Birmingham Suggestions?

Hello UK Forum friends,

I will be in Birmingham for a long weekend in August visiting friends. I have never been to England before and am really looking forward to my first traditional pint of German dunkel dark mild. Or really anything for that matter. I looked through the "Mild In May" thread and was glad to see the White Lion mentioned (my friends already know of this place). I saw the "London Recommendations" thread and will use that for researching places to go when we're in London - PS, huge thanks to Deeblo for taking the time to do that.

If any of you have other recommendations for traditional pubs, good beer stores, or other various beer-related fun in-or-around Birmingham, please let me know. We won't have a car so if not in Birmingham it will have to be easily accessible by train.

Cheers and thanks in advance.

 

Thanks, that was a great read. Dumb question, but how is that pronounced? Batt-ums?

 

Forgot to mention I will have a 22 month old with me. Are the pubs child-friendly? In Germany it's no problem to bring your child into a place that sells beer, but in America it's not always OK.

 

Thanks to all for the feedback, it's been great. We're going to be in Stirchley, which, unfortunately, looks to be poorly connected to all those fantastic looking dark mild pubs (per Google Maps anyway. Our friends forwarded us the transit website so I'll do a little more research to confirm). It's possible we will rent a car for a day trip somewhere, and if so maybe we'll get out that way. I hope we can, it looks great. The research has been a lot of fun so far.

 

Hello again,

Thanks to everyone who commented or sent me a private message with recommendations, they were all very much appreciated. I had a great time in Birmingham. Unfortunately we didn't get out to the Black Country, but we did get to the Wellington, where I got exactly what I was hoping for - some genuine local cask ale. For the record it was a pint of Black Country's Pig on the Wall followed by a half pint of Black Country's Fireside. Boy did I like those. Only the pic of the Fireside turned out well, though:



It could only be a quick stop, though, as they don't allow children at the Wellington, and so the ladies went to The York with my son to have tea and cake while the gents downed a quick pint. Then we all ducked into the Old Joint Stock. They were closed but still had the doors open so we peeked our heads in. Beautiful space there.



Afterwards we stopped into the Victoria and had a dinner plus a few pints of Titanic's Anchor, also from cask. Really enjoyed that as well.



Loved the mugs but was informed they were not for sale.

Otherwise my friend's fridge was well stocked, but nevertheless he took me around to Stirchley Wine & Spirits and Cotteridge Wines for some extra fun. Here's what we sampled (all in bottles), along with my impressions:

Ubu Premium Amber Ale - I liked this one more and more as it warmed up.
Nebula Galaxy IPA - I liked this one right away
Wild Beer Co's Ninkasi - Didn't know what to make of this one. Like Orval, in a way. Not bad. Not Orval.
Brodie's Smoked Rye Porter - "Brodie's Hoppy Porter" would be a better name. I didn't get any smoke at all, just hops and porter. Not that I didn't like it, but I don't think it delivered on the smoke. Maybe I'm just too used to Schlenkerla.
Brodie's London Sour Raspberry - Whoa. Really tart. This one delivers exactly what it promises.
Batham's Best Bitter - I liked this one, but I could see where it would be better on cask.
The Kernal Imperial Brown Ale - Really good, but made a big mistake in taking it to a BYOB Indian place. It just didn't go well at all. Live and learn.
Timothy Taylor Landlord Strong Pale Ale - I wanted to like this one more, but it was good. It gets a 92 on this website but I'd likely give it a 3.0/5.0. I apologize if that's heresy.
Hitachino Nest Pale Ale - My one departure from buying British. Smelled better than it tasted, but not bad for a beer that had to come all the way from Japan.
Brains Dark Mild - I liked this one a lot. Reminded me of one of my favorite Schwarzbiers (Monchhof's Ur-typ).
Brew Dog West Coast IPA - my wife was saving some of this for me but I fell asleep while putting the boy to sleep so she got it. She seemed to like it. She said it wasn't Pliny, but on the level of a Green Flash. That is a compliment, we like Green Flash.

Redchurch Bethanal and Brew Dog Punk - these remain in my fridge, smuggled back from Brum.

My thanks again to you all, I hope you enjoyed my report.

Cheers