All good things must come to an end, and so it is that I say goodbye to my Aston Villa supporting followers after that last post. Bye Steve.
Digbeth ended with a newbie recommended by Beer Mat, and an old classic.
Don’t judge the Ruin by its plush outdoor seating.
This was another favourite on the day, a modern bar attracting a cross-section of Brummie youth as well as the odd old codger.
The clocks show a spiritual bond between Digbeth, north Bristol and east Berlin, perhaps a little ambitious at present, but I like ambition.
“Shabby chic without the chic” said someone. “Stokes Croft without the ten handpumps and “Look at me” pretension“, thought I.
The guvnor (as they say in Stokes Croft, if not Digbeth) could not have been more enthusiastic about his bar and his beer.
If Ruin aims to join the Craft big league it probably needs a little more than Atlantic, Citra and Vedett on the “pours”. I suspect it’s just happy being very good. As an aside, the black coffee was classy, the best I’ve had in a pub. If something’s worth doing…
The Citra was cool, chewy, superb (NBSS 3.5+); though as Peter pointed out “It’s no Carling“.
Time for one more before kick-off. A pub beautifully captured by Peter Allen of Photo Digital Art fame.
Yet another slice of Brummie redbrick Victoriana, that could only be enhanced by the arrival of the legend that is Cooking Lager, fresh from doing something he called “work“. Despite not being a Spoons, Cookie seemed to like it as much as the codgers.
In the White Swan, Peter finally found his pint of golden joy.
Well Peter, you clearly enjoyed your Banked Lager, but it was the Banks’s Bitter that was the beer of the night, by a whisker*. I scored it NBSS 4, others would have agreed if they cared about scoring beers after 9 pints.
I can’t see many pubs with two Marston’s beers getting in the Guide in 2018, but if anywhere deserves it, it’s this place.
Then, it was off to seen the World in Motion as England powered to a World Cup final.
*A lot of work goes into this rubbish, you know.
Glad you liked the Ruin as it’s a bit different but I like that! Never been to the White 🏇 so I’ll have to rectify that! Some fantastic posts catching the essence of a fun gritty city 👍⚽ liking the fact Pete isniw flitting between Carling and IPA 😎
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I like the fact Pete can flit ! He popped in the craft bar in his home town of Stirchley and we shared a scary strong craft beer so he’s not all lager. “Fun gritty city” a good description, though def not scary.
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He’s a dark hotse!!! Stirchley has the best brewers in brum… Birmingham Brewing company….yes never any hassle just a giggle
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It’s all your fault, Martin, I had a happy life as a Carling/Fosters drinker – I knew what I liked and liked what I knew – then I happened upon your blog with its pictures of great locations, superb pubs and pints of cask ale lovingly described complete with the No Bollocks Scoring System. I was seduced into the world of ‘proper’ beer and I actually liked some of them. I’ve now got to the stage that if Carling and Citra are on together, I choose Citra!
Yet more uncertainty added to an already uncertain world…where will it all end? I just spent a weekend drinking and never touched a drop of lager…maybe I need a doctor!
PS You could have cropped that pint of Carling a bit better so as not to expose the expanding orange shirt to the wider world!
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Yes, I could have cropped that photo Pete, but no-one will know it’s you. If you go to a doctor don’t own up to the Citra pints.
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Don’t judge the Ruin by its plush outdoor seating.”
I’ll have you know I have a chair like the one on the left on my back deck. 😉
“as well as the odd old codger.”
I thought all old codgers were odd? 🙂
“Don’t set your watch by these”
Actually Kirribilli and Kreuzberg are pretty accurate if comparing to Digbeth. 🙂
“though as Peter pointed out “It’s no Carling“.”
I should bloody hope not!
“Landlady shocked by presence of Cookie”
Is he really that tall?
“others would have agreed if they cared about scoring beers after 9 pints.”
I think by that time they’d be more into scoring the availability of the loo!
Cheers
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Really enjoyed reading all these last few posts; sounds like you’ve been in some marvelous places lately, whether they had banked Bass or Banks’s Bitter. I do envy all you folks getting together– perhaps someday I will join you!
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We’d love to see you there, Mark. You would improve the sartorial quotient.
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– yes, an extra one to buy a round will be welcomed – except that the rounds will be bigger.
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Unimpeachable logic.
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Surely the idea of pub crawls is to all buy your own halves individually to annoy the bar staff!? And whoever drinks Guinness has to go last…
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I don’t believe in rounds. Seen too many friendships end in bloodshed when one round is Sam Smiths OBB and the next is Cloudwater DIPA. Getting called a twat in Offerton one of my favourite pub experiences.
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Very good point. Plus you miss out on the Great British Queue so beloved in Traditional Pubs.
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Only in Offerton …?
Boom boom !
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Er, everywhere, really. But Offerton’s Emigration specialises in it. Ask Mudgie.
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The next Offerton Stagger will probably be coming up in the Autumn, so do you fancy another trip to sunny Stockie? i don’t think there are any new GBG ticks apart from one micropub in Didsbury.
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I do. If you tweet me the date I’ll put it in the diary. Keep meaning to ask you/check web.
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It was actually Sharp’s Atlantic, not Tribute, in the Ruin alongside Citra.
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Ta. Glad someone takes notes 😉👍
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Yes, and Sharps Atlantic was my first, and last, half pint of the day ( except for two halves in the old Joint Stock ), not that I’ve got anything against Sharps other than not much liking it and the Banks’s Bitter expected in the next pub being infinitely better.
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If a chair sits in the middle of an entrance blocking passage, is it now called a door?
Or, had they heard your gang was on it’s way in and the bouncer made a run for it?
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A pub with two Marston’s beers on shouldn’t be in anyone’s guide.
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He’s not joking, readers. This is what prolonged exposure to (Brass Castle) Sunshine does to you.
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Every pub selling Brass Castle Sunshine should be in GBG.
Strangely, I had a nightmare last night. Waking suddenly. The prickly heat of July in LS23 turning to a cold sweat. Marston’s had started buying out all my favourite breweries; Magic Rock, NMBCo, North, Brass Castle, Great Heck, Buxton, Wylam, Cloudywater, Track, Verdant (I could go on, but I won’t). One by one they were being devoured by the famous midlands meglobrewer, purveyor of not entirely real ales and two for one meals in identikt out of town boozers (they’re building one now in Garforth). A sort of gaussian blur flashed behind my eyes, the fuzz clearing into a vision of Bank’s brewery and a smiling chappy filling keykegs from a massive vessel full of denatured Bank’s monobrew. His hunch backed mate cackled as he stuck the labels of the different breweries they had rpillaging, onto the kegs, screeching, ‘they’ll never tell the difference, we’ve been doing this for years!’
A manager walks into the scene berating them for their slothfulness, shouting, ‘Faster you bastards, Wolverhampton and Dudley never took care in anything, time is MONEY you know, and you’ve still got all those Pedigree and Bass casks to fill from this gyle!’
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It could be called the “Proper Beer Guide” 😛
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Martin,
Your “the Banks’s Bitter was the beer of the night, by a whisker. I scored it NBSS 4, others would have agreed if they cared about scoring beers after 9 pints” and Peter’s “Banks’s Amber Bitter …. Everyone had the Amber, which was on excellent form and for me undoubtedly the beer of the day” are exactly what I had been thinking.
Had all of us in Digbeth that day best agree a date for returning to the White Swan to present them with a certificate, and take another certificate to the brewery in Wolverhampton ?
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