After leaving south Devon in our campervan on Wednesday morning we arrived in the Birmingham area at a campsite in the middle of nowhere called Waddell Grove. We decided to check out on WhatPub which real ales were available close by - we found The Whitley which had a large range of Black Country ales available in cask as you would expect, including …a few were sampled and were very good.

After a goods night's sleep we slowly made our way to The. Beacon Hotel in Sedgley which was our next stop over for the night. After settling in and having a couple of pints of Sarah Hughes Sunrise, we made an arduous journey to the GBBF at the NEC via an unreliable bus and 2 trains changing at Birmingham New Street for Birmingham International. It was worth the effort - the GBBF did not disappoint. The American bar especially was very interesting and expensive - around £9 a pint! I sampled the 8.5% Mild. However, it was good to see Copperhead and Bridgetown. Breweries represented with Pale Rider and Copperhead Ale and Albert Ale. There was a large selection of Black IPA’s available. We bumped into some members of the Exeter Branch - Graham Boult and James Kirkcaldy who made us very welcome Dave presents the certificate
The layout of the bars was interesting - hand pumps on each bar and there were about 7 bars. Behind the bars was a screen and behind that the casks were in refrigerated containers. Anyone who has been to the NEC will know how large the halls are. The GBBF was housed in 2 of these halls. There was a stage in the corner of one with many recreational activities such as dart boards, table skittles and many other games.
We then returned to The Beacon Hotel via 2 trains and a bus. We spent the evening in the hotel sampling their amazing beers at the amazing price of £4 a pint, as well as some fabulous pork scratchings. On Friday morning, as we were close to Enville Brewery we stopped to present them with their certificate for winning Midlands Beer of the festival at our Totnes Beer and Cider Fest - Enville Ale. We then made a slow trip home to Kingsteignton on the very busy M5 with a cool box full of Black County Ales !!

Dave & Amanda Buckler