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

I walk past this twice a week on the way to the station, and have never gone in.  More fool me.  I have a friend who works round the corner from me who is a real ale fan (in fact it was he who bought me a pint of Old Peculiar as my first taste of real beer back in the day).  After work drinks are in order, I feel!

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!

We last went there in Jan and dont remember them having much stock... It could have just been an off night for them.. We havent been in the Dev Cat for AGES mainly because it gets soooooo crowded in there and takes ages to be served, but thats probably because of its proximity to West Street & the Corp. The Fat Cat is much, much nicer imo, but they lack an American selection. Reminded me of being in pubs in Bruges... 

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

OMG... I love moose drool, for the name alone.  Poor dh, he made the mistake of saying there was no good American beer last time we were in Minnesota.  Moose Drool and Pig's Eye were two of the micro-brews that were shoved down his throat when he was there.  He has learned to just say nothing.   

I, too, was basking in blissful American beer ignorance, tinged with a smattering of British imperialist-opressor snobbery, until I was marched into the local brew-pub, bought a porter and a bowl of clam chowder and duly silenced (well, apart from "Om nom nom, slurp, mmmmmmmm") 

We last went there in Jan and dont remember them having much stock... It could have just been an off night for them.. We havent been in the Dev Cat for AGES mainly because it gets soooooo crowded in there and takes ages to be served, but thats probably because of its proximity to West Street & the Corp. The Fat Cat is much, much nicer imo, but they lack an American selection. Reminded me of being in pubs in Bruges... 

Do you mean the Harlequin when you said you don't recall much stock? I didn't notice in the fridges but there was a blackboard up on one of the beams that listed the American bottles, so maybe they aren't on display....I was too concerned looking at the hand pumps!

Do you mean the Harlequin when you said you don't recall much stock? I didn't notice in the fridges but there was a blackboard up on one of the beams that listed the American bottles, so maybe they aren't on display....I was too concerned looking at the hand pumps!

Maybe.. we were on a pub crawl at the time...  So that might be why my memory is hazy......

DF likes beer, like to drink beer, but isn’t picky about it.  I’m the one that will drag him all over the place for a good pint.  Of course I did keep a beer journal while traveling around the world!  One of these days I’ll have to put it all together (its across several notebooks at the moment) and share. 

if you're a fan of hops...:
just saw a notice from Stone on fbook that they're taking over a fair amount of taps in an Edinburgh pub on May 10th.  In general news, they're looking for a place to start a European brewery.  Yummm

Every time I see a Budweiser commercial in the U.K. I want to scream. Trying to pass off that tepid, yellow water to the world capital and cradle of beerdom... especially when we now have so many wonderful micro-breweries.

Oh well, I suppose they see it as a novelty, sort of like wearing cowboy boots.

Anyone ever seen any Magic Hat in the UK...?

Anyone ever seen any Magic Hat in the UK...?

Not yet... Im still waiting on something more generic like Yuengling..

Not yet... Im still waiting on something more generic like Yuengling..

Ohhhh I would love some Yuengling! That was my go to cheap but decent beer.   They don't even have it in much of the US, apparently.  My friend just moved to Portland, OR from NJ and she hasn't seen it anywhere. I think it might just be an east coast thing, which is disappointing since it probably means less of a chance of it coming over here. 

Ohhhh I would love some Yuengling! That was my go to cheap but decent beer.   They don't even have it in much of the US, apparently.  My friend just moved to Portland, OR from NJ and she hasn't seen it anywhere. I think it might just be an east coast thing, which is disappointing since it probably means less of a chance of it coming over here. 

It used to only be sold in PA, AL & AK, then in NY/NJ/CT area now its all over the east coast & the south. Just saw on twitter theyve just moved into IL. I think theyre doing a slow but sure expansion of the brand...