In between Xmas and New Year Jo and I were down in Bridgnorth, Shropshire, visiting her folks. A few weeks earlier Mum-in-law had told be that a new specialist beer shop had opened up in town, next-door to the White Lion on West Castle Street, and run by the folks at the pub. We went along for a look, but alas the place was closed through to Jan 4th, so looking was all we could do; peering through the window I spotted a few interesting-looking Belgians, one or two US imports and plenty of local brews, definitely enough to make plans to re-visit next time we’re down in that part of the world.

Luckily though, we’d already called in Riverside Wines on Underhill Street the evening before. They stock an excellent selection of local beers as well: when Jo and I nipped we discovered good dozen or so shelves of beers (and ciders, if that’s your thing) from all over the West Midlands and the South West. It would have been rude not to buy something while we were there, so we came away with our bottle bags full of the following:

First up, no fewer than four from the Beowulf Brewery. This award-winning brewery has been been brewing in Staffordshire since 1997. I’d not encountered any of their beers before, so I grabbed the most interesting / tastiest-looking from among a selection of eight on offer:

• Finn’s Hall Porter – 4.7% ABV, “inviting, dark, and smoky, hoppy and not too sweet”
• Dark Raven – 4.5% ABV, “traditional, flavourful mild”
• Dragon Smoke Stout – 4.7% ABV, “smouldering chocolate flavour followed by a mouth embracing bitterness”
• India Pale Ale – 6.4% ABV (no mention on the website, but I’m guessing lots of hops…)

I’m particularly looking forward to trying those (if Jo doesn’t claim the Finn’s Hall and Dragon Smoke before I get to them) and I’ll be reporting back in due course.

Next up, a bit of an assortment:

• Bewdley Brewery William Mucklow’s Dark Mild – 6.0% ABV, “A dark, sweetish, strong ale with a smooth fruity flavour and slight liquorice after taste.”
• Holden’s Dragon’s Blood – 5.6% ABV, “an assertive hop character and fruitiness dominating throughout”.
• Three Tuns Old Scrooge – 6.5% ABV, “A rich, dark and fiery, yet smooth, barley wine”, one for next Xmas.
• Lymestone Stone the Crows – 5.4% ABV, “Chewy juicy fruit flavours give way to a deep lingering bitterness”.
• Wood’s Christmas Cracker – 6.0% ABV, “A Dark ruby brew with a port wine flavour”, another one to save for Yuletide ’11.

• Hollows Ginger Beer – Think this might be an alcoholic version of Fentiman’s ginger pop. Or something like that…
• Wood’s Shropshire County of a Thousand Flowers – 4.7% ABV, one of a limited edition of 1,000 bottles
• Wood’s Pot O’Gold – 4.4% ABV, “A smooth drinking bitter”
• Corvedale St George’s Stout – 4.5% ABV (website just says “New Beer!”)

The Hollows Ginger and the Corvedale stout are for Jo and the middle two were actually an Xmas present from my ever-thoughtful in-laws, bless ‘em.

Plenty of potential in that little lot, I’m sure you’ll agree. Anyone tried any of them already? Anything to particularly recommend?

A few weeks ago, Jo (the missus) and I popped down to see her folks in Bridgnorth, deep in the picturesque county of Shropshire. One of the highlights of the trip was an evening out at The King’s Head in the middle of town, with brother-in-law Richard and his girlfriend, Lisa. Rich is a builder by trade and one of his projects, about eighteen months ago, was a refurb of the pub in which we met up. And a very nice job of it he made, too, especially the micro-brewery that they put in the back yard for the Bridgnorth Brewing Company.

Jo and I arrived early to grab a table. It being the BBC’s home turf and all it would have been exceptionally rude of me not to at least start the session with one of their beers and so I ordered a pint of their Castle Keep (4.5% abv) to kick things off with. This was a rich and malty bitter with just a hint of spiciness – quite possibly ginger, maybe cinnamon – which went down extremely well. By the time I was half-way down that one, our drinking buddies had arrived. Rich is an avowed addict of Town Crier (4.5% abv) which is brewed by Hobson’s in nearby Cleobury Mortimer and won’t be persuaded onto anything else for love nor money, so I decided to join him for pint #2.

I’d already tried Town Crier on a previous visit, and was more than happy to give it another go. It’s a pale, easy-drinking bitter with a dry, hoppy character and subtle citrus notes that makes for a fine session beer – Rich is no fool to stick with this stuff, I can tell you. I, on the other hand, was moved by the spirit of experimentation to try another Bridgnorth Brewing beer, and went for the Apley Ale (3.9% abv). Not the best move. By comparison with the first two it was a thin, slightly watery, relatively tasteless bitter with really very little about it worth writing home about. No wonder Rich was shaking his head sadly when I brought it back to the table. Should have stuck to advice from my native guide instead of wandering off-track.

I’m a bit hazy on the next one – purely because the conversation was flowing by this stage and it seemed rude to break off and take notes on my phone – but I think #4 might have been a pint of Bridgnorth Best (4.4% abv). I’ll go ahead assume it was and if not then it’s definitely one I tried on that previous visit, so I’ll give it a mention anyway. It’s another pale, hoppy bitter – that sort of thing seems to be the Bridgnorth Brewey’s speciality – and (according to the notes I made a while back) it tastes “like Boddington’s Cask used to in it’s heyday”, so again it’s a light, hoppy easy-drinker that I’d have no problem settling in with for an extended session.

After that, another pint of Town Crier called time on the evening’s drinking and chatting, if only because I knew I was on driving duty the next morning and those country roads are evil buggers at the best of times, never mind with a head full of bitter-fumes. All in all, a very good evening enjoyed in good company and I’m looking forward to the next trip – probably in December, when perhaps Bridgnorth Brewing or Hobson’s will have rolled out a couple of winter ales? – with eager anticipation. Beers of Shropshire #2 to thereby follow in due course…

The 2008 Pub Design Awards have been announced via CAMRA press release. Same format as last year, categories for best new build, best conversion to pub use, best refurbished pub and the CAMRA / English Heritage conservation award.

My brother-in-law is a builder in Bridgnorth, and I know he was involved in completely refurbishing the King’s Head – a job that included building premises out the back for the Bridgnorth Brewing Co.‘s micro-production facility – but I think the work was done pre-2007 so wouldn’t be eligible for entry. Which is a shame, because they did a very nice job indeed.