Real ale lovers invited to put in the hard yards and visit pubs all across the West Midlands as popular brewery real ale trail returns
Lovers of real ale are being invited to visit as many pubs as they can and get their miles in over the next three months as a brewery's real ale trail returns.
The Black Country Ales Real Ale Trail offers the opportunity for people to visit pubs across the region, each with its own character and place within its local community, from March 1 to May 31.
The Trail encourages customers to discover houses they may not have visited before, while enjoying well kept cask ale in traditional surroundings, with Black Country Ales having 55 pubs across the West Midlands for people to visit.
These include pubs from as far afield as Hereford, Ludlow, Rugby, Leicester and Malvern, as well as in towns and cities across the Black Country, and people will be able to collect stamps from as many as possible, with people gathering 25 stamps eligible to receive a prize of a Real Ale Trail Rugby Shirt and a £25 Gift Card to be redeemed in any Black Country Ales pub.
Black Country Ales managing director Graham Manwaring said the trail had started in 2011 after being inspired by a trail being done in Walsall and had just built from there.
He said: "The idea came about because Walsall CAMRA were doing a trail of the real ale trail around the town and we thought it would be a good idea to do a real ale trail around our pubs, with Debbie Goode at the Black Country Arms being there at the start of it.
"We had about 15 or 16 pubs at the time and, for the trail, we used 12 of them, but it's obviously expanded to 55 pubs all across the Black Country and West Midlands.
"It's all about getting customers together as a lot of them go in at different times of the day, but never meet people at other times of the day, so you get them going around on minibuses on the trail and meeting people, so it brings them together."
Mr Manwaring said there would always been a good selection of beers available at each pub, tailored to the tastes and selections by customers, but always with the three staples of Bradley's Finest Golden, Pig on the Wall and Fireside available.
Black Country Ales operations manager Anthony Walker said the trail was very important for the company as a way of engaging with customers and promoting the brand.
He said: "It gives all our customers a chance to explore and visit the pubs further afield and a lot of the pubs have got their own buses going around the pubs, so they will be trying to go to the far flung places
"It's great to see them going out as Black Country Ales is the brand name, but we seem to be getting to all sorts of places, which means the brand is working.
"It's really great to see as it's a buzz for the customers as they come in and get the stamps and it's just a great way to spend a weekend."
The 55 pubs on the list for Black Country Ales can be found at the Black Country Ales website.
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