Dudley Winter Ales Fayre 2025

Surely it can't be the end of November already? I triple check the calendar and there's no getting away from the fact that 2025 is fast vanishing, but this time of year always carries certain compensations in the form of the Dudley Winter Ales Fayre. This staple of the West Midlands beer festival scene has become an absolutely essential event - I've attended every one they've staged since 2010 - and the latest edition promises to be a bonanza of beer, grey peas and crackling company...

- Town Hall Temptations -

Trip Log: 28th November 2025 and our preferred Friday afternoon slot at Dudley Town Hall has been lined up for weeks if not months. Jane and I make the journey over from Tettenhall Wood aboard the number 1 bus whereas Nick travels from in Warwick via the 87, giving him a tour of Smethwick and Oldbury he could probably have done without. One way or another, we all converge upon St James Road at around half past eleven, greeted by the now-familiar CAMRA banner with its approximations of prickly holly leaves. £12 entry gets me my kit of tokens, glass and programme so let's see what's up for sampling this year...

- Serious about Snowflake -

No sooner have we set foot inside than Jane strides straight to the cider stand eager to get the lowdown on which from the sixteen offerings best fits her personal tastes - Snails Bank Fruit Bat is a sensible start with combinations of berry fruit. Nick is already circling, armed with his Loch Lomond Silkie Stout so I join him on the dark side courtesy of Northdown's Tidal Moon Stout, a Margate-based brew described as "brimming with dark chocolate, boozy cherry and a hint of vanilla tannins" - I don't disagree with that assessment. The chance to try some special heavyweight ales which are only brewed in anticipation of the festive period is part of Dudley's attraction, hence Nick makes sure to garner a glug of Sarah Hughes Snowflake barley wine before dwindling stocks run out completely. His eyebrows confirm that he likes it rather a lot!

- A Trip to Valhalla? -

Other favourites in line for royal reacquaintance include Enville's Gothic Ginger and Holden's Old Ale, a treacly treat he always likes to seek out. I'm experimenting with a varied selection of stuff I've never tried before; Ickle's Purple therefore carries notes of Vimto - I kid you not - then Cult of Oak's 1138 Matildine Mild delivers a "smooth, malty depth that evokes the defiance of Empress Matilda’s forces during the 1138 Siege of Dudley" (quite how they know these things is questionable but my besieged tastebuds aren't objecting to the spicy clove-laden mixture). Our cider correspondent Jane has taken it upon herself to alternate between lower and higher strength tipples, with locally-produced Mousesweet Valhalla vying with Oak & Axe for her affections - she's a woman not to be messed with if dangerous weaponry is present!

- Hearty Sustenance -

Collectively we've taken up residence in the Tommy Mundon Lounge where we can witness first hand how popular the Little Devils food menu is proving. Every year I look forward to the snacks almost as much as the beer, such is the enjoyment to be gained by gorging on Black Country delicacies. The menu involves simple good grub, from huge cobs to tubs of faggots, mash and mushy peas, or cottage pie with a cheesy topping, not forgetting burly bricks of bread pudding you could use as doorstops if you chose not to eat them. For me however it has to be the grey peas and bacon accompanied by a buttered slice, a dish of delight if ever there was one! Miss Woolf meanwhile gets her wish for a roast pork bap, using all her powers of persuasion to secure the biggest bits of crackling available!

- Chancing the Charlton House -

Back with the booze, Jane is persuaded to try a Pear & Chilli perry (she declares herself partial to this once it is confirmed that the heat isn't overpowering) whereas I spend up on a Cinder Toffee Stout that fuses the taste of charcoal ash with Crunchie bars. The festival fun may be now done and dusted but we maintain tradition by embarking upon a little pubcrawl. Our old standby the Courthouse is currently closed after Black Country Ales chose to divest themselves of the premises, so we're grateful that Bathams' Lamp Tavern is still as good as ever at the top of Blowers Green Road. Here, rear lounge musings on the state of the Higher Education sector are accompanied by wonky picture frames and ornamental zebras, then we relocate to my wildcard choice of the Charlton House on Priory Street. An elegant townhouse facade belies a relatively plain interior with down-to-earth regulars seeming mostly friendly. Guiness suffices in the side room as a young pushchair-wielding couple play darts.

- A.I. Moments in the Malt Shovel -

Whether a respectable royal such as Nick ever wants to be seen in the Charlton House again is a matter for debate, but it's safe to say he'd have no aversion to revisiting the Malt Shovel. This Dudley town centre gem has retained its berth in the Good Beer Guide and demonstrates why with an immaculate serving of Titanic Plum Porter Grand Reserve; conversation turns to the daunting topic of artificial intelligence whereby His Majesty and Jane ponder the possibiity of sentient computer entities ever turning on their human masters. Should the machines one day succeed in achieving world domination, I hope they leave us in peace to enjoy Dudley Winter Ales for many more years to come. Cheers!

Dudley Winter Ales Fayre 2024

When it comes to beer festivals, one date above all others always gets circled in my calendar as being absolutely essential - yes, every autumn the end of November must mean that the Dudley Winter Ales Fayre is imminent. 2024 is no different so off to the Town Hall we go, eager to see which ales and ciders are being showcased this year...

- Coroners Court -

It's Friday 29th November 2024 and the annual pilgrimage is on, catching the number 1 bus across from Tettenhall Wood to the temporary Tower Street terminus, anticipation building with every mile for the treasure of tipples that lies in wait. I could probably navigate to St James's Road in my sleep, so familiar has the walk now become, and at just after 11 o'clock we join an expectant throng queuing outside the Town Hall box office. Here I can admire original lettering recalling the provision of a coroners court and Brooke Robinson Memorial Museum. The hall complex is Grade II* listed having been designed by Harvey and Wicks, first opening in 1928. 

- Primed for Bread Pudding -

Once inside and replete with orange token cards, we can launch into the carefully curated range of casked temptations. Bathams XXX is a famed winter warmer which always sells out quickly so I make sure to get a third of that under my belt pronto. Nick encounters an Enville Old Porter followed by a Wilde Childe Brownie Hunter, whereas I progress via my own taste of liquid heaven in the form of Jolly Boys Chocolate Fudge Porter - you literally can have your cake and drink it! The Little Devils food concession seems equally as popular as the main bars, dispensing grey peas and bacon, faggots with mash, huge cobs or hand-raised pork pies, not to mention hefty slabs of bread pudding - ideal stodge for soaking up all the beer.

- Cuckoo Penny Cider -

There is plenty to keep our cider correspondent Jane occupied too. I'm reliably informed that the Pornstar Martini infused one has a pronounced passionfruit flavour, while the Celtic Tiger also scores highly albeit perhaps upstaged by Cuckoo Penny for its rhubarb tartness. Mulled offerings involving gingerbread and sugar plums are duly accounted for, then back on the beer front I can wholeheartedly commend Fixed Wheel's Grand Reserve, a specially ramped-up take on their Blackheath Stout as created to celebrate the brewery's tenth anniversary. It's always good to go out with a bang, hence we respectively avail ourselves of Sarah Hughes Snowflake, Broadoak Premium Perry and Davenport's Top Brew Deluxe, the latter of those being the 7.2% weakling from a powerhouse of a trio!

- Bathams XXX -

Any sadness that our tokens are all spent is offset by the pub possibilities to come elsewhere in Dudley town centre. The Lamp Tavern on Blowers Green Road is a perennial favourite, one of twelve Bathams tied houses so you know you're going to be in for a treat, especially once I realise that the XXX is on here too - a very potent 6.3%. The former Queens Cross brewhouse to the rear has been converted into a function suite which hosts a regular blues club, although we settle in the cosy lounge chatting about classic Star Trek characters. Nick is educated that Spock's correct title is Mr rather than Dr, and some furry wolf ears may have made an appearance - more of those shortly...

- Dudley? It's Bostin! -

Backtracking along the High Street, we pass the site of the old Hanson's Brewery next door to the Three Crowns (an Asda supermarket is in situ nowadays) then note the ever-reassuring presence of 'Top Church' as dedicated to St Thomas - this is the counterpart to St Edmund's a.k.a. 'Bottom Church' which stands near the junction with Castle Hill. Bostin banners give further encouragement as we nip through an increasingly dusky Market Place with Duncan Edwards's statue watching on. The stalls have most packed away for the evening but there are some Christmas lights to add a certain twinkle to proceedings.

- Ear all about it in the Courthouse -

Two Tower Street taverns will form our Dudley denouement, one either end of the road. First up is the Courthouse, a Black Country Ales establishment which usually muscles it way into our festival itinerary; Elgoods Blackberry Porter is full of fruity goodness and the £3 cobs have some serious wedges of cheddar - yum! The Malt Shovel is thirty seconds stroll away and is part of the Rojo Pub Group (along with the likes of the Tame Bridge, Red House Boutique and Sedgley's Swan). Kinver Khyber meets Sarah Hughes Dark Ruby Mild as we nab a table by the rounded hearth, modelling the aforementioned wolf ears for all that they are worth. A pit stop at the Mount Pleasant (Stump) during the ride home is much too close for cricketing comfort as far as Jane is concerned but the beer is routinely excellent there too. Cheers!