Recently by Pint Sized

Lunchtime drinking is a sadly lost art. Even in journalism, formerly the last resort of a feckless ne'er-do-well looking to combine full-time employment with a raging drink habit.

No more the 'swift half' turning into a pint, then two pints, and so on in a self-propagating Fibonacci sequence of drinks leaving you at best hung over, or at worst asleep, at your desk come 4pm.

We're all professionals now - or at least we have to pretend to be. So it was a treat to be out on a training course earlier this week when suddenly a window off opportunity presented itself. A reasonable lunch break, the sun was shining, the hint of summer was in the air. Where to go? Why a darkened pub and a pint of warm beer please!

Jazz and Real Ale go together like Wimbledon and Cliff Richard, in that fans of both show a propensity towards beards and jumpers, and a general alienation from popular society.

Of course it's more likely to be turtlenecks and goatees than the facial privet hedges and thick-knit Arran sweaters beloved by us ale-drinkers, but the principle stays the same.

But enough of such silly stereotypes. I'm just suffering from beard envy anyway. Check out the baby-smooth chin under that pint glass on my picture over there. I couldn't grow so much as a George Clooney style fashion fuzz without a few months' notice.

In journalism, there's such a thing as an 'editor's must'. Meaning broadly that whatever the editor tells you to do, you do - and are grateful for the privilege.

As a seasoned (or at least partly pickled) journalist, I've got used to this over time. But in a personal first, this time I've actually been ordered to go down the pub. Being ordered to do something you were going to do anyway is a gratifying, but mildly unnerving experience. It's as if you were a squaddy woken up at reveille, to find your drill sergeant bellowing at you to stay in bed and have a bit of rest.

Sometimes it's hard, being a blogger... But not when your blog is a collection of pub reviews.

Now I normally restrict myself to beer when out at the pub, to avoid making a spectacle of myself - it doesn't always work.

But this is is the grand re-opening of The Crown, and as it's larger than an envelope, naturally I'm there. And it would seem unfair not to have a glass of champagne while enjoying my first trip there.

Not from me I'm afraid. But in recent news, the head of the Highgate Brewery, which has recently started making the famous and sadly-missed Davenports beer again is offering free beer for a year to anyone who can track down a copy of the memorable "Beer at home means Davenports" television advert.

So get searching through the old VHS collection. And I'll be offering a free pint* to whoever can come up with the best suggestion for their favourite television beer advert. Here's one to get the ball rolling...

This is the latest blog brought to you by the fantastic Birmingham Post blogs section, and a resurfacing of a previous one. Over the coming days, weeks or months I'll be searching for the top brew in the pubs, clubs and bars of Birmingham and the West Midlands. No beer mat will be left unturned, no pub guide unchecked, no bartender or local blearily unexamined in the quest for the perfect pint.

Benjamin Franklin, a very clever man by all accounts, once said: "Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." And with new breweries and new pints to try springing up by the bushelful every year, there's never been a better time to go out and look for the best place to enjoy a swift half - or more.

Of course, as a dedicated professional during the working hours, this blogger doesn't have time to visit the pub more than once or twice a day at the very most.