Pubs of 2014

Right, here we go...... The purpose of this blog is to log all the pubs that I have visited and consumed an alcoholic beverage in during 2014. The rules are quite simple, the establishment needs to be a public house, it sounds straightforward but it may get complicated for example things that wouldn't count are a visit to the bar at the cricket, a pre gig drink in a concert venue, a drink at the Birmingham German market etc. As judge and jury my decision is final, and if I'm in any doubt I won't count it.



My prediction as at the start of the year is that the final number will be somewhere around the 200 mark though I won't go to pubs just to get the numbers up, it will be a true reflection of my pub visting year.



My posts will include information about the pub, the ambience of the surroundings, the choice and quality of the beer, any interesting or amusing anecdotes about my visit and, where possible, photographic evidence.



I will try and keep the information as accurate as possible noting that alcohol consumption means that at times this may prove difficult !!



The format of the posts is simple, the first visit to the pub will be the blog entry and that post will be updated for any subsequent visit.



Hope you enjoy it...



Cheers

UPDATE January 2015

Right, that's it, it's finally finished, some 259 pubs later !! It's been hard work but it's nice being able to look back and relive the drinking experiences of 2014.

I am pleased with the final result and whilst I've been reviewing it, I have actually laughed a few times at my own jokes !!

A word of warning, it does start off a bit slow (some of my posts from Bath are a bit dull) but stick with it. In hindsight the format of posting repeat visits to a pub on the original post at times doesn't work very well when reading the blog in its' entirety but on the whole I'm pleased with it and I hope that you enjoy it.

I have stated this in the blog but I will say it again, thanks to anyone that I have had a beer with in 2014 and special thanks to Shelley for her patience !!







Tuesday, 9 December 2014

The Malt House

I've said all along that this blog has never been about doing pubs for the sake of it just to get the yearly total up but with just over forty days left there are several pubs that I haven't visited this year that need to feature for one reason or another, The Malt House is one such place.

The Malt House was the pub where Bill Clinton popped into during the 1998 G8 summit, that was being held in Birmingham, and enjoyed a pint in the Brummie sunshine on the pub's balcony which is pretty much unchanged since his famous visit..



Well, if it's good enough for a US President then it's good enough for me so I left work on the dot at the end of the working week and made my way to The Malt House.

I was greeted with a sign on the door that informed me that for the price of a pound I could buy a kit that would measure my blood alcohol level, I'm not sure whether or not it was a device that you had to blow into but my mind began going into overdrive with Monica Lewinsky related puns for this blog !!



The place was fairly empty when I arrived then again firstly, it was very early on a wet Friday night and, secondly the German market was now in full flow so takings were probably at their wurst for local publicans !!

I was delighted with the number of ales that were available however my number was 666, Trooper, the beer launched and promoted by Iron Maiden was one of the numerous ales on offer. I sat down and enjoyed my post work pint..



Unfortunately the upstairs was sealed off so I couldn't recreate the Bill Clinton photo which was a shame not only for me but also for the glass collector as, had the moment been recreated authentically, as soon as I'd finished my pint a member of the CIA would have taken my glass off me and destroyed it. Yep, Bill's glass was smashed in case a finger print was stolen off it !!

This was only ever gone to be a brief stop, I was catching the 18.03 train instead of my usual 17.49, so although I'd got an extra few minutes my pace still needed to be fairly rapid which was a pity as this is actually a really good pub. The National Indoor Arena (former home to the Gladiators) and the National Sea Life Centre are yards away from the pub...



The National Sea Life Centre is a strange addition to Birmingham's list of attractions since the second city is as far away from the sea as most places in the UK. Seaside for Brummies is Weston Super Mare, some 105 miles away which approximately the same distance the sea in Weston is from the shore most of the time !!

I drank up and raised my glass to Bill as he had done to the people of Birmingham some sixteen years ago.

God Bless America !!

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