The Vanguard is a neighbourhood Cocktail Bar and Meadery on Frederick Street in the Birmingham Jewellery Quarter. The bar itself is located above 1000 Trades, taking up the newly renovated space in the loft, hidden away from the streets.

Spearheaded by Samuel Boulton, a cocktail consultant and bartender who previously launched the bar at Harvey Nichols. He has also worked with Global Brands such as Gabriel Boudier and Chairman’s Reserve. The Vanguard specialises in cocktails but has a focus on an often forgotten beverage, mead.

The name Vanguard, meaning the front of a battle, where two armies meet, was mostly used by Vikings and originates from a few centuries ago.  However, the term has found a new meaning over the years with vanguard meaning “being at the forefront of a movement”. This name is suited perfectly to Samuel’s bar as it has the biggest selection of mead available in the UK, meaning it definitely is at the forefront of the mead movement.

However, mead is not the only uncommon drink at The Vanguard bar, as the cocktails are some of the most innovative we’ve seen.

Pictured below shows the phenomenally tasting ‘My Neighbour Totoro’  named after the highly popular animated film from the 80’s

We can’t tell you exactly what is in the cocktail as we like to avoid spoilers. You’ll just have to try it out for yourself. What we can say is that it has a refreshing lime tinge and we can’t recommend it enough

The opening hours for the Vanguard bar are as follows.

Wednesday 16:00 – 23:00
Thursday      16:00 – 23:00
Friday             16:00 – 00:00
Saturday       13:00 – 00:00

Recently, we visited Samuel at his phenomenal cocktail bar, to interview him for our Faces of The Jewellery Quarter Project. You can check out the video below.

For more information about The Vanguard Bar or for any contact or social media links, click here. We hope you visit this fantastic bar in the near future.