE 2: Bar manager Jamie has said he will try to have a cask of Oakham's Vagabond on in addition to the usual ale lineup, which sounds pretty tasty! 

- From there we'll then move on to @TheVictoria - a bar run by the Birmingham independent Bitters 'n' Twisted group, and which has had some real ale available on handpumps since it's relaunch, but in 2012 has upped its game by starting to stock craft beer in bottles - often featuring Tiny Rebel, Kernel, Summer Wine, Arbor Ales. On cask, there might be Dark Star, Red Willow, Thornbridge or others - fingers crossed for something interesting!
*UPDATE: The Victoria have set aside a couple of tables for us, so we have an area to congregate in, from about 5pm. They've also had some new craft beer deliveries - photo here.

- The plan is then to visit BrewDog Birmingham - not sure whether this is a wise idea or not, bearing in mind the average ABV of the draught beer, but it is surely the only logical choice for an end to the #twissup! Just hope we bear this in mind when we start our first pint, that it may be prudent to pace ourselves and leave some capacity for whatever unmissable guest beers might be on the blackboards here from Mikkeller, Rogue Ales or others, never mind the Brewdog beers on draught & bottle themselves, which I have to say have all been on great form in my 5 visits so far since their opening night.
*UPDATE: Brewdog have kindly reserved the downstairs 'snug' area for us to congregate in, from 7pm, as the bar may be busy on a Sunday evening. This is the tasting area under the stairs in the basement, and has room for about 14 people to sit / plenty of standing around space, so if you are joining us later in the day, come and find us here!

So if you are planning to join us, please leave a note in the comments below and say if you're intending to have lunch at the Bartons as well - if there are several people eating it may only be fair to them and us to give a bit of advance warning, and ask for a corner to be set aside for us to congregate and munch some quality Thai foods while sipping on a Citra! If you need any info on buses (tickets, where to find the bus stops etc.) or directions to the pubs then I'll be happy to help. Should plans change or become more defined (e.g. what time we might aim to be at The Victoria), I'll update them here nearer to the time. 

Hope to meet up with many of you for a few fine pints on the 30th!

A Visit to Leith

Although I've been in Edinburgh several times, I had never quite made it out to Leith, it's port district by the waterside. At one time this had some notoriety as a red-light area, but recent regeneration has spruced it up, and I'd hoped to go and have a wander round – and to find some good ales in the process, of course.

The opportunity arose for an excursion when I was visiting Edinburgh a few weeks ago, and so a party of us met to venture out in search of lunch. So with Ian, Kirsty, Andrew and Brendan, we negotiated the buses and headed down towards Leith. I'd been recommended three different ale spots by Scottish beery-types on Twitter, which seemed like a good basis for a day out.

Menu - zoom for yumminess

I'd suggested we head to Nobles Bar first to slake our hunger, as I'd been told it did a good brunch (till 4.30pm on a Saturday), which their website menu seemed to confirm. But before we got to food, we were all very impressed by the beautiful interior features – stained glass at the front and back of the pub, alluding to Leith's shipping role, and a nautical frieze around the top of the walls. The décor, relaxed seating areas and friendly welcome soon had us in a chilled out mode, and we got on with the business of choosing from the extensive menu while sampling some Nobles Pale Ale – the house beer brewed by Black Isle Brewery. I was impressed with this - it had a nicely balanced hop character, very drinkable; there was a second cask ale available, and a few Black Isle keg as well.

The menu was so packed with good things, we took an age to choose – it had exciting brunch offerings such as as Smoked Salmon Benedict, Croque Madame, and homemade pancakes with bacon, to the more unusual – rabbit burger or duck pastrami sandwich. But I settled on the Nobles Full Scottish to set me up for the day and although many cooked breakfasts may look pretty similar, taste-wise this had lots of “wow” factor – the haggis was the best I have ever had – some research uncovered this is made by a butcher (Findlays) in Portobello, so I'll have to look into mail order as it was pretty outstanding. The little roast cherry tomatoes were bursting with sweetness which Andrew also exclaimed over, and the sausages and scrambled eggs were also damn fine. Ian and Kirsty both had the gigantic haddock and chips with a Nobles IPA batter – light & fluffy, flaky fish, and almost too big to finish.

We were all very impressed with our first visit to Nobles and I hope to return sometime to soak up more of it's relaxed ambience.

Mini-beach!

Next Brendan, Ian and I ventured towards the next pub on my list – The Malt & Hops – but on the way we passed a a shop window which drew our attention - this was Beets Off-Licence and Grocers, on Bernard Street. This was a cave of delights, with lots of local ales, but plenty from respected breweries of the world to make any beer geek salivate. And also, a mini-beach with real sand, right there on the counter! This place would be worth a visit on it's own, and I'm surprised they don't seem to have any web presence to shout about their wares.

The Malt & Hops is a one-room basic pub, but it's clear it has a great cask ale focus with 8 handpulls and is regularly in the CAMRA Good Beer Guide. Here we huddled up to the hearth and sampled a Duke IPA from Highland, an Orkney Dark Munro, and an Orkney Best, over a leisurely chat about life, the universe and everything (beer, mostly). The area outside the pub is attractive too, being at the water's edge, and I would have loved more time to explore around here a bit further.

However the day pressed on, and we needed to get to Teuchters Landing, the bar section of waterside restaurant 'A Room in Leith', as I'd been reliably informed that Fyne Ales Jarl was a house beer there – one of my favourite Scottish beers. This had a lovely setting, overlooking some refurbished docks and modern apartments, with some of the historic quayside winching gear forming part of the beer garden features. 

 

Inside, the bar was extremely well furnished with beer choices – I was so pleased to see that cask Jarl was indeed there, and probably frightened the barman with my enthusiasm to order a round. They also have a Brewdog font; Orkney, Inveralmond and others on cask; and some Scottish keg, from WEST, Innis & Gunn, and Black Isle. A huge blackboard proudly shows off their extensive whisky (and cigar) list – definitely wroth another visit to explore this some cold winter evening. The smells from the restaurant part of the operation were very inviting, and a quick peek showed a bright conservatory-style room out front, with a ship-like feel to the nooks and crannies behind, and a menu slanted towards seafood such as sea bream with Shetland scallops, smoked North Sea hake fillet, and pots of Scottish mussels. I'd really like to come back here for a proper meal, or perhaps visit one of their two other “Teuchters/A Room …“ establishments in the city centre, though I doubt any have a setting to surpass the Leith water front. The Jarl was perfect, condition-wise, and I was sad indeed when the time came to leave.

But I wasn't going to get my pub recce of Edinburgh accomplished unless moves were made back townwards, so we headed next to the Stockbridge Tap. There's been a real buzz about this bar on Twitter and they'd had a lot of acclaim for their recent beer festival, so the huge array of top-of-the-range cask and keg that greeted us was no surprise. Between the three of us, we tried out a good list of beers: highlights were Williams Double Joker IPA, Alechemy Cairnpapple IPA dry-hopped (lots of yum factor!), and bottled Stewart Radical Road (needed a bit of time to warm up for the flavours to come out).

After this there was just time to visit a couple of city centre bars on the way back home – the Bow Bar for Fyne Ales Avalanche and Fallen Odessy Blonde Ale, stopping to chat with the bar staff about their bottle selection (I spotted an AleSmith in the fridge that I hadn't had at our recent tasting), then on to BrewDog. This wasn't as scarily busy as I'd expected for the tail end of a Saturday evening, so we had time to grab a seat and a few more samples – Alice Porter, Hello My Name is Beastie, Hardcore IPA (need that Simcoe hit!) and a beer that really wakened up my palate with its rich hop weight – the Firestone Walker Double Jack. An awesome beer for hop lovers - seriously, if you see this one on offer somewhere, have it!

A successful day out for beer exploration, but one which make me wistful to spend more time up in these parts, as I feel there was probably more to explore in Leith than we saw, the food at Teuchters would have been great, and I would have loved a whole afternoon to sit and sip Jarl, a beer which I never see in Birmingham but which has been a firm favourite since I first encountered it at the Coach & Horses in Dronfield. Next time, next time ...

A Whisky Education

While visiting Edinburgh recently I was lucky enough to be invited to a meeting of the Whisky Society at Herriot-Watt Students Union. I was in the city to visit a friend of long standing, @HillstersBrew, who has just started an MSc course in Brewing & Distilling, and it seems the Union has many societies which cater for the eager learners' thirst for knowledge in a friendly, social environment.

Non-society members were welcome, so I caught the bus out to the campus, passing the Caledonian Brewery (do they do tours? Must check for my next visit), to join the queue of people making their way into the meeting room. More and more people turned up, and soon the room was packed out, extra chairs and glasses were being hauled in, and the society organisers were frantically scrawling up “Sold Out” on the noticeboard so we could get the sampling underway.

The format for these evenings is that three or four different whiskies will be tried; once everyone has a measure poured out in front of them, the tasting will be led by a member of the society organising team, who will give some background to the whisky, where it is made, the grain composition, any particularly unusual processes used, and then an analysis of the aromas and flavours to be found. This is very helpful if you're a bit of a newbie to whisky/whiskey, as it helps you to start recognising common flavour descriptors and aspects of the aroma, which it might at first be hard to describe on your own.

The first whisky tonight was Signatory 1997 from the North British Distillery based in Gorgie, Edinburgh, quite near the Caledonian brewery site. I was surprised to be told that the familiar smell that hangs over Edinburgh – which always seemed to be a mix of Scotch pie and Caley’s beer brewing – was actually from production at this distillery.

It was explained that this is one of the ‘new types’ of whisky, using 90% wheat grain, and 10% malted barley to make use of a particular enzyme. It’s known as a ‘grain whisky’ – which apparently everyone drank 100 years ago, until the late 19thC when people switched to malt whisky. Simple, uncomplicated, and very drinkable – and is therefore used in blends to bring about more easy drinking character. This had a very sweet nose, with vanilla, honey, and soft fruits. Flavour-wise as well as fruit and Madeira cake, it had a slight creamy, oaky character, and was surprisingly fumey for its’ sweet nose. The short finish made you ready for another mouthful, so I could see what was meant by ‘ease of drinkability’. This type of whisky is generally only kept for around 5 or 6 years in bottle – no long maturation process – so was a good one to start on as it wasn’t palate-clogging.


Next we had Adelphi Private Reserve Blend – Adelphi, based at Glenborrodale Castle, are bottlers and blenders of cask whiskies, but have just been granted permission to build their own distillery onsite, and hope to be distilling by the end of 2013. To me, this had a really floral nose, and I was picking up lavender and a small hint of honey. The blend of grain and single malt whisky together offered a bit of fruit and spice, but not a great deal of finish – it reminded me of the ‘drinking’ (not sipping) whisky produced by Bushmills or Johnnie Walker, to drink quickly or in a mix, rather than one to take your time over.
The Sheep Dip 2012 Amoroso Oloroso had the most interesting backstory – a blended malt produced in 1999 in Scotland, was then transported to Spain for sale. It was stored in sherry casks, but the distributor went bust, and it lay undiscovered in a warehouse for years until found by the new owner of the property. Sheep Dip then bought it back and found it’s sherry cask-aged character to be rather good!

This had lots going on in it, as you’d imagine – with rich aromas of rum, vanilla and chocolate, and smooth butterscotch. Although only three years old, apparently it matured faster than usual in Spain due to the hot, humid climate. It had a shorter finish than expected, with hints of bitter orange and burnt toffee. Will any more of this be produced, or is it’s unusual route to bottle a one-off?

 
Our last of the night was Longrow “Red” Cabernet Sauvignon Cask, from Springbank, Campbeltown. This is a single malt at cask strength – 52.1% - and had lots of complexity. Quite phenolic (that medicinal TCP note) and peaty, but with lots of vinous, raisin-y flavours coming through. The big flavour notes were really prominent upfront, but it has a persistent finish with a very smooth flourish. As fellow tastee Gareth exclaimed, “it’s a beast of a whisky!” and was, as you might have expected, our favourite of the very convivial and educational evening.



The Tasting Society’s evenings are sponsored by Royal Mile Whiskies, who provide the rather fine Glencairn sampling glasses – on top of this, they also offer a 10% discount in their shops to any member of the society, so there's no excuse to shy away from learning more about the world of whisky to supplement your studies!


After the main event, several students normally go for a pint or two in a craft beer bar or real ale pub towards the city centre, and I was secretly hoping they may stop at the Caley Sample Room as they had on their last meet-up as I hadn’t had a chance to visit there yet, but on this occasion after an abortive attempt to visit @Cloisters_Bar (too busy on a Friday night to cope with a sudden influx of thirsty students) they settled on a walk across the Meadows to The The Dagda Bar. For some unknown reason, I had missed this off my list of “23 pubs to visit while in Edinburgh”, so was a pleasant surprise to find myself swept in there and up to the bar. There I sampled three very fine ales indeed – Tryst Carronade IPA (a hoppy yet sessionable 4.2%), Tryst Raj IPA (a bit more weighty at 5.5%), and the very herbaceous, currant-leaf Cromarty Hit the Lip – at 3.8% a beer you could drink till the cask ran dry, which we promptly did!

A great end to the evening

Manchester Field Trip, part 2

After our extended visit to The Font the night before, a decent brunch was called for before resuming the beer exploration. I had done my research and knew there was a burrito place (in the style of Benito's Hat or Chilango in London) in Piccadilly Gardens, so dandered up there and had a parcel of pork goodness from Barburrito. I wish somewhere like this would open in Birmingham, but in a way I guess it's nice to have something different to seek out when I visit a city with a larger disposable-income demographic.

Next it was time to hunt down somewhere I'd been meaning to visit since I drew up my Resolutions - the Micro Bar in the Arndale Centre. This took a bit of a hunt to find - it's squirrelled away in the fresh produce Market area (a hive of little stalls and shops selling lots of interesting groceries and ready to eat foods, tea, herbs, coffee, etc. Probably worth a good poke round in itself).

The bar itself is a tiny place but it supports 4 or 5 cask ales and various foreign keg such as Kuppers Kolsch. As it is owned by Boggart Hole Clough brewery & beer distributors, it seemed only fair to try their two draught ales - the pale and refreshing Joffin, and the rich Rum Porter. They also had a Brodies on draught, making me even more jealous of Manchester drinkers as Brodies rarely make it to Midlands pubs.

 

Although small, the Micro Bar has a great bottle selection, highlights being a large Odell range, Goose Island larger bottles, lots of selection from local-ish micros (Yorkshire Dales, BrewStar, Acorn, Derventio etc.), Belgian beers and a cider selection, plus some mead and fruit wines. My purchases to take home were the Dark Star Six Hop, and the Odell Myrcenary I'd been craving the previous night.

After this brief visit we headed on to Port Street Beer House - it was too hot and time too limited unfortunately for a schlep around any other bars I'd meant to visit - but an afternoon of lounging in PSBH before the train back would do me just fine. Though I did find it freaky to discover afterwards it was exactly a year to the day of my one previous visit there in 2011!

Cask selection

PSBH, like the Font, is somewhere you just couldn't be stuck for choice, unless it's because you're dazzled by the crazy selection of cask, keg and bottle on offer - including on the pumps 2 Dark Star, 2 Kernel, 3 Hardknott, 2 Thornbridge, Summer Wine Brewery, Harbour, and others. We started with a Dark Star Revelation (tagline: "For the love of hops") on keg, and a Carafa Jade red ale on cask - again, a beer I've wanted to try for ages but just not found in Brum. This is the kind of beer I find myself craving at the start of a Friday evening - hoppy, flavourful, ready to pep up your tastebuds and herald the weekend.

It was while sipping these and popping up and down to ask the bar staff about various beers on their list, that I realised they sold everything in thirds - thank goodness! - now I could get on with some serious sampling, starting with Tipopils from Birrificio Italiano. I know everyone rates this highly but being a pils it just doesn't appeal to me, but I thought I should try it anyway - it was light, floral and pleasant but once gain confirmed pils/lager styles just aren't my thing unless it's the unfiltered Kellerbier or Zwickl served at the Paulaner Brauhauses in Munich. Still, I will keep trying craft lager & pils, just in case...

The barman was good enough to give me a taste of Hardknott Rhetoric - my, what a big beer! I would have loved a proper glass of this, but at 10% I was too wary of jeapordising the train journey home. But if it had been later in the evening and I didn't have to go far to bed, I'd have come back to this one for sure.

So I sampled my way through various thirds:

Kernel Citra - this tasted different to the bottled version I'd had before; a big big floral nose with hints of floral-flavoured sweeties from childhood like Parma Violet or Cherry Lips. The taste was more subdued than expected - if you could cross this aroma with the flavour of a fresh Oakham Citra, it would marry up well.

Kernel Summit - had a surprising marmaladey aroma, and a slightly more bitter finish than the Citra.

Liverpool Craft Brewery IPA - I wasn't keen on this, it had a strange 'burnt' flavour and aroma that I associate with some Northern Irish beer (what is the cause of that in a pale or amber beer? I've found it in beers from more than one N.I. brewery). It wasn't horrid, but it wasn't one I wanted more of.

Summer Wine Brewery Half Wit - this was lovely and refreshing and absolutely perfect for summer quaffing, with a very hoppy nose for a wit beer.

Hardknott Code Black - roasty notes and a hint of coffee, but also sweet with vanilla ice cream coming through. Didn't taste as IPA-ish as when I'd had it from a bottle but it was still full-flavoured and a great end to the beer oddessy.

There was just time to have a proper glassfull of the SWB Halfwit and a little more summer afternoon relaxing before it was time to travel on. The Manchester beer scene is a real eye-opener when you travel up from the Midlands - not just an abundance of pubs with cask ale around the city centre (there are so many recommended places I haven't visited in Manc yet), but also bars that realise great cask, keg and bottle selections can all sit side by side and that make a point of enthusiastically showcasing world class and exciting beers to an eager drinking audience.

Manchester Field Trip, part 1

Ever since I drew up my Resolutions at the start of the year, I'd been looking for an excuse to revisit Manchester, to explore it's plethora of great bars, and find some beer I'm excited about drinking in a pub I really want to drink in, which isn't a combination I get often in Birmingham (yet; that may change when a couple of in-the-pipeline craft beer bars open in future months). So when I found there was a band I wanted to see playing the Manchester Academy, it seemed like the perfect reason for a visit, even more so when the venue is just round the corner from a great beer bar like The Font.

The Font is a busy student-oriented bar with wall décor by David Bailey (no, not that David Bailey) with a simply outstanding bottle range, constantly updated with new releases both from across the water and from the best of the English beer scene, like Red Willow, Hardknott, Quantum, Buxton, Marble, Magic Rock, Thornbridge and others, many of which are local breweries. There are also great brews from Belgium, Holland (De Molen), Germany, and the major league of the US craft scene are all there – Stone, Victory, Sierra Nevada, Brooklyn, Goose Island, Rogue, Great Divide, Flying Dog, Left Hand, Maui, Anchor, Anderson Valley, The Bruery, and Coronado.

Price-wise, there are some big hitters – Bruery bottles are £18, the Dogfish Head & Sierra Nevada collab is £20, and the Thornbridge and Odell Pond Hopper comes in at £18. But many of the smaller US 330ml bottles are very reasonably priced at under £5, and even better, a very generous 25% discount is applied on take-outs, making this a good stop for a train beer on the way to Piccadilly.

Today's visit started with a Hawkshead USPA, one of the beers from this brewery I've been wanting to try for a while, and this had great crisp and fresh flavours, leaving your mouth dry and ready for another sip, while being just the right side of bitterness. On cask, I also tried the Black Jack first Deal, a maltier bitter, and on keg the Magic Rock High Wire, while my drinking partner settled with immense satisfaction on an Odell IPA, one of the best 'standard' US IPAs (in our tastebuds' opinion anyway) and always pleasure in a glass.

We knew we had to get a hotel beer in for after the gig in case The Font was too rammed to be served later, and it was very hard to choose from such a huge list, but eventually we decided on the Anderson Valley Hop Ottin', though I was also tempted by the De Molen as the Americaans @ £4.70, the Jaar & Dag @ £5.50, and £4.20 for the Op & Top, they were all looking pretty tastily-priced when you apply that 25% discount.

Next I tried the Rogue Dry Hopped St Rogue Red Ale in 335ml bottle as I was in the mood for something red & hoppy. This instantly smelled like a quintessential US craft beer, with sweet malts and big hop oil aromas, reminding me of drinking in New York bars. The pronounced bready grain flavour from the rye is there from the first sip, and I love that – it's good to properly taste the rye and feel the 'chewiness' after. Sometimes rye beers I've had are too bitter and unbalanced, as if the rye can't meld successfully with the hop elements, but this one was lovely and definitely different to non-rye IPAs.

After some food and a quick trip to drop off bags and beer at the hotel, we headed out again, popping into the Salisbury by Oxford Road station, to see what was on – the cask offering was mostly from major brewers – Ansells, Wychwood, Caledonian – but with seasonal beers from these adding some interest. But despite the alt-friendly music policy, we decided to move on to the Thirsty Scholar. This had Copper Dragon, Thwaites & Ilkley's Mary Jane. I tried a half of this as recent samplings of it when it's appeared in bars around Brum have failed to live up to the first two times I had it and it showed an instant “wow” factor in both aroma & flavour – but unfortunately it was a bit lacklustre here also. So, it was back to The Font for more Odell hop goodness before onwards to the gig.

Across the road from the Academy we spotted KRO Bar which looked interesting, and as the main band hadn't come on yet, we went in to check it out. Had some decent draught Paulaner Hefe Weisse and Maisels Dunkel Weisse, and noticed their menu is of Danish & German pub food – frikadeller, fish platters, schnitzel, moules and pork loin, with mains around £7-8 – worth remembering for tea sometime if I'm back up this way.

The gig finished promptly at 11pm, so it was back to The Font for the third time this evening, this time to check out the Brooklyn EIPA in cans. This didn't have as much hop bite as I know it can have, so it left me a little bit hop-hungry and wishing they still had the excellent Odell Myrcenary in stock. Never mind, I soon sorted it out with a Red Willow Ageless Double IPA, which I initially had to drink through a straw due to the enormous head, but it eventually settled down.

The bar is a bit manic with student life at 12am, so you need to know exactly what you want, what your second choice would be, and be firm in queueing to be served. We wanted a last Odell IPA of the night, but by this stage we had exhausted their supply! So we settled on a Coronado Mermaids Red IPA, Cascade-hopped and sticky-sweet, as a fine nightcap and end to an evening of successful imbibing.

Fish & Chips and Black Country beer

Last summer, my interest in fish & chips was reawakened by starting to home-brew, as the first batch we made (a Woodforde’s Wherry kit) seemed to work perfectly as an accompaniment, so we tried to hunt down the best fish supper in South Birmingham, following up leads and recommendations. It’s normally a combination I’d only go for when by the sea or visiting long established chippys in County Antrim (they taste completely different over there), but it was good fun to explore the varying quality on offer in the local area. Eventually we settled on The Dolphin on Raddlebarn Road, Selly Oak, being consistently the best, and once the Wherry ran out, thoughts of chippy trips were put away until next summer.

But word of a new opening recommended for the quality of their fish reached me – Chamberlains in Warley, just to the west of Bearwood along Hagley Road – this has been open less than a year but has already scooped some recognition  - including Best Newcomer 2012 in the UK National Fish & Chip Awards. So when we came across a voucher (in local magazine The Harlequin) offering two fish meals for the price of one on any Sunday or Monday to 19^th Feb, and I realised the restaurant was on the Number 9 bus route, which very conveniently carries on to the front door of the Waggon & Horses in Halesowen (a brilliant real ale pub), a plan formed …

 

So on a bright Sunday afternoon we headed up to check out Chamberlains, armed with voucher and appetite. We were so hungry by this stage, after an earlier bike ride and a morning thinking about fluffy chips and crispy fish, that we would have eaten the menu if we hadn’t been quickly served some thick-cut bread with butter while we waited for our cod and haddock meals to arrive. There is a spacious seating area which is tastefully decorated, which made a nice change from the formica greasy spoon décor of most sit-in chippys. 

 

They also offer a range of menu items beyond fish and chip standards – particularly standing out was the Mackerel & Cod Scotch Egg starter, and a main of Smoked Hake with Breaded Poached Egg sounded intriguing – these are definite contenders for a re-visit, but on this occasion it was the classic fare we were after. 

 

The fish was indeed as good as reviews had said – very light, very crispy batter, with tender, hefty pieces of fish inside, perfectly cooked (not overcooked) and flaking with the merest push of a knife. My dining companion doesn’t normally go for cod – often it’s just really tasteless – but commended it as the best cod they’d eaten, and my haddock was up to standard too. I liked the fact we could get something healthy on our plates too, with the minted mushy peas (perhaps a little too mushy for my preference, but nice enough) and some chunky fresh vegetables that still had a good bit of texture. The pots of tea were humungous, but they do cleanse the palate. I took some photos, but chose not to post them as they really don't do the food justice - fish & chips ain't pretty, just tasty.

It seems there are different offers and events you could take advantage of – the ‘Tenner Tuesday’ with 2 main courses from the restaurant menu for £10 (12-9pm) and themed nights for gluten-free menu options, St Patrick’s Day with free Guinness, and St David’s Day with Welsh spring lamb - so they're clearly clued up on what 'extras' people might want from a restaurant these days.

My only gripe was that I would have loved a decent Black Country bitter to go with my food – particularly if I was making an outing here in the evening – I just kept getting cravings for a bottle of Bathams Bitter or Holdens Golden Glow, knowing that with both those beers, their subtle malty tones would really go great with the chips & vinegar, but there were just some standard bottled lagers on offer. If they did offer some decent ale, it would make this more of a ‘destination’ for an evening dining trip – and have the cachet of offering some local & traditional beverages to go with the traditional foods.

 

Happily sated anyway, we returned to the Number 9, and carried on towards Halesowen. This bus stops almost outside the Waggon and Horses, which is what can only be described as a “cracking boozer” – lots of real ale, about 5 Belgian beers on tap, real cider, and a real local atmosphere – very down to earth. And the best thing – both the Bathams Bitter and the Holdens Golden Glow happened to be on tap and in perfect form – so I got to indulge my cravings, just a little later than as a chip partner.

 

I thoroughly recommend this pub to anyone who wants to while away an afternoon, sampling a mix of traditional bitters and hop-forward ales (they often have something of that ilk from Oakham or Thornbridge), and rounding off with a rich, warming Belgian bruin on draught.

 

So with the quality fish and chips living up to their reputation, and the great selection of beers for afters, it seems the Sunday Black Country trip out was a success that will be repeated. Updates on what's on offer beer or food wise can be found from both @chamberlainsB68 and @Waggonales on Twitter.