American Beer in Birmingham (beyond Coors light...)

If anyone lives in the West Midlands and is craving the liquid delights of great American microbreweries, may I suggest taking yourself over to Stirchley Wines and Spirits in Stirchley, Birmingham.  They have an ever-expanding selection of interesting American beers.

My husband is the US citizen, and he has taken great delight in sweeping aside my Budwiser-induced anti-American beer snobbery by taking me to wonderful brew-pubs in the States.  He was overjoyed to find that he can now enjoy hoppy delights from both sides of the pond here, especially as they recently received a shipment from the Oregon-based Rogue brewery: his 'home brewery' as he puts it...

The second you said good American beer I just knew it wasn't an East Coaster.  I hope that Moose Drool eventually makes it over!

Moose Drool is great!  It's one of the regulars at the pub near where my in-laws live in Washington.

I'll have a look to see what's on offer from the East Coast next time we're down at the off-licence and report back.

I've found Sierra Nevada Pale Ale at Morrison's in Wales.... That truly is my "Home Brew" made in Chico Ca... It makes me feel like I'm at home. Now if only they woud export it's other fine varieties over the pond- I'd kill for a Summerfest!

I think the US needs to appoint a Beer Ambassador to the UK.  Or set up a UK-US beer exchange programme.  We could have twinned breweries, like twinned towns, only more beery...

I approve of everything that is happening in this thread.    There are a couple places here in Glasgow that might have a random bottle or two of US microbrews floating around, but they usually only really get Brooklyn Lager or Brooklyn Brown anymore, which I've had plenty of and don't want!  I have yet to find a stable source for anything else!  I have a friend that moved to Birmingham recently, though, so I might use that as an excuse to check out this place! 

Also, you might be interested in our All Things Beer! thread!

Thanks!  I did search for 'beer' before posting, but didn't go back far enough on the results.

Stirchley Wines is a wonder-palace of beer delight.  It would definitely be worth a pilgrimage from Glasgow.   Their selection is astounding.  We went on a weekend away to Belgium, and upon our return we found ALL the beers that we had brought back with us sitting on the shelf for the same price or cheaper.

If you do decide to come down I can fill you in on the best pubs (even one with Anchor Steam on tap!).

One of our fave pubs carries an amazing list of American beers on tap and in bottle:
Flying Dog - In Heat Weitzen (tap)

All the following is found in bottle:
Anchor Liberty Ale, American Pale Ale.
Anchor Old Foghorn, English Barleywine.
Anchor Porter, American Porter.
Anchor Steam Beer, Californian Common Beer.
Ballast Point Calico, Amber Ale.
Ballast Point Big Eye, IPA.
Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout, Russian Imperial Stout.
Brooklyn Brown Ale, American Brown Ale.
Brooklyn EIPA, English IPA.
Brooklyn Lager, American Amber / Red Lager.
Coors Blue Moon, Witbier
Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA, American IPA.
Dogfish Head 90 Minute, Imperial IPA.
Dogfish Head Indian Brown Ale, brown Ale.
Dogfish Head & Birra del Borgo, My Antonia.
Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron, Brown Ale.
Dogfish Head Raison D’Etre, Strong Dark Ale.
Flying Dog Old Scratch, American Amber / Red Lager.
Flying Dog Snake Dog IPA, American IPA.
Flying Dog Doggie Style, American Pale Ale.
Flying Dog Raging b*tch, Belgian IPA.
Flying Dog Tire Biter, Kölsch.
Flying Dog Gonzo Porter, Imperial Porter.
Goose Island Matilda, Belgian Strong Pale Ale.
Goose Island IPA, English IPA.
Goose Island Honkers, English Bitter.
Goose Island 312, Urban Wheat Ale.
Great Divide Titan, IPA.
Lefthand Black Jack, Porter.
Lefthand Milk Stout, Sweet Stout.
Odell 5 Barrel, American Pale Ale.
Odell 90 Shilling, American Scottish Ale
Odell Cutthroat Porter, American London Porter.
Odell IPA, American IPA.
Odell Isolation Ale, Dark Ale.
Odell Levity, Amber Ale.
Sierra Nevada Celebration 2010, Dark Ale.
Sierra Nevada Stout, American Stout.
Sierra Nevada Kellerweis, Hefeweizen
Sierra Nevada Porter, American Porter.
Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA, American IPA.
Smuttynose Star Island Single, Belgian Ale.
Smuttynose Shoals, Pale Ale.
Smuttynose Robust, Porter.
Smuttynose Old Brown Dog, Brown Ale.2
Smuttynose Finestkind, IPA.
Smuttynose Big A, Imperial IPA.
Stone Brewing Levitation Ale, Amber Ale.
Victory Golden Monkey, American Tripel.
Victory Prima Pils, Pilsener.
Victory Storm King, Imperial Stout.

We currently have about 6 various bottles from Flying Dog in my partners beer fridge...

Oh wow, maybe I should take DH on a weekend away to Sheffield.

Oh wow, maybe I should take DH on a weekend away to Sheffield.

Sheffield Tap is awesome, whats even better about it, is that its attached the to train station, so you may not need to stay overnight....

You can also get bottles to go (I think 4 and 6 packs)

Not just Sheffield Tap, we were in the Harlequin in Sheffield on Saturday, a long list of US bottled beer including Flying Dog, Goose Island, Blue Moon, Brooklyn. Also the Devonshire Cat has loads.
My only issue....the only pubs where you find great continental lagers and US microbrews are invariably decent real ale pubs....so I'm drinking the ale anyway!

Why aren't any of these in Lonodon?!?!?!

I have found a few good ale pubs, and I love me some ale, but would like to find something like Peculer Pub here in NYC.  They have aobut 20 or so different kinds on tap and then at least 100 different bottled beers from around the world.

It always made for great drinking games.  My friends and I would make rules for each other, such as one person could only drink beer from countries they haven’t been to, and someone else could only drink beer with a color in the name. 

Keep exploring, they do exist!

I found this pub while googling:

http://www.whitehorsesw6.com/

It looks like they have a really good selection.  If you go, do report back!

Keep exploring, they do exist!

I found this pub while googling:

http://www.whitehorsesw6.com/

It looks like they have a really good selection.  If you go, do report back!

You might need a bank loan to go there! Nice pub but very expensive, a friend of mine used to be manager,

Just had a look around for Bars in London for a future trip there and spotted The Euston Tap, near Euston Station! (I see a theme here...) It's the sister bar to the Sheffield Tap.
newcomer link: http://www.eustontap.com/index.php [nonactive]
No strict beer list for the fridge there, but they say they have beer from: Stone, Lost Abbey, Southern Tier, Rogue, Dark Horse, Smuttynose, Caldera and others...