Blessings of Your Heart, You Brew Good Ale

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Randomly tonight, I chanced on a small guide to the rules for the card game of cribbage; a game I used often to play and which, as far as I know, is still the only card game legally playable in UK public houses. Which made me think back to the 1970s and The Lads [blog posts passim] playing crib at The Lamp Tavern, in Dudley, now in the larger metropolitan conurbation of the West Midlands. The Lamp has a special place in my beer-drinker's heart as it was the place where I was introduced to one of the finest ales ever created at the hand of mankind: Batham's Best Bitter, a decently strong beer, even by modern standards, at 4.3% ABV [that's OG 1043.5, old school]; so four pints at lunchtime on a Saturday was a bit of an undertaking, if you were to make it out for the evening session, which we always did, naturally. 

Batham's brewery was founded in 1877 and had establishments ranging from the pub that housed the brewery in Brierley Hill: The Bull & Bladder, otherwise known as The Vine; to The Royal Exchange in Stourbridge, where it was customary - there and only there - to serve the bitter with a head: every other Batham's pub serving it flat. The question of which or the other was correct never came up; it was just a thing. The only Batham's outlet distant from the Black Country was weirdly in North Wales, between Cerrigydrudion and Pentrefoelas on the A5. The pub's still there, but I don't think the Batham's is. As it's a good hour's drive from here in Rachub, I'm not going there on spec to see, one way or the other. But given the state of the pub business generally these days, anything or more likely nothing, is possible. Sad, but true...

Comments

  1. Anonymous5 March 2026 at 10:18

    How long do you give the Tryfan when it opens with a "posh" menu mate?
    ATB
    Joe

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. sideways5 March 2026 at 12:08

      Unless Bethesda comes up with tourist-snaring strategy and better car parking, not long...

      Delete
  2. Phil.5 March 2026 at 10:37

    Went around the Delph Brewery on a guided tour years ago. Fascinating and like going back in time. Bathams is on tap at The Old Moseley Arms, (which also has an excellent Balti Chef) and is the only establishment, as far as I know, that serves it outside of the tied Bathams estate. We go there quite often. The food and beer are top-spec. Trust AOK. Phil.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. sideways5 March 2026 at 12:10

      AOK, our kid! Jealous of your close proximity to Bathams, though ;0)

      Delete

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