Partners prepare for Birmingham Beer Week at Gorilla Coffee Café. Left to right are: Daniel Blanco Albert (Infinite Opera), David Sturgeon (Shepherds), Roxanne Korda (Infinite Opera), Oliver Webb (Dig Brew), and James Connolly (Gorilla Coffee Café)

Birmingham’s Dig Brew brewery will be helping to keep fans of cycling and opera on the edge of their seats during Birmingham Beer Week.

The annual event, in which independent craft beer venues throughout the city offer tastings, takeovers and beers on tap, takes place from July 19 to 28.

The craft brewery, on River Street in Digbeth, has teamed up with Gorilla Coffee Café, the bicycle café and workshop in Kings Heath, as beer partner for the week.

Gorilla Coffee Café is to show the Tour de France live every day throughout July, and during Birmingham Beer Week it will feature an exclusive range of unique Dig Brew beers to taste and buy.

The week-long celebration of beer will culminate with Gorilla Coffee Café’s
Tour de France closing party on the weekend of July 27 and 28, featuring music, street food and bike rides, as well as Dig Brew beers.

These will include a new lager, Welcome to Bloody Birmingham, to be launched for Birmingham Beer Week in collaboration with independent master barbers Shepherds, in Piccadilly Arcade, Birmingham, and available for customers to enjoy as they wait for a traditional wet shave or modern haircut.

Dig Brew founder, Oliver Webb, said: “Dig Brew and Gorilla Coffee Café share an affinity for helping the whole community. Both of us are passionate about collaborating with local businesses and suppliers, and supporting the artistic, musical and sporting interests of our customers.”

James Connolly, owner of Gorilla Coffee Café, added: “We are looking forward to a great party, and with Dig Brew as our partner, providing its excellent beers, the weekend promises to be our biggest and best yet, even surpassing the 600 cyclists and local people who joined us for the same event last year.”

Opera focuses on a medieval brewster

Dig Brew will also, again, play host to Infinite Opera, who are returning to the brewery by popular demand for a first performance, on a new custom-built stage, of all three parts of its production of Besse, on Friday, July 26.

Created by Royal Birmingham Conservatoire graduates Roxanne Korda and
Daniel Blanco Albert, and premiered part by part to packed audiences in the spring, the opera focuses on medieval brewster Besse, whose independence and love of brewing are threatened by accusations of witchcraft and murder.

Tickets, which start at £7.50 for standing room only, include a special deal with freshly cooked pizza from the in-house pizzeria and up to eight glasees of Dig Brew beer brought to individual seats throughout the show, for £40.

As a leading supporter of Birmingham Beer Week, Dig Brew has also teamed up with artist-run space Eastside Projects, in Digbeth, as official beer partner for its Hells Mouth 3 exhibition, by sculptor Monster Chetwynd, which is part of the region-wide Home of Metal project.

Oliver Webb, who launched Dig Brew last year with the support of Peter Towler, of Mad O’Rourke’s Pie Factory, in Tipton, said: “We are delighted to be taking part in Birmingham Beer Week, which provides a great opportunity to taste craft beer for those who have never tried it, and for all cafes, pubs and restaurants in the city to develop in a rapidly growing craft beer market.”