25th June 2011 - Another Blackcountry Trip (Sedgley and Upper Gornal)

Eight days have passed since my last outing and yet again I was on route to a part of the Black Country. This time it was as part of the summer social with some of the Craft Brewing Association meaning that JF was again present (also GP joined us for part of the visit.)

After breakfast in Birmingham we joined the train to Wolverhampton and headed via the subway (note to any Americans out there, this is a footpath in a tunnel, not an underground train) and arrived at the the Great Western shortly before opening time.

Although there are some guest beers offered, I decided that as the Black Country has a number of brewers of local note that where possible I would sample their wares. The Great Western is a Holden's pub where I chose their Black Country Bitter, followed by Special.

The plan was then to head by bus to the town of Sedgley and so we soon found the relevant bus stop and boarded the 558 bus alighting just before the Bull Ring in the town centre. The Bull Ring references the fact that there was a bull pit here many years ago before it was outlawed. After a short walk we arrived at the Bull's Head which is also a Holden's pub but this time serving their June special - Jungle Jim. Although we didn't sample the menu, this pub offers breakfasts that look excellent (noted that it opens at 9am) and also a good selection of Thai food.

Further along the road brings us to the Beacon hotel, home of the Sarah Hughes brewery. A fascinating place this with a number of rooms served from a triangular arrangements of small central hatches.  I initially kept to my plan of the local brews and with the Sarah Hughes brewery being out the back were very local in this case.  From their range I started on the classic Dark Ruby followed by Sedgley Surprise and Amber finishing off with a guest from Thornbridge, Brother Rabbit.  Being a group of brewers we soon tried toidentify the hops that have been used in the Thornbridge and later research revealed these to be Cascade, Chinook and Centennial.)

Time to move on for the Jolly Crispin.  Our party spy-ed a bus stop opposite and decided to assemble there - I spy-ed the timetable and decided it was better to take the 15 minutes walk to the main road than the hour wait for the next bus.  We therefore found our way back to Sedgely Bull Ring and after a few minutes along came the bus to take us to the Jolly Crispin in Upper Gornal..  Titanic Brewery from the Potteries have an interest in this place as witnessed by the house beer, Titanic Crispy Nail.  They also feature a wide range of guests with beers mats adorning the beams on the ceiling (a sample of which can be seen above.)

The other classic pub in this part of the world is the Britannia which I could have sworn was only over the road whereas reality is that it's over, and another half mile or so along the road.  Batham's beers are served and with only time for one drink it had to be the excellent Mild accompanied by one of their tasty (large - I was sharing!) pork pies.

Time to catch the bus back towards Wolverhampton and having previously proposed the Mount Pleasant which the bus stops opposite.  "Great beer choice" I recalled from a previous visit.  "It looks a bit dark" said one - "Not surprising as its shut" came another and so we tramped back to the bus stop (at least they're not only once an hour!)

Back in Wolverhampton we went our separate ways with some of the party heading for the station and back to Birmingham finishing at the Shakespheare near New Street where I ended an excellent day on White Horse Saracen IPA.