Brewdog, Post Office Vaults, The Wellington & Bacchus, Birmingham, 31/8/14

Today the Pandas woke up not knowing what to do, so they decided it was about time they had another pub crawl in Birmingham!  Hopping on the next train, they got to Birmingham just as the pubs were opening at lunch time, and headed straight for the city’s Brewdog bar for some lunch.  As it was still a little early for AR, MJ alone partook in the alcoholic beverages on offer, and chose a beer by Brewdog; Brixton Porter, while they waited for their food.  This beer was full of chocolatey flavour, with a hint of liquorice, and could have been a meal by itself, as it definitely felt nutritious!  Luckily MJ was prevented from getting too drunk by the arrival of food; a hot beef burger for MJ, made with succulent shredded chilli beef on top of a juicy mince patty, and a halloumi and roasted veg burger for AR, which she said was one of the best veggie option burgers she’s had in a long time!  After sharing a lovely (if slightly pricey) home made fruit cupcake for pudding, the Pandas moved on to the next pub on their to-do list – the Post Office Vaults.

This pub was absolutely deserted, which made it a nice change to the usual crush whenever the Pandas have visited before, so they recommend heading there on a sunday afternoon if crowds aren’t your thing (although not all of you at once…).  As MJ has one of the pub’s beer passports, this is one pub where he will decline sampling one of the up to 8 ales available in favour of trying an imported bottle beer – this time there was one on offer which he hadn’t had stamped yet, so he went for a bottle of Paulaner Salvator, which he then remembered he had enjoyed elsewhere previously but had to share as he was driving on this occasion.  As AR had her own glass of Hogan’s Poacher’s Perry to work through, MJ tucked into his lovely, dark, strong beer and finished every drop this time!

Next stop was a pub that the Pandas keep hearing amazing things about but have never been able to get to the bar for it being packed, but yet again Sunday afternoon proved to be the perfect time to visit The Wellington.  Not only does this pub boast an ever rotating range of up to 16 real ales, but it also has a selection of real ciders available, and AR absolutely fell in love with the Apricot cider from Hairy Ferret.  There is very little information about this cider farm online unfortunately, but if anyone knows anything about it then please tweet @CrazyPandaPubs and let us know!  While AR enjoyed her crystal clear schnapps-like cider, MJ worked through a few of the unusual beers on the bar, including:

• The Fat Cat Brewing Company – Stout Cat: a slightly chewy beer with a treacly taste that managed to also be fresh and clean tasting.
• Brunswick Brewing Company – Railway Porter: a very lightly hopped, malty porter with a slight liquorice taste and a refreshing flavour.
• Nobby’s – Biggus Dickus: Usually brewed in March (possibly conditioning since then?) this was almost an IPA but had more of a malty taste.  However it definitely had a strong hop finish, and was a very drinkable ale.
• Saltaire – Cascadian Black: A refreshing malty beer, almost a dark mild but with more hops.

Feeling it was almost time to go home after a lovely afternoon of drinking, the Pandas then headed for one final pub that had caught their eye in the local CAMRA guide – Bacchus Bar – and found a hidden gem underneath Burlington Arcade!  This bar has frankly amazing decor, with areas sporting replica Roman columns, Egyptian hieroglyphs, medieval armour and a mock library, plus doubtless other designs that the Pandas were too awestruck to notice.  Deciding they will definitely be coming back here for food at some point, AR swapped from cider onto wine for one last drink, while MJ settled on Sambrooks Lavender Hill, brewed with lavender honey to give it a sweet and fresh taste, for his final pint.  He then decided to have another final pint, and as the pub is part of the Nicholson’s chain he decided to try their Pale Ale which was on offer, which turned out to be a slightly biscuity beer with slight hoppiness and good overall balance.  Deciding that they had actually now had enough, the Pandas headed across the road back to the train station to head home and sleep off their discovery-filled afternoon!

Great Central Railway 1940s Weekend, 14/6/14

As part of our busy Father’s Day weekend the Crazy Pandas met up with MJ’s dad JA and brother AJ for a trip on the Great Central Railway, which was hosting a 1940s themed weekend.  As both Pandas are fans of steam trains this wasn’t just a treat for JA, especially as the pamphlets for the 1940s weekend indicated that there was a good chance of turning this into a Rail Ale style trip.

Starting off at the WW2 home-front themed station, the group rode the train the entire length of the line to the station that had small American and French Resistance camps set up and had a quick wander around those, which had a few interesting vehicles scattered around.  The first really interesting bit came next when the return train deposited the Pandas et. al. at the station that had been captured by German invaders, who rather thoughtfully brought along some beer, which was being sold from a small bar set up on the platform.  As MJ would be driving later on, he and AR shared a bottle of Salvator, which at 7.1% is the original beer by the Paulaner München brewery, first brewed by monks 1773.  From its sweet and sticky taste it is quite understandable that this beer was used by the monks who brewed it as a substitute for food during lent, although with its high strength it would be interesting to see whether they could stand upright after a couple of pints on an empty stomach!  Also at the German bar AJ had a bottle of Hefe-Weißbier Naturtrüb, also by Paulaner München, which was a pleasant cloudy wheat beer with the typical banana character that you would expect, and is the brewery’s best selling beer.  Enjoying our continental drinks we then wandered around the German army camp, which had a few machine guns, tanks and sentry boxes set up, along with a small model railway that didn’t seem to fit with the rest of the camp, and was actually a fixed attraction of the railway that had also been captured.

After this it was on to the next station which housed the main Allied camp, complete with tanks, guns, food (which the Pandas were very happy to see), traction engines and the best thing of all – a beer tent!  Several local breweries had brought their wares to taste, and the back of the tent had a well looked after rack of ales.  AJ, being a fan of fruity beers, had a pint of Plum Porter by Titanic Brewery, which is a pleasantly sweet beer, while AR and MJ shared two Nottingham Brewery ales – Rock Mild and Dreadnaught; a smooth, dark, biscuity mild beer and hoppy, ruby bitter respectively.  These drinks made a very fine accompaniment to the big band style singer on stage in the tent, and passed the time well until we went and caught the train for the final leg of the return journey to the top end of the line.  While this station didn’t have a bar, it did have a gift shop that sold bottles of beer made exclusively for the railway by Hobsons, of which MJ bought one and shared it with AR later at home.  Both Pandas found this golden ale very crisp and refreshing, and wish we’d bought more bottles to finish off a very fun day.

MJ