retiredmartin

I know it’s an Aerosmith tune, but I played the R.E.M. version a lot, so…

April 2026. Stirchley. Birmingham.

Arriving “home” from Waterbeach last Thursday afternoon I let Mrs RM the front door, grabbed a charger, and half an hour later was on the Cross Country to Birmingham.

And half an hour later, Bournville.

I really wanted a kilogram bar of Dairy Milk from Cadbury World to share with Mrs RM, but due to shrinkflation the XL Bar is now 850g, and what’s the point of that ?

So, beer then.

The Attic Tap has been about a while as a destination venue, but only just arrived in the Beer Guide.

I joined two Old Boys, one from Sidmouth, one from Budapest, both Wolves fans. Two Old Boys meeting up each year for a walk and a pint. They’d never been to Attic, either.

Blimey, it’s enormous, on a Thornbridge or Track scale, and I can tell you now that with its long trestle tables and beer barrels it won’t appeal to all of my readers.

But they’ve added cask, brewed by “Peter”, to their estimable keg range, and you can trust someone called Peter.

Tasty, but a bit rough, which is not a beer style (3.5).

A bit of a shame, as ignore those trestles and you’ve got a lively tap with a great smell (something to do with beer, I wager) and even better tunes.

No idea what this machine was dispensing;

Although the cask wasn’t the crispest, as the soundtrack switched from the Last Dinner Party to Porridge Radio to Lorde (all your faves) I felt obliged to pop back to the bar.

I tipped a half of hazy (and fizzy) Intuition into my empty pint glass,

and contemplated what to do next.