Real Ale. w/c 19.11.07. Black Country – Dudley – Newport – Cardiff What a great real ale week this turned out to be. We started out on Thursday going to the Dudley beer festival, but went early so that we could take in a few pubs first. We caught the Metro to Bilston, and had a look in the McSpoons Henry Newbolt, but there were no new beers there for us so we left as we knew it would be a heavy day. We went into the Trumpet, a Holdens pub. It is like a time warp with the décor. Very interesting to walk round looking round the walls and the musical instruments, old tickets round the bar and marvellous drawings. The pub has musical events most nights. We had a couple of beers here while looking round and reading various write ups of the history of the pub. On to the Old White Rose where we had one of their wonderful carvery dinners along with a couple of beers. From there we found our way to Great Bridge where we visited the Port n Ale. We had a look round the pub and chatted to the landlord while enjoying 3 old beers. It was still too early to go to Dudley for the festival, so we caught a bus to the Fountain in Lower Gornal where we had 3 beers, one of them a Good Beer Guide tick. We got to Dudley before the festival opened, so were able to secure a table for the evening session. We had a lovely session on 12 new beers for us, two of them being Good Beer Guide ticks from Empire and Tigertops breweries. We were joined by friends, and also enjoyed the food provided at the venue. Friday we took our caravan down to Wales, a Caravan Club site at Tredegar just outside Newport. We set up on a lovely pitch where we could get out bird feeders out, and when our friends arrived and set up, we went out in the bus to Newport. We had a meal in the Mc Spoons – Tom Toya Lewis and had a new Wyre Piddle beer there, Piddle over Transporter. I only knew of the Transporter at Middlesborough so it was great to see one at Newport. It was all lit up too. We walked up to the Red Lion but there was a large screen with sport on, and the pub was really hot from extra heaters. Two old beers were had here. We called in another large pub, the Pen and Wig and found a new Sharps beer here. We finished the night off at Ye Olde Murenger House where we had excellent Sam Smith Old Brewery Bitter. Saturday we went to Cardiff, and soon found out a Rugby match was on. We looked into the McSpoons – Prince of Wales. It was brill inside and had retained a lot of the old theatre boxes and decor. There were 16 handpumps, all displaying Brains SA clips as Brains sponsor the rugby. We had a wander round till the festival opened, and found ourselves a table. The beers were brilliant, and there were so many for us to aim for. A lot of the newer breweries had gone, but we enjoyed 25 different beers over the course of the day along with a smashing meal. There were loads of Good Beer Guide ticks too. Before catching the bus back we popped into the Cottage, but there were no new beers for us, and we were pretty full! A great day. Sunday we had a walk round Tredegar Park before heading home. There were lovely walks, a lake and woods and I would love to spend more time there to look round. It was a smashing site and a great weekend. My new beer total this month now amounts to 104.
Real Ale. w/c 12.11.07. Local – Worcester – West Malvern. Our real ale quest this week started with our usual Tuesday visit to Birmingham. We went to the Lamp and found a couple of new beers there, then to the Anchor where another 2 new beers were found. The Wellington range was a little disappointing this week and we had 4 beers, two were new ones and two we had drunk before. The Briar Rose produced 1 new one and 1 previously drunk, so it had not been a great night for new beers, but we had a good night in good company anyway. I had received a voucher for a free pint of beer at an Ember Inn, so on Thursday I called into the Kings Arms at Kings Heath where I had a couple of halves free. I had drunk them before but they were in good condition and enjoyed. On Friday we took our caravan to the Caravan Club site at Blackmore where we stayed with friends. After a quiet night in on Friday, we went out on Saturday to Worcester. We had 3 old beers in the Postal Order, then found a new Good Beer Guide pub for us, the Cricketers. This had interesting cricketing décor inside, and we enjoyed an Arundel beer there. We went on to West Malvern and pulled into the Brewers Arms first. The SatNav took us a strange way in, but we made it. We had a lovely meal here washed down with Ludlow Gold, and had a look through one of the books showing Worcester'’ Historic Pubs. On to the Lamb, a fascinating place. The décor has to be seen to be believed. There are flags and all sorts of party regalia from the ceiling and round the walls. One room had a gramophone and LP’s stacked by, and one was put on for us. It was a really friendly place even though there were not many people in. We had a strange but nice beer called Wucking Mords Fuddled but found it difficult to identify the brewery – possibly Northumberland. We only had 8 new beers this week and my total for the month is now 66.
Real Ale. w/c 5.11.07. Local – Sheffield. Our quest for real ale this week started on Tuesday at the Lamp Tavern in Birmingham. We had beers from Bank Top and Ossett before going to the Anchor. There were beers from 2 breweries new to me here. They were Red Rat and Discovery. We also had beers from Stonehouse and Brunswick, then walked up to the Wellington. We had 3 beers here from Full Mash, Derby and Bells breweries, and while here, I went into the Old Joint Stock and had Fullers London Porter. The Wetherspoons Beer Festival is on, so we walked down to the Briar Rose and had beers from 3 Rivers, and a Banks seasonal. A friend took us to the Old Moseley Arms as it was a pub we had not been to before, and it was lovely with a couple of real fires burning. We had a Burton Bridge here, then went on to Moseley to the Prince of Wales and had Blackwater Satan. It had been a good night out. My new beer total for this month is now up to 23. On Thursday I was going to the Pub-Tic Tram-sport beerfest in Sheffield. I had a good trip up on the train arriving at 11.10 so made my way to the first of the three pubs covering the festival, The Devonshire Cat. Having got myself a beer list and a Scatty Bitter, I worked out the beers I wanted from the pubs that day while a horrendous storm raged outside. I drank 2 beers and bottled 4 in this pub, and as it had stopped raining, I carried on to the second pub, the University Arms. Here there were beers set up in the conservatory, and it was lovely out there. It leads onto a grassy garden area. I had one beer and bottled 2. The third pub was the Hillsborough, and I decided to have lunch there. The menu was great, and I chose a curry made from sweet potatoes and butter squash as it was completely new to me. I drank 2 and bottled 3 here. I thought I couldn’t come to Sheffield and not do the Fat Cat and Kelham Island Tavern, so caught the tram to Shalesmore and went to those two. I had a Black Dog beer in the Fat Cat, and bottled a couple of beers in the Kelham. I made my way back to the station, and caught the 15.23 train back. Due to adverse weather conditions I think, it took nearly 4 hours to return instead of the 1 ½ hours there. It had been fine in Sheffield apart from the storm while I was in the first pub, and my month’s beer total is now 40. On Saturday I went back to Sheffield, this time with my husband Ray. We started at the Wetherspoon’s Rawson Spring where we had a good breakfast and 3 of their festival beers in third pint glasses. We got to the Hillsborough Hotel in time for opening, and found seats in the conservatory and enjoyed 6 beers. Back on the tram to the University Arms where we had another 2 beers. We decided to do a few of Sheffield’s other pubs, and caught the tram to go to the Moon, where we enjoyed a smashing lunch for £4.50 each. The pie with mash and veg was so tasty. I really want to go back and have the crab and chilli fishcakes starter sometime. The meals were washed down with three beers that included an Abbeydale I had not had before – Temptation – very nice. Back on the tram to the Wellington where we had 2 beers, then we walked down to the Fat Cat for a Beartown, then on to Kelham Island where we managed a couple. Much as we wanted to get to the Harlequin, we decided to call it a day and made our way back for the train. It had been a great festival, and our Sheffield crawl had been fantastic as usual. The months new beer total is now up to 58, and total new beers to date up to 5646.
Real Ale w/c 29.10.07. Local – Warrington-Liverpool Our Tuesday quest for real ale in Birmingham started at the Lamp Tavern where we found the Stanway seasonal Wizard Brew and Elland Snetzlers Special. From there we went to the Anchor where we met up with friends. There had been a beer festival at the weekend and some of the beers were still on and we had 5 ales here including a brewery new to me, Dunham. On to the Wellington where we found 3 more new ales including one with Cherie Blair on the pumpclip called the Blair Witch. We finished at the Briar Rose where we found 3 new ales. As I am not going to be out on 31st Oct my October total of new ales is 146. On Friday we took our caravan up to a site in Riseley near Warrington. We had a bad trip up the motorway and didn’t arrive till 6.00. Our friends were already there, and helped us to get the caravan on the pitch but they were small pitches and it took a bit of manoeuvring. We had gone there as friends we had made from America while in York last Xmas were coming to the UK to meet up with some Warrington friends, and we had agreed to go up so we could all have a weekend together. We found they had been doing a trail in North Wales and agreed to meet them at the Tavern in Warrington. We thought the bus wasn’t coming so caught a taxi. We got to the Tavern first, and found it to be a lovely single room free house with a good range of beers from micros. The 4 returning from Wales joined the 4 of us and we had a good night drinking beers from All Gates, Phoenix, Rudgate and Bowland. We decided to go to Liverpool for the day Saturday, so parted company and caught a taxi back to site after finding some chips at a fast food outlet. We retired after 1pm after having a whisky nightcap. The 8 of us caught a train from Warrington to Liverpool on Saturday morning ready to do a pub-crawl, and what a great day it was. The pubs were all great to wander round, and as with my last visit in September, I vowed to come back as there is no way all the good pubs can be done in a day. We did the Head of Steam, Crown, Doctor Duncans, Thomas Rigby, Lion Tavern, Ship & Mitre, Roscoe Head and Philharmonic. They all had their own character and styles, and we enjoyed looking at the décor. It got a bit hard as the evening wore on as a lot of the pubs had the Liverpool match on TV. As for the beers, I managed to find 8 new beers that included 3 Good Beer Guide ticks. We got back to the station just as the Liverpool fans were returning from Blackburn, but managed to get on the train before they were released from theirs. Back to Warrington we found the town full of clubbers, and there were some sights to see. We stood eating fish and chips watching the antics of those around us before catching the taxi back to site, where we enjoyed a whisky and wind down from a good day out before bed again. Sunday morning was a little foggy, but we took some photos of the site and had a coffee morning before making our journey home. The site served us well, but was a bit tight to get into the pitches and our friend would have really struggled without a mover on. It had been a good weekend though, and my beer count for the month is 12 and in total 5600.
