Dudley Winter Ales Fayre 2022

No year of visiting beer festivals is ever complete until I've been to the Dudley Winter Ales Fayre, an unmissable celebration of stronger seasonal brews that takes place in late November. It's fair to say I've been looking forward to the event for months and months, as has Nick who will also be eager to sample the wares...

- St James Church, Eve Hill -

Friday 25th November 2022 brings with it the promise of cracking beer and decent sunshine, so I put the blue skies to good use by grabbing some pictures en route to Dudley. Given that the Town Hall's address is St James's Road, I'm keen to visit the church after which the road is named hence I hop off the number 1 bus at Eve Hill to investigate. Designed in the Early English style, the building dates from the 1840s and is an imposing Wolverhampton Street feature when heading towards the town centre. A few snapshots from the churchyard are followed by a steady stroll passing S.T. Records and the old Burgin's newsagents shop. 

- Dudley Library Architecture -

Further architectural flourishes can be detected on St James's Road itself, where the Grade II-listed Dudley Library boasts Edwardian Baroque stylings and effectively adjoins the Town Hall. Nick and I have arranged to meet up at the Courthouse, a Black Country Ales pub reprising its role as our traditional festival curtain-raiser as we seem to rendezvous here most years. Very crusty cobs go well alongside our contrasting halves of Byatt's Extra Foreign Stout and Derby Brewing Company's Buckeye Brown. The jovial young landlord is stoking a lovely real fire and laments having to put up his Christmas decorations when it isn't even December yet, while Wales concede two very late goals to lose to Iran in their crucial World Cup fixture. 

- Plum Porter Grand Reserve -

And so to the main event as we hand over the necessary £20 admission and are furnished with DWAF 2022 commemorative glasses, programmes and the all-important beer tokens at the Town Hall box office. My opening tipple is Holden's Santa Scores, brewed especially for the World Cup period, whereas Nick avails himself of a Robust Porter (Humper Doucy) which lives up to its sturdy billing. Taking residence in the Tommy Mundon Lounge - named in tribute to a popular Black Country comedian - we progress through the likes of Goacher's Crown Imperial Stout, Davenport's Vanilla Porter and Kinver's Raspberry Ram. A special mention must however go to Titanic's Plum Porter Grand Reserve, stronger and even more plummy than their fruity bestseller - we like that a lot!

- Ticking off those tokens -

Part of the joy of Dudley Winter Ales Fayre is getting to taste beers that are only brewed at this time of year, those winter warmers that appear in the lead up to Christmas. Sarah Hughes Snowflake and Bathams XXX are thus present and correct while Green Jack's Baltic Trader is a 10.5% heavyweight that needs to be approached with caution. Another of our joint favourites has to be the Gurt's Coconut Rum Stout from Cerne Abbas, a real throat tickler to savour. It's great seeing old faces again too and the atmosphere is one of genial contentment as the Friday afternoon hours simply fly by. All too soon we're spending out with Penzance's Prussian Gold and thoughts turn to where we might go next...

- Cyder & Cobb, Blackheath -

The answer to that will be Blackheath, courtesy of the X8 bus through Rowley Village. We're hoping to track down a micropub that's earned a spot in the 2023 Good Beer Guide, and sure enough Halesowen Street presents us with Cyder & Cobb in a shopfront unit. The £5.50 meal deal offer catches our eye, comprising pint, cob and crisps/scratchings - we duly partake of Dancing Duck's Dark Drake and a well-fired cob each, and are just happily minding our own business when a group of Nick's Heart of Warwickshire contacts arrive. They're on a tight schedule to squeeze in five post-festival pub stops on their way home but there's more than enough time for Nick to get enthusiastically hugged by social secretary Julie. 

- Nutcracker Soldier, Queen Square -

As the Warwick crew troop back off to their minibus, Nick and I make the Swan on Long Lane our final port of call. It's nearing kick off time for the England v USA Group B match but we manage to find a spare table at which to quaff the mysteriously-titled Woolly Bugger, another of the Izaak Walton Brewhouse's fishing-themed creations (apparently it's a fly for catching trout). Discussions about the Black Country Ales trail mingle with the only-to-be-expected football chat, and we keep up with the score whilst catching our respective X8s home. A 0-0 bore draw suggests we didn't miss very much, and Adam the nutcracker soldier greets me in Wolverhampton by providing one last photo opportunity to round off an excellent day. Cheers!