All I Want For Christmas is a Dukla Prague Ground Pic

Christmas Day in Prague - with brewpubs, mulled wine, local beers and football ground geekery on the agenda.

Christmas market in the Old Town Square.

So, what sort of a fool would spend Christmas morning catching a metro and tram to the suburbs, then walking up a hill, just to look at a football ground?
Oh, that'll be me.
Dukla Prague are immortalised for indie music fans of a certain era, thanks to the Half Man Half Biscuit b-side "All I Want for Christmas is a Dukla Prague Away Kit".
Just a picture at their Stadion Juliska would do me.

The sort of idiot that would drag you away from the delights of a historic
city centre to look at a second division football ground.

Okay, so it would have been good to make it here to actually see a match, but at least the security man was kind enough to wave a geeky football ground fan past and we could actually see the stadium. 
There have been past 'incidents' of walking a couple of miles to look at the dull brick wall of a stand and a glimpse of a floodlight over some rooftops.

What we needed next was a non-Christmassy Christmas dinner...
For this we travelled back to the historic centre and made our way to a street-corner brewery and restaurant in the Old Town, U Tři Růži.

Waited a painful amount of time to get this shot with no-one standing right in front of U Tři Růži.

U Tři Růži (Husova 232/10 - web)

Located in a house dating back to the 15th century, the ground floor houses a 10-hectolitre brewery in the corner.

The walls are characterfully painted by artists Jiří Bernard and Pavel Jakl with pictures depicting Czech brewing and the history of the house.

I guess you don't get to drink with the locals in a spot like this - we bagged the last available table between a cheery Japanese group and some Spanish girls who spent a good ten minutes counting out an enormous stack of coinage to pay their bill.

Alongside our food, we had a Christmas Weiss beer - nice enough but with nothing to justify adding 'Christmas' to the name. 
Much better was the tasty 'Monastic Special of St Giles No.4' a 7.2% ABV Belgian dubbel style ale which went down a treat.

Leaving the brewery we took a leisurely route (ie. I got a bit lost) through picturesque streets until we reached another brew pub that we knew would be open today. 

Pivovarský Dům (Lípová 511/15 12 - web)
This was, quite frankly, a dull disappointment.
The front room of the pub, with seating next to the brewing equipment, looked nice, but with no space there we were directed through to a soulless rear room, where the tables were too close together and service came with a scowl.
150czk (roughly £5) brought us a sample tray of 8 different beers. 

Wheel of Beer.

But over half of these beers could be instantly dismissed, with the small measure being more than enough.  Thumbs down for the Green Nettle Ale.  And I'm guessing the fruit beers were made by adding flavourings to a pale lager base, which gave them a novelty feel.  The only one that I would have been inclined to order more of was 'Štěpan' - the traditional Czech pilsner.

By this point, we were beginning to realise that the craft bars were much more reliable that brew pubs, but we had another brewpub on our itinerary.  Never divert from the itinerary.

To get to this we caught the Metro southwards to Vyšehrad, then walked around 10 minutes.

Pivovar Bašta (Táborská 389/49)
Somewhat away from the tourist masses, Bašta was a small neighbourhood brewery, nicely decorated with wood panelling with an upper ledge displaying steins, beer bottles and other assorted bits and bobs.
Late afternoon, they were only using the tables closest to the bar, but to the side were two characterful rooms in traditional Czech hostelry style.

Nice window.

When we first sat down we figured someone had brought a child making the most terrible noises, only to discover a mynah bird on the staircase to the basement, making it's presence known.
There were just a couple of beers on the menu, with their seasonal offering sold out, so I opted for the 'Svĕtly Kroužkův Ležák 12°', a 5% ABV pilsner - quite drinkable, without being overly exciting.

Not a real man

It was less than a five-minute walk from Pivovar Bašta to a highly-rated beer bar which was due to open at 5pm.

Zlý časy (Čestmírova 390/5 - web)
This proved to be a wonderful basic bar.  No blackboard or modern screen, just a solitary leather bound beer menu which was passed around the tables.
Apparently you can get some unusual Czech beers here, although with just a few days in the city I was none the wiser to what was an unusual find and what wasn't. 
I picked the Beskydský Pivovárek 'Winter IPA', because I wanted to see what a winter IPA was.  And I'm still not sure.

Beers at the pleasant Zlý časy bar, Prague.

From Zlý časy we elected to make the 30-minute walk back to the centre of town, making it to Wenceslas Square which was busy with throngs of people around the Christmas market stalls. Our Christmas Day ended with hands cupped around beakers of mulled wine, the national museum spectacularly lit up at the end of the avenue on a mild Prague evening.
Beats sitting at home on the sofa watching Ice Age 3 and the Eastenders special, I reckon!

Prague Pivo Explorations

The tail end of 2019 saw us heading to Czech capital Prague.
This is a city that has had a craft beer explosion in recent years.  When I last visited in 2010 I picked up a countrywide brewery map, which showed just 6 breweries located in the capital.
Ratebeer now lists something in the region of 45, and I wouldn't bet on that being up-to-date.  In addition there's also multi-tap bars galore.  We weren't going to be short on choice.

Obligatory bit of Prague sightseeing, before beer explorations commence.

I've elected not to waffle on about every bar and brewpub we visited, instead focusing on a number below that we enjoyed and which I'd recommend.
So without further ado...

The One at the Monastery
Klášterni Pivovar Strahov (Strahovské nádvoří 301 - web)
We started slap-bang in the midst of the tourist masses, climbing the narrow streets up to the castle.  Heading passed the main tourist hotspots and along Loretanska, we reached the Strahov Monastery, which handily has a brewery at the side of it.
A little after midday, I figured we may beat the crowds, but all we could get was the outdoor seating, with all tables in the room with the brew-kit occupied by early-birds.

The Strahov Monastery itself was founded by King Vladislav II in 1142, whilst a brewery started in the early 1300's.  Closed for most of the 20th century, the current set-up dates back to the year 2000 when the whole complex was reconstructed.
As well as the two regular brews here, they also have seasonal specials and on this occasion it was a magnificent 'Sv. Norbert Christmas Dopplebock' - a great first beer of our trip.  

The One on a Boat
Lod' Pivovar (Dvořákovo nábřeží, Kotviště číslo 19 - web)
From the monastery we headed back down to the river, then followed this to Štefánikův Bridge, next to which is a very photogenic brewery...

Lod' Brewpub

Three whole pictures of this one.
Because I was super-enthusiastic about a brewery on a boat.

We grabbed a table on the upper deck, next to the window watching the various vessels sail by.  One deck down, is another bar with tables nestled amongst the fermentation tanks. 
Five of their own beers on offer, from which I picked the fine 'Monarchie 13', but it's the wonderful setting that really make this place special and well worth visiting.

Boat based brewing.

The One with a Brewery in the Basement
Vinohradsky Pivovar ( Korunní 2506/106 - web)
This could also be subtitled the 'One that I Got us Lost on the Way To'...
Yep, the streets west of the historic centre all looked a bit the same and we needed to be rescued by Google maps to find our way to this brewpub.

Vinohradsky Pivovar has been in operation since 2013, although the same building once housed an older brewery dating back to 1894.

With it's curved, cellar-like ceiling and spartan decor, it's a pretty minimalist space.
The brewery is visible through port-hole windows.

I'd come across their 12° pils in a restaurant near the castle, so for a change at the brewpub I decided to pick the bottled 6.7% 'Stout 17', which was a thoroughly enjoyable tipple.

Minimalist.  Picture borrowed from the Vinohradsky Pivovar website - cos it's better than mine.

The One with the Brilliant Dog
Malý/Velký (Mikovcova 605/4 - web)

Malý/Velký Beer Choice.

Visiting on Christmas Eve, this had the feeling of somewhere that was just winding down for the holidays, quiet with just a couple of punters in besides us.
It's tucked away along a hallway from the street, then down some steps into the basement.

This is a superb craft beer bar, run by brewer Jakub Veselý, who has previously worked for Továrna and Bernard.  He is now in charge of Falkon Brewery, with two of their beers on the tap list.
I veered away from Czechia into Estonia to try the 'Jõuluöö' - an 8% ABV oak aged porter from Põhjala.  Malý/Velký also try to always feature a couple of sour beers, so I opted next for Falkon's  'Sourberry: Rosehip and Spruce Tips', a lovely palate cleanser having had a couple of strong dark beers beforehand.

"C'mon, it's Christmas Eve - the sooner you go, the sooner I can go home and curl up in front of the fire."

The One that we Liked the Best

Lots of Choice.

Craft House Prague (Navrátilova 1421/11 - web)
"Do you want to open a tab?" asked the barman.
"Oh yes!  We'll be here a while," declared Mrs PropUptheBar, having perused the beer list on the screens above the bar and worked out the half dozen or more that she wanted to try.
And indeed it was a cracking selection. 

I began with the very drinkable '10$ Milkshake' - a mellow 7.5% ABV Double IPA brewed by Chroust.
But I rarely miss a chilli beer... The 'Don Habanero Chilli IPA' by Pivovar Permon was delicious with flavoursome fruity chilli's followed by a satisfying heat.  Great stuff!  And to round off our visit, an 11.5% Imperial Stout , 'Albrecht Morion 25' from Zámecký Pivovar Frýdlant.
The Craft House is comfortable, relaxed and will almost certainly have several things on the beer list that take your fancy - highly recommended.

The One with the Best Beer Mats
Beer Geek Bar (Vinohradská 62 - web)
Jointly top-rated on Ratebeer, with a score of 97/100.
Down in the basement, with a modern decor and hipster vibe, Beer Geek Bar promises a "30 tap beer adventure".  Which would probably mean settling in the for whole evening to do it justice, rather than my usual hectic bar-crawl schedule.
Half of the beer list is dedicated to some top notch international breweries, although I tend to veer away from these when there is the option to stick to the locals.
Hence I picked a Rodinný Pivovar Zichovec 'Nadilka 20' to go with the tasty quesadilla's (they're also chicken wing specialists, if chicken wings are your thing).

The One in Prohibition Style

Illegal Beer (Ve Smečkách 16 - web)
Okay, I'm not completely sold on the prohibition theme, but Illegal Beer was an enjoyable, relaxed bar with several fine beers on offer.
It's a tiny two-roomed bar, with the bar counter and a couple of stools in the first room and a handful of tables in the second.  Sparsely decorated, with bare bulbs lighting the tables, simplicity rules here.

There were six beers on tap, plus bottles in the fridge.
But those six taps covered a wide range of styles from Czech micro's, giving me the chance to have a sour: the Chroust 'Plum & Sour Cherry Smoothie Sour', followed by a Russian Imperial Stout: the 8.5% ABV Pivovar Clock - 'Sarah'.

Alongside this there are some very simple snacks, from which we sampled some locally produced vegan pate.

Beer and snack - prohibition style.

Erm... I've run out of subtitles... 

Nubeerbar (Balbínova 1 - web)

Nu Beer Bar was remarkably similar to the Craft Beer Bar, to the point where I did a double-take and questioned if we'd been here before.
As you head in the door there is a bar with 22 taps to pick from, with a further two rooms of tables to the right.  Unlike a couple of the other multi-tap bars we visited, the selection here focuses on Czech breweries.
This was another bar with plenty to choose from at reasonable prices, with a cracking alt-rock soundtrack.

And One Final Brewpub for Good Measure
Pivovar Victor ( Husitská 72 - web)
We started out visit to the Czech capital with a brewpub, so I figured we'd end it in the same way.
This is in the Žižkov district, just east of the main train station.  We visited a fair number of brewpubs in Prague that I felt were pretty mediocre, but this proved a bit of winner on our final night.  It had tall ceilings with elaborate lights and grand drapes over the windows.  Quirky decorations and the brewing coppers at the end of the room made for an eclectic design.
We had a bite to eat here and sampled the decent beers, served up in dimpled mugs.

Brew kit at Pivovar Victor.

As I said at the top of this post, Prague has a lot of choice. 
The nine bars and brewpubs above are just scratching the surface and are in no way intended to be a 'best of' list.
I'll just be happy if someone comes across this on their web search and gets a couple of ideas, before discovering a wealth of other places that I missed this time round.

Cheers!  Na Zdravi!

London Bridge Pub Explorations

Nottingham Forest were scheduled for a Friday evening fixture at Millwall, which seemed to me the perfect opportunity to get to London Bridge early and explore the pubs in the Borough area.
Armed with my old battered mini A-Z map and a list of possible pubs to visit, I made a pre-lunchtime start in an historical classic.

The George Inn (75-77 Borough High Street, SE1 1NH - web)
Owned by the National Trust, The George Inn is a justifiably famous Grade I listed building, dating back to the 16th century.
I've recently read Pete Brown's wonderfully informative book about this pub, 'Shakespeare's Local', whetting my own appetite for a revisit.

Stepping from the High Street into the yard that houses the pub, the first sight of the George's galleried frontage is absolutely fantastic.  

But you need to use your imagination a little to get a feel for what this would have been like in it's heyday.  The George would have occupied all sides of the yard - but now only the right-hand side buildings remain, with unflattering modern neighbours.

Making my way into the main bar, I can't help but feel this doesn't have much olde worlde character - even taking into account the excessive number of raucous drinkers in Christmas jumpers on this visit.  From the Greene King dominated beer selection, I picked the local Southwark Brewing Co. India Pale Ale. Priced at an eye-watering £5.10 a pint!
On the whole most of the rooms have a refurbished, modern feel to them, but there is an exception to this...

Peace, away from the rest of the busy pub in the Parliament Bar

The Parliament Bar is a wonderful, atmospheric, unspoiled pub room, with slightly ramshackle seating, warming fireplace and a rare, historical clock.
Several groups of folks poke their heads in, see there's no bar, and move on.  The effort of bringing your drinks back through the courtyard from the main bar seems to be too much for most, so I share this charming space with just one other table occupied by a Spanish family.

    

Finishing my pint at the George, I made the longest walk of the day, from the High Street southwards to the Libertine.

The Libertine (125 Great Suffolk Street, SE1 1PQ - web)
There was a wide mix of lunchtime customers in this Good Beer Guide listed street corner pub.  A couple of hi-vis jacketed workmen at the bar complementing the pizza, a Christmas party occupying several tables, a few old chaps reading the paper with a pint, and office folk doing lunch.
Not much space left for me, except on a stool at the end of the bar, where I sat and drank an okayish pint of Brockley Brewery's 'Winter Gold'.

The Libertine.

Lord Clyde (27 Clennam Street, SE1 1ER - web)

There's been a pub on this site for several hundred years, with the current building dating back to 1913 and little changed since.
Great traditional interior and some lovely Truman's brickwork on the outside see's the Lord Clyde listed in Britain's Best Heritage Pubs.

The Lord Clyde, lamppost invading photo.

There were four real ales on the bar, although an unremarkable line-up including Doom Bar and regular national big brewery offerings.  I opted for Otter Brewery's seasonal beer, 'Elf'.

My problem with the Lord Clyde was that I just never really felt comfortable here.  Can't quite put my finger on why, but another time I may have come away praising the pub.
Lovely mirror, though...

Rose & Crown (65 Union Street, Borough, SE1 1SG - web)
This was a pub that I hadn't planned on visiting, but went into on a whim when passing. 
It's an old corner boozer which has been resurrected by a company called 'Pub Love'. According to their website, they have a 'desire to save the great British pub', which they do by giving them a modern makeover and installing a hostel on the upper floors.

Pub Love.

Almost all the tables were reserved here, leaving just one poseur table with high stools - a little too close for comfort to the office Christmas party taking place.  (To be honest, anywhere in the same room was a little too close...)

But, beer-wise - great!  Three cask ales, including a Titanic 'Plum Porter' and 14 taps with big London breweries and some lesser seen.  I picked the Verdant Brewing Co 'Maybe One More PSI', an 8% ABV DIPA.  Single-hopped with lots of Mosaic, this was my favourite beer of the day.

Craft ales at the Rose & Crown.

The King's Arms (65 Newcomen Street, SE1 1YT - web)

I thought I may have to give the Kings Arms a miss when there was barely room to squeeze through the door.  Ordering over someone's shoulder I picked the only beer I could see, which turned out to be 'Handlebar', a tasty porter from Box Steam Brewery. 
It seemed standing around the door was most popular here, and once I got a little further in space was revealed and I managed to grab a spare stool at a table. This even came with a Forest supporter on the neighbouring stool to chat away to.

The King's Arms - grand coat of arms above the door.

The Old King's Head (King's Head Yard, 45-49 Borough High Street, SE1 1NA - web)

Friday evening, innit?
The local office workers were celebrating reaching the weekend and The Old King's Head was heaving.  I got served quickly and grabbed myself a nice wintry, Harvey's 'Old Ale'.
The first picture below was taken in the midday daylight, before I decided to make the George my starting point instead.
The second picture is from my vantage point, propped at the side of the room, surrounded by office minions laughing uproariously at the bosses jokes whilst quaffing lager, whilst I simply got hooked on the snooker.

  

Sadly, after the King's Arms and Head - no other royal body parts referenced in local pub names, so I headed back to the familiar territory of Borough Market.  

Market Porter (9 Stoney Street, Borough Market, SE1 9AA - web)
When I lived in London, The Market Porter used to be quite a regular haunt - I remember it without the rear extension, with a stupendous collection of ales, and often with the chance of getting a seat.
This evening it's frankly stupidly busy.  And it had looked equally stupidly busy when I passed earlier at lunchtime...

Photo from earlier in the day - "I'll come back later, I'm sure it'll quieten down"...ho hum

I've gotta admire the bar staff here, who must barely get a moment to take a breath.  To be fair, I got served quickly despite the crowds, picking an oatmeal porter brewed by Reunion Brewery.  The beer choice, I notice, is not as eclectic as it once was.

I was going to say that MrsPropUptheBar - the voice of sensibility - would have told me I didn't need any more beer.  But then I discovered on Untappd that she was in Brewdog, raving about a 13% Imperial Stout.
I didn't need any more beer, but force of habit took me to the Rake.

The Rake (14 Winchester Walk, Borough Market, SE1 9AG - web)
This is a fantastically small bar - more micropub than many micropubs, now I think about it.  But since it opened, it's had a steady stream of quality beers on cask and keg and is somewhere you're never likely to go wrong with the ale, provided you can squeeze in.  All the casks were featuring Bone Machine Brewery, so I had a half of their tasty mild, 'Malt Tooth Grin', to finish the evenings drinking.

And here's a picture from the away end of The New Den as a footer to this long post.
A 2-2 draw, and a return to the head-in-hands frustrations of watching Forest that I've come to expect over the years...  

No-one likes us - we don't care.

Would you Adam & Eve it?

Back in Hackney for the Pigs Ear Beer Festival, followed by an excursion into Homerton.

I've become a bit of Pigs Ear beer festival regular.  The first couple I attended were at the Stratford Town Hall, pre-Westgate shopping centre; then at the Hackney Ocean; before the Round Chapel became a regular venue for me to make an annual visit to.
I even turned up at the door of York Hall in 2004, to find the 'beer festival cancelled' notice.  It shows how things have changed that we stood in Bethnal Green like lost souls with nowhere to go back then - now we'd have a veritable choice of brewery taps, hip pubs and craft bars to pick from.

So, this was the 2019 plan: hit the beer festival, avoid any stupidly strong ales, get to a couple of Beer Guide pubs in the vicinity, call in at one of the brewery taps, then get back to Oxford (without falling asleep on the train and waking up at Kingham).
Phew!

Tropical Hackney.

The Round Chapel is a great setting for the beer festival, with it's sweeping balcony of pew seating, looking down on the two bars at either side of the room.  The downfall of this is the length of time it takes to navigate the staircase, excuse yourself past other folks on the benches, then settle yourself... by which time you're ready to head back down for a re-fill.

My first beer was possibly the best of the whole day - 'Meet a Mega Bear', an ESB by Boutilliers Brewery.  Great stuff.
A challenger on the beer ratings came from the Foreign beer bar, where I couldn't resist the 9.2% ABV 'Christmas Morning' by Hardywood Park from the USA.  That's blown the plan to avoid any stupidly strong beers then...

Beer Fest Here.

Out of the beer festival and down to Homerton High Street, it was around a 15-minute walk to get to the Adam and Eve pub.

Adam & Eve (155 Homerton High Street, E9 6AS - web)
The exterior kinda gives a clue, but this was a pretty stunning, cavernous pub within.  Now open plan, but with three distinct areas, it has raised bits of seating, two pool tables (one of them of the lesser spotted L-shaped variety) and an enormous central wooden bar.

The magnificent Adam and Eve.

The chap before me at the bar ordered food. 
"Do I need a ticket? So you know where to bring the food", he asked. 
"Nah, I'll find ya, mate".
Cue 10-minutes later, staff member wandering around aimlessly, burger in hand, shrugged his shoulders. 
"It's for the old geezer", the barman told him.
I so hoped that I've not quite reached that descriptive age, and they didn't try to deliver the food to me...

There were a wide range of characters lurking in the Adam and Eve, including a chap in full tennis whites carrying his racket around and chatting to all and sundry whilst showing off his forehand swing.

I instantly warmed to the Adam and Eve - a cracking pub.

L-shaped pool table disappointingly out of order.

Chesham Arms (16 Mehetable Road, E9 6DU - web)
This pub, in the middle of a terrace on a quiet and pleasant side street closed in 2012 with developers looking to turn it into flats.  Local campaigns and the support of Hackney Council saw it reopen in 2015.  And this evening it had the feel of a pub that the local community are proud of - families, dog-walkers and folks on their way back from work had popped in, creating a convivial atmosphere. 
I picked the Five Points 'Railway Porter' from a reasonable selection on the bar. 

Chesham Arms, Homerton.

I could just about manage one more, before tackling the journey home.
For this I headed to the run of railway arches which house all sorts of businesses, including Pressure Drop, Verdant and Hackney Church breweries.

Hackney Church Brew Co. (16 and 17 Bohemia Place, Hackney, E8 1DU - web)

For the second year running, I ended up in the Hackney Church.  
This is a large and welcoming tap room, with rows of big chunky wooden tables and benches and a modern bar unit at the one end.  You catch a glimpse of the brewing kit when heading through to the WC in the next arch.

That's actually a 2019 picture from the same location, prior to a name change to Hackney Brew Co.
This time I veered to the dark side...
"Something dark", was my answer at the bar when queried about what type of beer I was looking for.  Which is how I ended up with the un-sensible 9% ABV '1792 Imperial Stout'.

That really was my limit today, so I shelved any wild ideas I may have had to keep going at the other great venues in this area.
But even though I missed it this time, here's a picture of the Cock Tavern...

A Hackney Classic.

The Pigs Ear beer festival does make for a great trip and I suspect I'll be making the journey into East London again in a year's time.
Now I just have to write up the second successive day-trip to London - London Bridge next. 

Black Country Pub Crawl

Dudley and Brierley Hill - bostin' ales and heritage pubs...

This trip to the Black Country started with a beer festival - the Dudley Winter Ales Fayre to be precise.

Located in the town hall, they manage to pick a selection of fine winter beers with, pleasingly, barely any of them succumbing to a Christmas theme.
I was busy feeling smugly sensible avoiding the couple of tempting 10% ales, without realising that none of my picks veered far below the 6% mark. 
Strong IPAs, imperial stouts, barley wines - all packed full of flavours to rave about. 
But the less said about the Toll End 'Old Cockstrangler' the better...

Beer tokens all used, we retired to a nearby Dudley classic.

The Lamp Tavern (116 High Street, Dudley, DY1 1QT - web)
A Bathams Brewery pub, this is a welcoming and comfortable tavern. The front bar has two sections to it, both with three sides of cushioned seating and a hum of conversation, where there's no need to mess around dimming the lights and putting on music to create an atmosphere.
On the bar, alongside Bathams Bitter and Mild was the XXX winter warmer, weighing in at 6.3% ABV.  The barrel of this at the beer festival had sold-out, so it had to be tried, and made for a tasty nightcap prior to heading back to the hotel.

The Lamp Tavern - night-time photographs not my specialty.

Saturday morning saw a thick fog shrouding Dudley, which meant we never even got to see the remains of the castle on the hill on our morning 'sightseeing' stroll.

Mappiman found a scenic route to take in the pubs in Dudley's surrounding towns, but I didn't do so well.  Following Google's instructions to get to Netherton, the highlight of our walk was a signpost to Bumble Hole with the 'ble' blanked out.  Yep, ours wasn't an urban culture classic walk.

Sunshine and blue skies broke through the fog - the first weekend in November that wasn't dull, grey and wet.
Enthusiastically early, we arrived at The Old Swan around 5 minutes before their 11am opening time, left to lurk in anticipation. 

Spent my five minutes before opening time waiting for gap in traffic to photograph the pub.

The Old Swan Inn (Ma Pardoes) (89 Halesowen Road, DY2 9PY)

This is a classic pub that has deservedly been on many a beer trip itinerary.  When CAMRA first started there were just 4 brewpubs in the country, this being one of them.  Brewing on site did stop in 1988, but resumed again in 2000.
Asking for the barman's recommendation, I settled down with a pint of 'Pardoes Entire'.
I completely missed the 'Black Widow', which at 6.7%ABV would have given me the chance to pick up where I left off the previous evening with the strong beers. 
Someone ordered it a little later, to words of caution from the local at the bar  -  "Fella come in, had a couple of pints of it... Had t'pick 'im up from pavement outside, we did".
On reflection, I decided I'd probably be wiser to stick to beers in the 4% region today.

An absolutely incredible pub room.

We sat in the magnificent front bar - a true classic.  There's a central stove, with it's pipe extending up and across the ceiling, bench seating around the walls and a wonderful enamel tiled ceiling.
I did explore a little further, poking my head into the snug which is reached through the old off-sales counter at the side of the bar.  Beyond this, a lounge bar has been created out of what was once a neighbouring shop, a nice way of increasing space without impacting upon the pub.

From outside Ma Pardoe's we caught Bus 81 down to Brierley Hill and walked a short distance to the nearby Waterfront development. In what once housed the Black Country Radio, there is a recently-opened Peaky Blinders inspired bar.

The Garrison (Unit 47, The Waterfront, Brierley Hill, DY5 1XJ - web)
Here's what the local paper says:
"It features a unique epoxy resin bar - reminiscent of the copper bars of the 1920s, dark wood furniture and ceilings which appear nicotine-stained - to give that 1920s feel."
Okay, so perhaps expecting it to look exactly like the pub on the tele was unrealistic, but I didn't really get that 1920s feel either.  The Peaky Blinders appear on a wall-sized picture behind a small stage and on murals outside and in the bathrooms.
I might have warmed to it more had we had a soundtrack of music from the show - a bit of Nick Cave, Anna Calvi and Arctic Monkeys, perhaps.  But no. 
What we got was a dreadful Christmas compilation.

On the bright side, The Garrison is in the 2020 Good Beer Guide, and they had a fine selection of ales including Titanic 'Plum Porter' and Garrison house ales by Fixed Wheel.
No complaints about the beers we picked, both in excellent condition.

We had a 10-minute walk across the canal, then along a couple of streets to our next destination.

The Rose & Crown (161 Bank Street, Brierley Hill, DY5 3DD)

We picked the left-hand door into the bar here, leading to a busy, small room with a local crowd. A few old boys at the bar, families with kids completely glued to their mobile phones, no-one paying attention to Man City on a small TV in the corner, and an 80's music mix, featuring a bit of Toto and Culture Club. 
Five hand-pumps on the bar dispensed Holdens ales, from which we picked a 'Black Country Bitter' and 'Treacle Stout', sitting on a table by the fire to enjoy them.

Giant conservatory.

This was a friendly enough local pub with good beer, but what we wanted was a Black Country classic.  And for that, we had to stroll down Brierley Hill's main drag and out past Delph Locks. 

Vine Inn (Bull & Bladder) (10 Delph Road, Brierley Hill - web)
Just look at it! 
Yellow frontage, complete with Shakespeare quote, looking stunning in the sunshine - could anyone pass by this and not go in?
The current pub was built in 1912 and is the brewery tap of Bathams. That meant the same no-nonsense beer choice as the Lamp in Dudley -  Bitter, Mild or the seasonal XXX.

The front bar is the most classic of the four rooms that make up this wonderful pub.  No seats in there today though, so we ordered our pints and took them through to the back room.  This is a slightly more recent addition, but is full of character, with red leather cushioned seating around the sides and a dartboard in pride of place at one end.

I seem to remember claiming that all I needed for lunch each day from
now on was a giant cheese & onion cob.

Bad planning on my part here, as I consulted an Ale Trail leaflet to see what else was close by, but missed a current Pub of the Region at Cradley.  Where we ended up instead was in Quarry Bank at the...

Church Tavern (36 High Street, Quarry Bank, DY5 2AA -  fb)
Mrs PropUptheBar didn't much like this one.  I think the disappointments of the weekend (the banana and cinnamon wheat beer hadn't arrived at the beer festival, and there was no Cillian Murphy sitting chain-smoking in the corner of the Garrison pub) were beginning to wear her down.
It's a proper local pub, pleasantly tatty and busy with folks chatting and playing cards and keeping an eye on the horse-racing on TV.
I don't remember what ales they had on, but I picked the one I'd never heard of from The Hartlebury Brewing Company. Another decent pint of trad bitter.

Church Tavern, Quarry Bank.  Spot the indicator of a 'proper pub'.

From here we caught the bus for a long ride back to Birmingham city centre.  Plans to visit the Pint Shop or Wellington were dealt a blow by the crowds that had descended on the Christmas market.  Wetherspoon's had a one-in one-out queue, for crying out loud!  Far too busy and crazy for me, so instead we headed to a new Beer Guide entry on the other side of New Street station...

Cherry Red's Cafe Bar (88-92 John Bright Street, Birmingham, B1 1BN - web)
Somewhere completely different - this is a corner-cafe with a big display of cakes to the side of the bar and a good menu of home-cooked food.  Both upstairs and down were busy, as you'd expect on a Saturday evening in Birmingham, but we scored lucky with a table.
There are three cask ales, alongside craft taps and a big bottle/can selection.

After having a tasty bite to eat, we checked the train times, to see that our's was cancelled. 
So I had to rush my Attic 'Hansel & Gateau' stout to make it to the station in time for the earlier alternative.
A great 24-hours in the West Midlands - and still lots left to do to necessitate a return visit or three.

Blokes propping up the bar at Cherry Reds.