Purecraft, Birmingham

Purity bar with a grand old exterior and a contrasting industrial style interior. Real ales and keg served.

I took a bit of a gamble on this mega trendy bar and quickly decided it wasn’t for me. The interior in the main bar feels like a Scandinavian coffee shop, but even more minimalist. no comfortable seating, bare floors, almost no decor, open kitchen. Just a room of nothingness. Staff were a bit full of themselves, it felt very middle class and certainly not pub-like. However it is what it is, and the beer was pretty good - 5 casks from Purity and 10 or so craft options.

Official site of Purecraft - www.purecraftbars.com

Official site of Purecraft - www.purecraftbars.com

Very well reviewed and I enjoyed our early Saturday evening stop here. No problem finding a table but, as the focus seems to be on food, several tables had reserved notices on for later in the evening. No real surprises there and no problem for us as it was a fairly swift stop. I enjoyed the leather Brooks saddles used as coat hangers. Beers on were predominantly Purity: UBU, Pure Gold, Mad Goose and Bunny Hop all doubles up as I recall. Guests were Roosters Baby Faced Assassin and Kirkstall Three Swords. Everything we tried was in very good shape and the Baby Faced Assassin vied for beer of the evening. I'd happily return for what seems to be a guarantee of good beer.

Visited earlier in the week towards the end of the lunchtime trade. There are 10 hand pulls at the bar with Purity beers seeming to dominate and some duplicates across the two banks of pumps. I had the Saddle Black (by Purity) which I thought was rather nice. Bar snacks are available as well as table service for meals - sausage rolls at £5 for example, plus crisps (£1.40-ish?) etc. There was also some keg stuff that I didn't make a note of, various cans and bottles in the fridge and I noticed that different styles of glass being used depending (presumably) on the style of beer. On entering, Aqualung's friend from the previous review was sat in position asking if I wanted a table for dining which caught me off guard a bit but there was no issue with me just going in for a drink and making my way to the bar and plonking myself down at an available table to consume it. What I did find slightly unusual was that when you do this, somebody comes round and removes the cutlery and napkins that had been set out at the table, and the table is then reset when the drinker leaves. Perhaps it helps them identify at a glance who has a tab but it felt a bit strange. Downstairs has a cellar bar (not in use at the time of my visit) and the toilets. The floor looks like someone has pulled up an old carpet, scraped off the adhesive and then just left it. Yet somehow it doesn't look terrible. Definitely worth a look but not my favourite place of the day.