13 local breweries whose beers you can look out for next time you buy a pint

These are just a selection of breweries in the region we should be proud of – and supporting when we next look to buy a pint of beer.

AJ Ales

Run by husband and wife team Andy and Charlotte Dukes, AJ Ales is a micro-brewery based in Walsall with a tap house on site.

The brewery was set up by Andy Dukes in 2014 after learning his trade at Highgate brewery then, following the closure of the brewery in 2010, moved on to Blue Bear Brewery in Worcester where his duties included responsibility for the day to day brewing giving him further opportunity to hone his skills. Over the past decade, he has created more than 20 different ales including his bestseller, S.P.A 4.2% which is a smooth pale ale brewed with Australian hops that a peach aroma and tropical fruity flavour. Mr Dukes uses a four-barrel brewing system and a normal brewing day will see him produce 144 gallons of beer, enough to fill 1,152 pint glasses.

Black Country Ales

Black Country Ales continues to brew beer at the Old Bull’s Head in GornalLocated in Lower Gornal, beer has been brewed on the site of the Old Bull’s Head since 1834 by Edward Guest.

The brewery was mothballed after the Second World War, but was reformed in 2004 and still uses much of its original equipment, while also owning and operating numerous pubs across the region. The brewing plant at The Old Bull’s Head has capacity to produce up to 60 firkins (small barrels) of beer each batch, with the best known and most popular beers being Pig on the Wall, Bradley’s Finest Golden and Fireside.

Bathams

Bathams Brewery has been run by six generations since the 1870s from the brewery in Brierley Hill.

The company has continued to expand from 1882 when Daniel Batham senior became the landlord of the White Horse in Cradley Heath. It produces three cask conditioned beers, Best Bitter, Mild and the 6.3 per cent XXX. Bathams is now run by brothers Tim and Matt Batham.

It is one of few breweries that still use 54-gallon hogshead casks and owns twelve pubs across the Black Country.

Craddocks Brewery

Craddocks provides beer for four pubs around the region. The brewery was created following the opening of two pubs in Stourbridge town centre. The Plough and Harrow was the first, opened in 2006, then the Duke William in 2009 and the brewery was installed at the Duke William in March 2011. The next two years the focus of the company was on perfecting the beers and remaining traditional and true to the local heritage of small, family-run pub and brewery companies.

It became famous for Dottie the Dray horse, who would work every Sunday delivering the beer to the Plough and Harrow.

Davenports

Famed for its ‘beer at home’ delivery service, Davenports produces a range of beers as well as owning and running pubs in the region

Based in Smethwick, Davenports is one of the largest brewing and pub retailing companies in the region, with a bespoke artisan brewery, distribution centre and head office. As well as producing the Original, Mild, IPA and Gold Ale, Davenports also operates a large number of pubs, including city centre venue bars, traditional ‘Heart of the Community’ pubs, hotels, night clubs and event venues.

Enville

Enville was founded by Will Constantin-Cort, a glass designer who turned his hand to brewing after being made redundant from his job as head of design at Royal Brierley Crystal. He started producing a beekeeper’s ale using a recipe passed down from his great-great aunt in 1993, which quickly became established as one of the region’s favourite beers.

It has five regular staples – the original Enville Ale, Enville Ginger, Old Porter, the straw-coloured Enville White, made with wheat, and Simpkiss Bitter, a revival of a beer produced by the now defunct Simpkiss brewery. It also produces a number of seasonal beers.

Fixed Wheel

A relative newcomer to the Black Country real-ale scene, the award-winning Fixed Wheel in Blackheath was founded by keen cyclist Scott Povey and Sharon Bryant.Quick to spot the potential of the micropub scene, the Blackheath-based brewery has won numerous awards and has become something of a staple at Black Country beer festivals.

Its main lines are Wheelie Pale, the Through & Off session IPA, Chain Reaction pale ale, and Blackheath Stout.

Fountain Brewery

The Fountain Brewery in Essington is owned by the Fountain Pub in Lower Gornal, which bought the brewery in April 2023 to help supply the pub. Previously Morton Brewery, it now supplies a range of beers to the Fountain, with the first beer Fountain Ales Bit of Citra brewed and put on sale in May 2023.

Based on Temple Street, it offers a choice of 10 real ales.

Green Duck

Green Duck Brewery has been endorsed by none other than George the Stourbridge Junction Station cat

Green Duck Brewery was founded in 2013 in Stourbridge by a group of friends with a “Desire to produce modern, innovative and approachable beers.”

The brewery has been a regular setting for events, ranging from beer festivals to horror movie festivals and charity events to help a range of charities.

It held a crowdfunding campaign during the Covid-19 pandemic to help it by new drink vessels, raising £25,000 to buy four vessels.

It even released a beer in tribute to George the Stourbridge Junction cat.

Holden’s

Probably the best-known brewery in the region after Banks’s, Holden’s was founded by Edwin and Lucy Holden at the Park Inn, in the Woodsetton area of Dudley, in 1915.

The boom years came in the 1960s, when it built its present Hopden Brewery, next to the pub, and began acquiring pubs across the Black Country. It was heavily advertised as the ‘beer with the glow’.

The advertising slogan gave birth to the launch of a new golden beer called Golden Glow in 2000. This went on to become Holden’s biggest-selling line, and the Hopden Brewery was extended again in 2012.

Today, Holden’s produces four main beers, its traditional bitter and mild, Golden Glow, and its premium 5.1 per cent dark amber Special.

Sarah Hughes

Beer was first brewed at Sedgley’s Beacon Hotel in 1852, but it was not until 1921 that the traditional tower brewery and pub was bought at auction by Sarah Hughes.

It brewed home-brewed ales until 1957 when the brewery closed,. But in 1987, after a 30-year hiatus, her grandson John Hughes restored the brewery, and once more started producing Sarah Hughes Ruby Mild, reputed to be the strongest mild ale in the country.

Today Ruby is joined by Surprise and Pale Amber on the beer pumps.

Kinver

Founded in 2004 by Dave Kelly and Ian Davies, operating from an industrial unit off Stone Lane, the new brewery quickly found itself picking up awards.

Rising demand saw it move to a new 10-barrel plant on the edge of the village, and Kinver is now a nationally recognised name on the real-ale scene.

Probably best known for its Light Railway session beer and its spicy-edged Edge bitter, it now produces no fewer than 10 ales.

Olde Swan

Based at the famous ‘Ma Pardoe’s brewpub in the Netherton area of Dudley, the present brewery dates back to 1863.

It is probably best known for its Olde Swan Original pale mild.

But it also produces the stronger Dark Swan mild, Netherton Pale Ale, and Bumble Hole Bitter. It also resumed production of the former Holt’s Entire after Holt, Plant and Deakin brewery closed in 1999.

Ma Pardoe’s is on CAMRA’s list of historic pub interiors.