Beer Revere Down the Deritend
Over 4,000 people made this journey last year to Birmingham Beer festival and in the course Digbeth cemented its reputation as an epi-beer centre. In a city of such size you see the big beer boys all too often as the main drink offering but a collection of pubs are bucking the beer supermarkets in favour of an indie alternative and there are a number of Digbeth pubs championing this mantle.
Eddie at The Lamp Tavern is one and down an industrial looking street you'll find a welcoming Irish gentleman and a long standing Camra Good Beer Guide recommended establishment. With an ever changing selection of cask ale on up to 5 hand pulls and an ever diminishing spare seat after opening time the Lamp is a beer gem.
Only 15 minutes away on Bradford Street where the number 50 bus rattles through every 10 minutes (someone told me once, in a pub, it was the busiest bus service in Europe) you'll find The Anchor. Situated on a prominent corner position the stained glass windows shimmer at you as you walk in. This family run multi Camra awarded pub of the year offers a huge selection of rotating cask ales; they need a massive chalkboard to share the news as the handpulls snake round the bar. There's another chalkboard just for the craft beer bottles, which fight each other for shelf space behind the bar counter. It’s the first pub I’ve ever seen Barbar, a Belgium honey beer, on draught.
Further up Bradford Street, as the River Rea flows underneath your path, stands a beautiful example of a Victorian Grade II listed terracotta tiled pub called The White Swan, yes it’s a Marston’s pub but it offers a reassured pint of Jennings and Wychwood ale in a majestic surrounding. Sitting between graffiti covered walls, you might think you’d walked into a back street of Bristol, but Birmingham doesn’t shout about the wealth of artists working within its boundaries, it just expects you to come and see for yourself. Henry Bradford donated the land in the 1700s for people to build businesses and trade and at its high point there were over twenty public houses to quench the workers’ thirst. The White Swan still remains resplendent between the rubble strewn half-redeveloped landscape of Digbeth.
Round the corner on Warwick Street between the newly built flats resides a mythical pub which welcomes city explorers with open arms called The Spotted Dog. John Tighe has owned the pub since the eighties and brings his idiosyncratic vision, charm and warmth to the venue. One of the only pubs where you could indulge in a pint of Ansells’ Mild and keep up to date on the local Lithuanian Irish community news. Due to Carlsberg’s decision to sadly axe this historic mild John’s switched to local brewer’s ABC Aston Mild, which all in all totals three handpulls of real ale. Thrown into the mix film nights, big band music spectaculars, local action group meetings and the legendary birth of the Digbeth O’Lympics at the pub, you realise the positive links between beer and community and how the two intertwine. 
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