A chat with fellow Brummie https://twitter.com/FotoDigitalArt in the comments section of my last post made me realise just how much choice there now is in the ever changing landscape of Birmingham’s pub scene.
Pete, Martin, Mudge and BRAPA have all adhered to the new pub blogging rules that you must post on at least three Birmingham pubs in July whilst Pubmeister has made an effort of sorts incorporating Halesowen and Stourbridge in his post and Paul blogged around Cheslyn Hay, which is close enough!
(Brum beer blogs below)
http://pubsthenandnow.blogspot.com/2018/07/digbeth-in-daytime-crawl-through.html
https://retiredmartin.com/2018/07/25/ruined-in-a-day-the-new-order-in-brum/
http://pubcurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2018/07/heartland-heritage-part-1.html
http://brapa-4500.blogspot.com/2018/07/brapa-supping-up-dregs-of-yummie-brummie.html
http://wmexplorer.blogspot.com/2018/07/hub-marketing-2018-cheslyn-hay-crawl.html
To be fair to https://twitter.com/inthehermitage he blogs about Hampshire boozers as a rule of thumb whilst Rich and https://twitter.com/thewickingman have now got five days left to pull three Brum boozers out of the bag!
Anyway, in order for me to fulfil the criteria I needed one more this month and celebrating the wide variety of choice in 2018 I headed for new kid on the block 257 – The Head of Steam Birmingham B2 5DP.
This has only been open about a month but is situated slap bang opposite The Trocadero on Temple Street and about a one minute walk from New Street Station.
It was absolutely rammed early Friday afternoon and it seems to be hitting the right notes for all sections of society.
It is modern inside; I believe Camerons Brewery describe it as ‘steampunk,’ whatever that means! However, if a building has no history as a pub then I think making it modern is arguably the best idea, as there are plenty of good ‘character pubs’ in Brum so you might as well be bright and brash.
(steampunk apparently)
I really liked this place and had a half of Obelisk, which was fantastic. Cold, hoppy and tasty, this made a big difference on a roasting hot day. Alan would describe this as ‘craft murk’ but I couldn’t actually get to the cask as the queue was too big so I had to drop my shoulder and sneak into a tiny space by the keg lines.
I saw suits, couples, groups of women, groups of men and also a pleasing selection of ages with blokes in heavy rock or star wars t-shirts alongside blokes in Paul Smith attire.
Predominantly people were drinking but there is a section for eating and I think this bar is going to be a hugely welcome addition to the Second City pub scene.
A bloke spoke to me in the toilet, as you do, and he said “The beers in here are f****** great.” I replied that I was only having one as I was heading to the cricket later and he couldn’t quite share my enthusiasm for the Bears. “All these beers and you’re going to the cricket? F*** the cricket, stay here!”
However, I will be coming back here as Camerons Brewery have found a winning formula with this buzzing atmosphere and the choice of beers in pubs like this is unbelievable.
Brum’s pub scene is booming (see the erudite posts of fellow bloggers) with something old and something new, something borrowed and something blue…
You’ll accuse me of being a total cynic here (I’m not). HoS just don’t do it for me, don’t know what it is? The one on Huddersfield station was the first one I encountered, but it was never as good as the Kings Head at the other end of the station. The one on Mill Hill in Leeds is fine, but somehow I never go in, again I don’t know what it is. Maybe it’s encountering Cameron’s when we went to the East coast, for some reason a brew reviled by most of the folk I knew from the West Riding. Maybe that’s what’s tainting my outlook?
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We’ve all got our own favourites Rich and I’d never suggest you were cynical!!!! In that part of Brum it is a good addition and there was a good atmosphere and good selection of beer. You can’t blame Camerons for providng outlets for their own beers and that is a smart move.
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Pity, their beers are average at best. Absolute disaster that they were able to gain such a large foothold in Leeds. Like say, nowt wrong with them, it’s just I’m not rushing into any of their places any time soon.
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I reckon you’d be hard to please on a night out!!! I am assuming Camerons employ a fair few people so getting their own beers out is probably crucial and if they can make a success of their bars then it has to be good…when you say a lot of people don’t like their beers is that a lot of people in your social circle or a lot of people in general? Sometimes we can be guilty of falling into a trap thinking that people don’t like certain beers i.e Doom, GK IPA, Pedigree, Bass, Hobgoblin etc as fellow beer bloggers aren’t keen. But outside of our small circle there are plenty of drinkers more than happy to drink beer and there numbers are greater than ours hence the reason lots of these beers survive. I quite like all of the above even though they are ostensibly brewed at the same factory (GK aside)!
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A lot of people eat mass produced, steam baked, white, sliced bread, it doesn’t make it good bread though, does it?
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I agree a bit like Westlife in music …but Ive not had much Cameron’s so can’t really comment on it
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Wow, it is new – it wasn’t open when we visited the Troc in June!
‘Steampunk’ is a sci-fi term used to describe a type of fiction that uses hi-tech along with Victorian style steam power, but it looks as though The Head of Steam uses the term so that they don’t have to cover up the air conditioning ducts! Should be worth a visit, though.
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It’s well worth a visit and thank you for explaining the terminology…I have been in Cogs (Newhall St) once as well and I am pretty sure they adopted the steampunk model i.e uncovered air con ducts!!!
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Enjoyed that , and great to have a pre-emptive in the centre to aim for next time i’m on the way back from Stourbridge or something later in year so thanks. Can usually rely on a HoS unless you’re in Hull where they all tell me beer is bad but not been in yet.
Went to a Steampunk festival once and ended up as a backing dancer for Professor Elemental wearing a Prince Phillip mask, just so you know.
Si
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Excellent. If you have any pictures of this I’d love to see them!!!
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There’s a grainy video on You Tube somewhere, i’ll see if I can find it!
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I look forward to seeing it!
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Phew, glad I qualified by the skin of my teeth, albeit by virtue of you extending Birmingham some way south. Another to add to the list.
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I’ll keep them coming! I thought it would be churlish to miss you off for the sake of a few miles!
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“then I think making it modern is arguably the best idea, as there are plenty of good ‘character pubs’ in Brum so you might as well be bright and brash.”
Yep, I can understand that. The brewpub that opened up in our small town has the ‘pipes on the ceiling’ bit and the brewpub my youngest works in has the beer tanks visible behind a wall of glass.
“F*** the cricket, stay here!””
Yes but the beers will still be there after the cricket is over. 🙂
“with something old and something new, something borrowed and something blue…”
So something for everyone! (thumbs up)
Cheers
PS – “this buzzing atmosphereand”
Minor nit on a space needed.
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I believe that is my first typo for a while… cricket was always going to win…. Martin’s recent keep right on post provided all the blue!!
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