AAA at the Wellington

The vagaries of work take me down from Edinburgh to Birmingham a few times each year, and although the travel and crappy hotel are never welcome – the Wellington certainly is. Previously I’ve written two ‘…in praise of’ articles on this fantastic pub (here and here), located on Bennet’s Hill just a short wander from New Street Station. This time I won’t go too much into the pub’s philosophy, only to say I hot-footed it there again as soon as I could, and tried three beers that they had marked as A on their beer board. Perfect for a summer’s evening quaffing, they lie on a scale of A – E, where A’s are light golden ales and E’s roasty porters.

A1. Pure Gold (3.8%abv)
Purity Brewery, Gt Alne, Warwickshire

Purity are the multi-award winning brewery from Warwickshire – their Pure UBU having been voted one of the world’s top 50 beers in 2007. On my last visit to the Wellington I was introduced to another of their beers, the excellent Mad Goose, a zesty pale ale named after an irritable wildfowl that plagues the brewers. This time I went for Pure Gold, an ex-champion beer of the West Midlands. It’s a classic golden ale similar in style to Suffolk’s St Peter’s, dry and midly hoppy, with the dryness continuing into the finish. The lack of sweetness makes it very sessiony and drinkable.

A2. Harrowby Pale Ale (3.9%abv)
Oldershaw Brewery, Grantham, Lincolnshire

Next I went for a new producer to me – Lincolnshire’s Oldershaw Brewery, based in Grantham. Harrowby Pale Ale was just as light and golden in colour as the Pure Gold, justifying the A-rating in the beer list. It was more malty in the finish than the previous beer though, and even drier. Still light in flavour though, with almost the same abv value nudging below 4%. One of the classic characteristics of summer ales is the biscuity aftertaste, and Harrowdy Pale Ale delivered that in spades. It reminded me of Inveralmond’s Homecoming Ale that we sampled at the Stockbridge Tap beer festival a few months ago.

A3. Forti-fived (4.5%abv)
Tower Brewery, Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire

The final A-rated offering I tried on this visit to the Wellington was the Tower Brewey’s Forti-fived, a brand new beer from the small-scale producer in the heart of British (and arguably Global) brewing, Burton-on-Trent. They describe it as a ‘very quaffable golden hoppy mid gravity ale’ , which it certainly was. Unsurprisingly it had stronger alcohol notes than the previous two given the abv – although only subtly, as it still doesn’t trouble the 5% mark. It has a basic hoppiness, but to me tasted like a lightish bitter, which was eminently drinkable, and another suitable ale for the glorious British summer. Now if only the Wellington had a beer garden.