Some rapid feedback on Sunday's stolen crawl

Let's strike while the iron is hot.  Let's do another blog post and try and learn how to use Blogger a bit better. 

Anyway.

The televised football finished about 3.00, and I was supposed to be on the other side the City by 3.30, with a journey time of between 40-60 minutes.  I wasn't going to make it.  I would face a wrath.  Oh dear, may as well make it worse by squeezing in a mini stolen crawl.

That was the backdrop to Sunday's mad dash down New Street in search of beery treasure (which I wasn't to find).  It was a further chance to play one of my favourite games - 'guess which Birmingham pub might be serving a good beer'.  Now this popular local pass time involves reading about all the lovely beers being supped across the UK (Twitter helps with this), then hoping that one of these might have reached Brum, then closing your eyes and jabbing your finger into a Birmingham pub map, in the hope that you might pick the right venue for that good beer.  It's a bit like playing the national lottery.

So off I trot, to hit two Nicholsons pubs, right in the centre of town, both with beautiful interiors, but middling track records for beer, although fond memories abound for previous good 'finds' of Salopian Kashmir and Moor Gold, Frankincense and Moor. 

The Shakespeare (which interestingly enough is one of three pubs in central Birmingham called 'The Shakespeare' - nothing like cashing in, eh?) is a rather nice, snug boozer, squirrelled just off New Street, next to a posh shoe shop. It used to be a bit rougher than it is now and as such is very pleasant.  The beer is rubbish 50% of the time mind, but bless them, they do try.  The beer (range that is, not the way it was kept) was rubbish today also, but scored a half of Leeds Midnight Bell and found it to be a reasonable dark ale, certainly a smooth one.  Are Leeds a good brewery?  The jury is out. 

Bacchus Bar is a beautiful mish mash of medieval banqueting hall and Victorian opium den, hidden conspiratorially under the Burlington Arcade on New Street.  It's dark, romantic, opulent, clean, posh and interesting and usually has 3 rotating handpulls.  Unfortunately, not much was on today, only Doom Bar, Brains' Rev. James and Dorset Ammonite. I've never sampled anything from the latter, so quickly guzzled a half of caramelly, lager-hopped strawness.  Not brilliant.  Not terrible though.

And that was that.  It took about 20 minutes all told.  I should have taken some pictures really, that would have livened this page up somewhat.  I'll remember next time.