tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87634076252757468402024-03-06T05:15:02.702+00:00Gentlemen's Pie Club of Bishops WalthamCommitted to the tasting and enjoyment of savoury hot pies, puddings and pasties.Pie Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08347387444739738992noreply@blogger.comBlogger93125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763407625275746840.post-35265760584025133182018-10-29T12:23:00.000+00:002018-10-29T12:23:08.362+00:00The Brickmakers Arms, Swanmore - 25th October 2018Kevin kindly organised a visit to The Brickmakers Arms and we all enjoyed it.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn4x9L_Xxp18d4Z6cGafGEy5_oySiGXNuWOykm349TccNmySMA1aO3-9VfPr3PuOpJMHng_TpwhBTj2wnTkFwGAgxcSDBGPJhKP5vpSxI5BhlMAUqOPfYTd2UTU5f2RXrbLtcfwMDtkAY/s1600/IMG_20181025_121653953_HDR.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn4x9L_Xxp18d4Z6cGafGEy5_oySiGXNuWOykm349TccNmySMA1aO3-9VfPr3PuOpJMHng_TpwhBTj2wnTkFwGAgxcSDBGPJhKP5vpSxI5BhlMAUqOPfYTd2UTU5f2RXrbLtcfwMDtkAY/s320/IMG_20181025_121653953_HDR.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
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The charming manageress, Selena, offered us a choice of 4 ales, which we all found to be very acceptable.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjstHUCzYOnJEYN8VBfhGzLs2cZAVG9F7TLWZiZ2A0Y6cWHKC0JOHSroVHosKgGzZOpGS6eOOLNVTROSZ_c_ocWcRuR0iXkgdE0DGYgrLRvbIC8YcEgT5F2yxy7zHi7L04aT0C5eUMdRBU/s1600/IMG_20181025_121633970.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjstHUCzYOnJEYN8VBfhGzLs2cZAVG9F7TLWZiZ2A0Y6cWHKC0JOHSroVHosKgGzZOpGS6eOOLNVTROSZ_c_ocWcRuR0iXkgdE0DGYgrLRvbIC8YcEgT5F2yxy7zHi7L04aT0C5eUMdRBU/s320/IMG_20181025_121633970.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
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There was a choice of 2 pies: Chicken & Tomato (chosen by 2 of us), or Steak Stout & Stilton (chosen by the rest of us). Both came with Mashed Potato and Mixed Vegetables.<br />
The Chicken & Tomato looked like this:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_9KgUqou5d_Avo-ZuAPEhLx2W7VOQroFmSXGiNmIpe36sP6mmdOgmMx1XZhVv4sft0e4CyMvt2qLAhETqrveU8bks2otbSjXB8O8D0BB7FZyRgDg5WUXuhocSPfRAyYbCipglV3rSXs4/s1600/IMG_20181025_134257303.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_9KgUqou5d_Avo-ZuAPEhLx2W7VOQroFmSXGiNmIpe36sP6mmdOgmMx1XZhVv4sft0e4CyMvt2qLAhETqrveU8bks2otbSjXB8O8D0BB7FZyRgDg5WUXuhocSPfRAyYbCipglV3rSXs4/s320/IMG_20181025_134257303.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
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The Steak Stout & Stilton looked like this:<br />
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We liked both pies. There was a range of puddings available:<br />
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The Chocolate Brownie looked good.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYCkS0TSPmzMosxiZl7trNHqpdvbfWvCVL6cg7aMFn4FrcoSSmDbDIN6qv7VYzRD-fGz_2aSsQTbwsuGX5xqM1oOMHll4ZWhRHEuxGzmyw0G9AJonkujB6FTWuVRg-PjdH-FfB6SiB3R0/s1600/IMG_20181025_141959000.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYCkS0TSPmzMosxiZl7trNHqpdvbfWvCVL6cg7aMFn4FrcoSSmDbDIN6qv7VYzRD-fGz_2aSsQTbwsuGX5xqM1oOMHll4ZWhRHEuxGzmyw0G9AJonkujB6FTWuVRg-PjdH-FfB6SiB3R0/s320/IMG_20181025_141959000.jpg" width="240" /></a><br />
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The pies were £13.50, and the ales were around £3.80/pint. Good value for money, and a very commendable effort.<br />
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Scores (max of 5 in each category, 25 overall)<br /><ul style="line-height: 1.4; margin: 0.5em 0px; padding: 0px 2.5em;">
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Pastry 4.62</li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Filling 4.68</li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Beer 4.73</li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Ambience 4.42</li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Value 4.67</li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><strong>Total 23.12</strong></li>
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Thank you to everyone at the Brickmakers Arms for their hospitality and thank you to Kevin for organising it.<div style="clear: both;">
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<br />Pie Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08347387444739738992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763407625275746840.post-31907609316034445172018-10-08T16:12:00.001+01:002018-10-08T16:13:52.981+01:00<h2>
<span style="color: #6fa8dc;">The Square Cow, Wickham - 27th September 2018</span></h2>
This venue had previously been the Wickham Wine Bar and was opened as a pub earlier this year, so as it is local and a new pub we thought we should try out their pie offering.<br />
So we arrived in Wickham by bus with some of our more energetic friends walking part of the way and then joining us on the bus.<br />
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We were very pleased to find 3 beers on tap from one of our favourite local breweries, Bowman Ales:<br />
Yumi - 3.9%, Meon Valley Bitter - 3.9% and Quiver - 4.3%. So we set to the beers while awaiting the pie to be cooked.<br />
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The pie was a Steak and Guinness homemade pie which had been prepared as one large pie to serve all of us. This type of pie is always our preference as you get less pastry but more filling!<br />
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The pie was served with chips or mash and a good selection of vegetables.<br />
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The concensus was that the pastry was good but the meat in the filling was a little tough and would maybe had benefited from longer cooking. However, they were polished off and we then contemplated a fine selection of desserts.<br />
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The selection was so tempting and most of us opted for a dessert. We then had time to kill before the next bus back to Bishops Waltham so what else could we do but have another beer!<br />
We all got the bus back with no one electing to walk, surprise, surprise!<br />
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Scores (max of 5 in each category, 25 overall)<br />
<ul>
<li>Pastry 4.32</li>
<li>Filling 3.64</li>
<li>Beer 4.76</li>
<li>Ambience 4.56</li>
<li>Value 4.48</li>
<li><strong>Total 21.76</strong></li>
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Thank you to everyone at the Square Cow for their hospitality and a most enjoyable lunch.Piemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09075811631445026142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763407625275746840.post-14886053036457933952018-08-06T11:01:00.002+01:002018-08-06T11:23:30.763+01:00<h2>
<span style="color: #76a5af;">The Cricketers - Curdridge - 26 July 2018</span></h2>
On one of the hottest days of a very hot summer, the dedicated walkers set off from Bishops Waltham to walk part of the way to Curdridge, the more sensible ones took the bus or arrived by car!<br />
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On arrival there were two real ales on offer, Greene King Barmey Army - 3.7% and Greene King Yard Bird - 4%. Unfortunately, neither of the beers were in great shape, which could well have been due to the extreme weather conditions, but all was not lost as the Czech lager was tasty and refreshingly chilled as was the Guinness.</div>
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Originally, the chef had proposed to make one large steak and kidney pie to serve us all, but as there were 11 of us he had decided to opt for individual steak and ale pies.</div>
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This was a good decision as the pies were excellent with good shortcrust pastry and loads of filling.</div>
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It was accompanied by a very good selection of vegetables and separate gravy on the side..........,, the cauliflower cheese being very tasty.<br />
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One of our group did have room for a pudding, but as he was one of the walkers this was totally understandable.</div>
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After moving outside to finish off our beers we headed back to Bishops Waltham,, by cars and bus!</div>
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Scores (max of 5 in each category, 25 overall)</div>
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<ul>
<li><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
Pastry 4.75</div>
</li>
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Filling 4.70</div>
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Beer 3.38</div>
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Ambience 4.11</div>
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Value 4.33</div>
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<strong>Total 21.27</strong></div>
</li>
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Thanks to everyone at the Cricketers for their hospitality and a most enjoyable pie.</div>
Piemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09075811631445026142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763407625275746840.post-79684982270439649142018-07-05T13:18:00.000+01:002018-07-05T13:18:35.831+01:00<h3>
<span style="color: #3d85c6;">The Brushmakers, Upham, 28th June 2018</span></h3>
<span style="color: black;">We had visited this excellent pub in Upham on two previous occasions and as it is ideal to include a summer walk, five of us set off from Bishops Waltham on an extremely hot day. The walk is approximately 3.5 miles along farm tracks, country lanes and through woodland, which gave us much welcomed shade. On arrival we met up with the other two from our group who had decided not to brave the hot conditions.</span><br />
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Needing refreshment after the walk we were pleased to find 4 beers to choose from on handpump:<br />
Flack Manor Double Drop -3.7%, Bowman Yumi - 3.9%, Upham Punter - 4% and Cheriton Pots Goodens Gold - 4.8%.<br />
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We started with the lower gravity beers which were in very good condition and the perfect temperature for a hot day ( a good cellar).<br />
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The pie on offer was to be a surprise and we were delighted to find out that it was to be a Rabbit and Tarragon pie, with no cheese for our non cheese eating colleague! The pie which had been traditionally made in a shallow pie tin was served with mashed potatoes, peas and carrots. The pastry was thin and crispy and the filling was succulent and very tasty. It did not arrive with the jug of gravy on the side, just as we like it, but this was soon rectified when requested by one of the group.<br />
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A few of us still had room for a pudding of pannacota before walking back to Bishops Waltham.</div>
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Scores (max of 5 in each category, 25 overall)</div>
<ul>
<li><div style="text-align: justify;">
Pastry 4.46 </div>
</li>
<li><div style="text-align: justify;">
Filling 4.88</div>
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Beer 4.62</div>
</li>
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Ambience 4.57</div>
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Value 4.58</div>
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<strong>Total 23.11</strong></div>
</li>
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An excellent score for the Brushmakers in a year which is turning out to be full of very high quality pies. Many thanks to all at the Brushmakers for their hospitality and providing an excellent lunch.</div>
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Piemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09075811631445026142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763407625275746840.post-49620008974525723342018-06-11T10:56:00.000+01:002018-06-11T10:56:22.689+01:00<h3>
<span style="color: #3d85c6;">The Bucks Head, Meonstoke, 31st May 2018</span></h3>
We have had two previous visits to the Bucks Head and on both occasions had an excellent lunch. On both previous visits they had narrowly missed out on the prestigious Pie Club Pie of the Year award so we were looking forward to our return visit.<br />
We had been planning to walk the 4 miles to Meonstoke but as the weather forecast was for thunderstorms and rain, the like of which had not been seen before, and we did not have time to build an ark, we took a taxi. As it happened the storms did not arrive and it was a lovely summers day!<br />
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On arrival we were faced with a choice of 3 beers on handpump including, unusually for our part of the world, a Scottish beer:<br />
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Belhaven 80 Shilling - 4.2%, Tim Taylors Boltmaker - 4.0% and Greene King IPA - 3.6%. The Tim Taylors was not quite ready to serve, but was later, some of us kicked off with the Belhaven which was surprisingly light, as we were expecting a black beer!<br />
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After sampling a few of the excellent beers we were ready for the pie. We were to be treated to a homemade beef and ale pie which was served up as a whole pie for us to serve.<br />
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The pie was served with mash and a selection of vegetables with the bonus of plates of chips on the side and of course separate gravy on the side which was also useful for dunking the chips in!<br />
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The pie was indeed excellent, a very good shortcrust pastry and generous filling. There was one slice remaining which we could not manage so one of the group literally asked for a 'doggy bag', lucky dog!<br />
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Despite being very well fed one of our group could not resist the apple strudel with custard!<br />
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So after a few more beers the taxi arrived to take us back to a rain free Bishops Waltham!<br />
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Scores(max of 5 in each category, 25 overall)<br />
<ul>
<li>Pastry 4.83</li>
<li>Filling 4.90</li>
<li>Beer 4.76</li>
<li>Ambience 4.77</li>
<li>Value 4.75</li>
<li><strong>Total 24.01</strong></li>
</ul>
So congratulations to everyone at the Bucks Head who have inched into the lead in the race to be the Pie Club Pub of the Year 2018. It's a tough competition this year with very few points covering the top 3 and still 6 months to go! Many thanks to all at the Bucks Head for a truly excellent lunch.<br />
Piemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09075811631445026142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763407625275746840.post-66329858595281893772018-04-30T14:54:00.004+01:002018-04-30T14:54:36.528+01:00<h3>
<span style="color: #9fc5e8;">The Bugle, Botley, 26th April 2018</span></h3>
<span style="color: black;">We had previously visited the Bugle a few years ago but as it is now under new management we felt it was time for another visit so we set off on the short bus journey from Bishops Waltham.</span><br />
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On arrival we received a warm welcome and were pleased to find a good choice of 4 real ales available.<br />
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The beers on offer were: Hooky from Hook Norton Brewery - 3.5%, Otter Ale from the Otter Brewery in Devon - 4.5%, Cheriton Pots Goodens Gold - 4.8% and Fullers/Gales HSB - 4.8%. Except for our Guinness drinking friend we all opted for the Hooky which was indeed a very good flavoured session beer. All the beers tried over the lunch-time were all very well kept.<br />
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The pub has homemade, individual shortcrust pastry pies on it's main menu but as there was a group of us they had prepared 2 larger Beef and Guinness pies to divide between the seven of us. Each pie was enough to feed 4 hungry pie eaters so there was a portion over to fight over - in fact it was skilfully divided up between the seven of us.<br />
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The pies were delivered in style by our host and boy did they look good!<br />
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They were served with a good selection of fresh vegetables and mashed potatoes with, of course, the essential jugs of gravy on the side. Everyone agreed the pie was delicious with shortcrust pastry on bottom, sides and top. There was a generous filling of succulent beef and you could even taste the Guinness.<br />
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The pies were duly demolished and we paused for more beer while we considered the puddings. A few of us were very tempted by the cheeseboard for 2, a selection of local Lyburn cheeses, which came with a glass of wine each followed by a glass of port, which was priced at a very reasonable £20. However, our host had kindly prepared a homemade lemon meringue pie, which was enough to feed all of us, and it was indeed excellent.</div>
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Feeling well satisfied after an excellent lunch we decided to stay on for an extra beer to help the digestion before catching the bus back to Bishops Waltham.<br />
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Scores (max of 5 in each category, 25 overall)<br />
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<ul>
<li>Pastry 4.89</li>
<li>Filling 4.90</li>
<li>Beer 4.70</li>
<li>Ambience 4.67</li>
<li>Value 4.58</li>
<li><strong>Total 23.74</strong></li>
</ul>
This puts The Bugle in 2nd place overall so far this year by the smallest of margins - 0.05! Many thanks to everyone at The Bugle for an excellent lunch and great hospitality.Piemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09075811631445026142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763407625275746840.post-81174345872844736412018-04-04T11:57:00.000+01:002018-04-04T11:57:58.683+01:00<h2>
<span style="color: #6fa8dc;">The Black Dog, Waltham Chase, 29th March 2018</span></h2>
We previously visited the Black Dog in March 2016 and as it has previously won the prestigious Pie Club Pub of the Year award so we felt it was due another visit. So on an extremely wet and cold March day we headed off on the short bus journey to Waltham Chase to meet the others who had been chauffeur driven!<br />
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On arrival it was too wet to get a photo of the pub but once inside we were greeted by 4 real ales on handpump.<br />
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The beers on offer were: Greene King IPA - 3.6%, Black Dog Bitter - 3.9%, Westerham Brewery British Bulldog - 4.1% and Abbot Ale - 5%. All the beers tasted were in fine condition as was the Guinness.<br />
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The pie on offer was a homemade Ox-Cheek braised in Beer. Being homemade it had been made in one large dish which caused a bit of banter amongst the group as to who should get the corner portions and the extra pastry. Those of us on a health kick of course opted for portions from the side!<br />
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The portions were very generous and were accompanied by a good selection of vegetables, chips, horseradish mash and of course separate jugs of gravy on the side.<br />
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There was a nice touch of French Bread on the table when we arrived which would have been useful for mopping up the gravy had it not all been devoured before the pies arrived!<br />
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The pie was indeed very good with lots of succulent filling and a good shortcrust pastry. Our only criticism was that it was rather over salted which meant we had to order more beer!<br />
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Some of us still had room for puddings of which there were a fine selection, see below (the puddings are on the blackboards.......).<br />
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So, after a very enjoyable lunch we headed back into the torrential rain for the short trip back to Bishops Waltham.<br />
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Scores (max of 5 in each category, 25 overall)<br />
<ul>
<li>Pastry 4.34</li>
<li>Filling 4.35</li>
<li>Beer 4.56</li>
<li>Ambience 4.39</li>
<li>Value 4.70 </li>
<li><strong>Overall 22.34</strong></li>
</ul>
This score was an improvement of a score of 22.31 recorded at the March 2016 visit so congratulations to everyone at the Black Dog and thank you for an excellent lunch.Piemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09075811631445026142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763407625275746840.post-43869504012030618862018-01-30T15:22:00.002+00:002018-01-30T15:22:55.823+00:00<h3>
<span style="color: #6fa8dc;">The Wheatsheaf, Shedfield, 25th January 2018</span></h3>
<span style="color: black;">As January is such an awful month, we decided we all needed cheering up, so what better than a return visit to one of our favourite pubs and two times winner of the prestigious Pie Club Pub of the Year Award, The Wheatsheaf at Shedfield.</span><br />
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So we took the short bus journey to Shedfield in anticipation of the treat in store.<br />
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As usual we received a warm welcome and were offered the normal good selection of Pots Ales plus guests all served from the barrels, except for those on Guinness!<br />
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We had plenty of time to sample the beers which were in tip-top condition and at £3 a pint for the Perridge and Flowerpots bitter were excellent value. When the pies arrived we were not disappointed:<br />
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Two homemade Steak and Guinness pies to serve the 11 of us with enough left over for seconds, served with new potatoes, a selection of veg and jugs of gravy on the side.<br />
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The overall feeling was the pie was delicious, with very good shortcrust pastry and succulent meat and of course the Guinness based gravy went down well with our Guinness drinking colleagues! Luckily, there was no pudding menu so after clearing our plates and seconds we retired to the bar. In fact instead of returning to Bishops Waltham and the Crown we decided to stay on and continue to enjoy the good value beer.<br />
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Scores (max of 5 in each category, 25 overall)<br />
<ul>
<li>Pastry 4.78</li>
<li>Filling 4.85</li>
<li>Beer 4.68</li>
<li>Ambience 4.53</li>
<li>Value 4.95 </li>
<li><strong>Total 23.79</strong></li>
</ul>
What a great start to 2018 and congratulations to all at the Wheatsheaf for opening up with such a high score which will be challenging to beat but the year is still young....................so watch this space!Piemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09075811631445026142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763407625275746840.post-37924746981044154092017-12-07T12:42:00.002+00:002017-12-07T13:13:03.770+00:00<h3>
<span style="color: #0b5394;">The Kings Head, Wickham, 30th November 2017</span></h3>
Surprisingly, considering it is only 4 miles down the road from Bishops Waltham, we had never had a Pie Club event in Wickham, so we decided to take ourselves off to the Kings Head which has a good reputation and was offering us a choice of 3 pies! So we set off on the short bus journey to Wickham.<br />
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The Kings Head is a Fullers pub so we were faced with the choice of 4 of their beers on arrival.<br />
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London Pride 4.1%, HSB 4.8%, Damson Porter 4.6% and Seafarers 3.6%. Most of us opted to start with the Seafarers as this is a good session beer. We had pre-selected our pie choices from Steak and Kidney, Steak and Ale and Chicken Ham and Leek. However, the Steak and Kidney was no longer available so we were offered a Venison and Ox Cheek pudding instead which was more than acceptable.<br />
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They were accompanied by mash potatoes and/or chips with some rather al dente kale sandwiched in between - in fact rather too al dente for most of us! There was plenty of gravy on the plates but no additional jugs........<br />
Overall the pies were of a very good standard with good short crust pastry and substantial fillings. It was felt that for the price there could have been a better selection of vegetables.<br />
There were a good selection of puddings e.g. Spotted Dick, Bakewell Tart which a few of us indulged in.<br />
We then relaxed in the comfy sofas for a while to sample some of the other beers on offer, which were all in good condition, before catching the bus back to Bishops Waltham, and the now regular post Pie Club drink in the Crown ( for some of us!).<br />
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Scores (max of 5 in each category, 25 overall):<br />
<ul>
<li>Pastry 4.36</li>
<li>Filling 4.44</li>
<li>Beer 4.37</li>
<li>Ambience 4.45</li>
<li>Value 3.70</li>
<li><strong>Total 21.32</strong></li>
</ul>
This puts the Kings Head in 6th position for the year.<br />
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Congratulations to the Bakers Arms in Droxford which is the 2017 Pie Club Pub of the Year. We shall be arranging a visit in February 2018 to present the certificate and of course sample once again their excellent pies.<br />
A Happy Christmas and a Pie Filled New Year to all!Piemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09075811631445026142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763407625275746840.post-64301024900231151132017-11-02T12:58:00.002+00:002017-11-02T13:24:33.316+00:00<h2>
<span style="color: #3d85c6;">Milburys Beauworth, 26th October 2017</span></h2>
We had not visited the Milburys before so as we waited for our taxi in Bishops Waltham we were eagerly anticipating what would be on offer. Eventually the taxi arrived some 20 minutes late so we were all ready for our pre-pie beers by the time we arrived at the pub.<br />
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We were greeted by Martin the Landlord who soon got to work in pulling our pints. There were three real ales on offer:<br />
Milburys Best Bitter at 4%, Flack Manor Wolfie and Flack Manor TPA at 5.3%.<br />
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Our eyes lit up when we were told that there were 4 pies on offer to choose from:<br />
Steak and Kidney Pudding, Steak and Ale Pie, Chicken and Ham Pie and Game Pie.<br />
Steak and kidney pudding is a rare treat for us so everyone elected to go for that one which was a shame really as the others all sounded good and in particular the game pie. Still, gives us an excused to go back again.<br />
The pies duly arrived and came with a choice of chips or new potatoes with a selection of vegetables and individual jugs of gravy on the side, just as we like it!<br />
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The pudding was actually baked but the suet pastry was indeed very tasty and held the meat contents without getting soggy. We felt that there could have been a bit more filling but that is one of the downsides of individual pies, you get more pastry but less filling!<br />
Having finished the pies we enquired about the dessert menu only to be told that the kitchen was closed! So for pudding we had halfs of the TPA at 5.3% whilst waiting for our taxi for the return journey, which arrived early, and the Crown.<br />
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Scores (max of 5 in each category, 25 overall):<br />
<ul>
<li>Pastry 4.31</li>
<li>Filling 3.94</li>
<li>Beer 4.13</li>
<li>Ambience4.00</li>
<li>Value 4.46</li>
<li><strong>Total 20.84</strong></li>
</ul>
This puts the Milburys in 6th place overall for the year, a very good showing on a first visit. Our thanks to Martin for an entertaining lunchtime.Piemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09075811631445026142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763407625275746840.post-52406513954900910092017-10-11T10:50:00.000+01:002017-10-11T10:50:50.317+01:00<h3>
<span style="color: #3d85c6;">The Thomas Lord West Meon, 28th September 2017</span></h3>
<span style="color: #6fa8dc;"></span><br />
<span style="color: black;">This was our first ever visit to this popular country pub so we left Bishops Waltham in our taxi full of anticipation.</span><br />
The Thomas Lord is now part of the Upham Brewerys' estate of pubs so we were looking forward to sampling a range of their beers and of course the pie!<br />
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On arrival we were faced with a choice of four beers, three from Upham and one guest beer:<br />
Punter - 4%, Stakes - 4.8%, Autumn Leaves - 4.3% and the guest beer, Pennine Amber Necter - 3.8%. <br />
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So we got stuck into sampling the beers, which were all in fine condition, while we waited for pie time, which was a steak and mushroom pie.<br />
When the pies arrived they looked very tempting, all served in traditional individual enamel pie dishes. They were accompanied by a small blob of mashed potato and a good selection of vegetables. When tucking into the pie we were a little disappointed to discover that the only pastry was the top, no sides or bottom. There are advantages to this type of pie as you get more filling than pastry and no soggy bottoms - and much more healthy than the traditional pie. However, as a club that is serious about its pies we do prefer the full monty. However, it must be said that the pastry topping was very good and the filling was plentiful and succulent with lots of gravy - we did not get to use the additional jugs of gravy (which we like).<br />
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Only two of the group were tempted by the desserts, of which there was a very good choice.<br />
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So the rest of us finished our beers until the taxi arrived to take us back to Bishops Waltham.<br />
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Scores (max of 5 in each category, 25 overall):<br />
<ul>
<li>Pastry 3.43</li>
<li>Filling 4.47 </li>
<li>Beer 4.18</li>
<li>Ambience 4.0</li>
<li>Value 3.25</li>
<li><strong>Total 19.33</strong></li>
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This puts the Thomas Lord in 7th place out of the 8 pubs visited so far in 2017. Although the contents of the pie were good the lower pastry score reflects that it was not a traditional pie. There were many other diners in the pub, very busy for a mid-week lunchtime, who all seemed to be enjoying the wide choice of food available from the menu.Piemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09075811631445026142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763407625275746840.post-73249562078791808742017-09-05T12:03:00.001+01:002017-09-05T12:03:35.360+01:00The Dancing Man, Southampton, 31st August 2017<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For our August outing Pieman decided that we should try something a little bit different and venture somewhere that we had never been before, so he organised a trip to <a href="http://www.dancingmanbrewery.co.uk/">The Dancing Man Brewery</a> at the bottom of Bugle Street in the depths of old Southampton. This place had been recommended to us on the basis that it has its own brewery, a choice of at least 12 draught beers, and a choice of 3 traditional-style pies, so looked very promising.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It being the holiday season our numbers were somewhat reduced. so a select gathering of 6 gentlemen members plus special guest Kevin ventured onto the X10 bus in Southampton full of anticipation. It's a 40 minute bus ride, so by the time we arrived at Bargate some people were getting impatient, and there were many cries of "Are we nearly there yet?" from certain gentlemen. As we walked down Bugle Street we passed several pubs along the way, and Pieman had his work cut out maintaining discipline so that we could arrive at The Dancing Man in good shape.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Dancing Man is located in what used to be the old Maritime Museum, a fine old building on 2 floors with a bar (and the brewery) on the ground floor, and a restaurant upstairs. Time was getting on and we wanted our pies, so we headed straight upstairs. There we found an ample choice of at least 12 draught beers (too many to list here), including beers brewed on the premises, and guest beers.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You might think that for veteran beer drinkers such as us this would be like heaven, but actually we were rather flummoxed by having too much choice, and didn't know where to start. The very helpful and quite delightful barmaid, Sandra, helped as best she could by offering us samples, but in the end we made more-or-less random choices, knowing that our usual approach of starting with the lighter beers and working our way up to the stronger ones would be impractical if we wanted to ever get out of there that day. The ales are all unfined, which was not to everyone's liking, but most of them went down very well. The only ale that did not work for us was the Congo Driftwood, but of course we should have known that an ale made with mango and pineapple would be dodgy, so we only have ourselves to blame there. We should have remembered one of our useful rules of thumb: Never drink beers with strange ingredients.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As for the pies, we had a choice of three:</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnOMxbsXXKl3YlLNrErJOuRYgxG6zX_2QAl0VOH8wxCpGKGsm0AdVAe0ECzaM8VzP5gkLrgOsk_PGdVtKJV-S75ab9De-dHb46wi0hTxFRAzlUYZ6EI5V8VVCiTw0bH7HdgyvAszg90Qo/s1600/IMG_20170831_122849046.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnOMxbsXXKl3YlLNrErJOuRYgxG6zX_2QAl0VOH8wxCpGKGsm0AdVAe0ECzaM8VzP5gkLrgOsk_PGdVtKJV-S75ab9De-dHb46wi0hTxFRAzlUYZ6EI5V8VVCiTw0bH7HdgyvAszg90Qo/s320/IMG_20170831_122849046.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Half of us opted for the steak pie, and half went for the chicken pie. Obviously nobody wanted the vegetarian pie! The pies all came with new potatoes, mixed vegetables (kale and baby carrots), and gravy served separately in jugs on the side, just the way we like it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As can be seen above, the pies were very large. The fillings were very tasty, with large pieces of tender meat and a creamy gravy. Although the pastry looked good, there was something seriously wrong with it. It was brittle, overcooked, and tasted odd. There was too much pastry to go with the filling, which did not fill up the pastry casings - there was an air gap at the top. The vegetables (kale and baby carrots) were fresh and nicely cooked, as were the new potatoes, which were nicely seasoned with herbs. There was only one type of gravy available - it was a bit gloopy and didn't really go with the chicken.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There was a pudding menu, but most of us did not bother. Two of us had the Eton Mess, which was ok, but a bit small.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwQNaV0OEX-USN_YuJ4fUdYe3y8tfUZ7u3Xp4wFybjNPDA_2Ggv4DZ-FgT5VboAQysCGH3jj4pyruhI3Vs4yK6u77eUita-6by8Aj30Wx-_V_ZmWxs-g6Cub7we-nfVdGRMdUZBrxwh_s/s1600/IMG_20170831_141625062.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwQNaV0OEX-USN_YuJ4fUdYe3y8tfUZ7u3Xp4wFybjNPDA_2Ggv4DZ-FgT5VboAQysCGH3jj4pyruhI3Vs4yK6u77eUita-6by8Aj30Wx-_V_ZmWxs-g6Cub7we-nfVdGRMdUZBrxwh_s/s320/IMG_20170831_141625062.jpg" width="180" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We liked the ambience of the place. We had a great view out of the window and we were able to see lots of shipping go past. The staff were pleasant, and the service was good. It was busy, but not overcrowded. The pies were not cheap (£15 for the steak, £14 for the chicken). The beers cost around £4/pint, which is probably normal for Southampton and not too bad. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Scores (max of 5 in each category, 25 overall):</span><ul style="line-height: 1.4; margin: 0.5em 0px; padding: 0px 2.5em;">
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Pastry 2.17</span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Filling 3.33</span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Beer 4.00</span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ambience 3.83</span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Value 3.45</span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><strong><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Overall 16.78</span></strong></li>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This score puts the Dancing Man in 7th place out of the 7 pubs that we have visited so far this year. This is a shame as the beers are mostly very good and a place like The Dancing Man should do well with so much choice for a serious beer drinker, but, sorry, the pies were seriously not up to standard. We had a bus to catch, so we had to cut short our stay at the Dancing Man, but on our way back up Bugle Street we decided we could catch a later bus and try out the Duke of Wellington. This was much more to our liking (although the food menu did not look very enticing). Eventually we managed to catch the bus back to Bishops Waltham, and despite some gentlemen's concerns we managed to put off any comfort breaks until we got back to The Crown.</span><div style="clear: both;">
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<br />Pie Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08347387444739738992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763407625275746840.post-9880852837244617592017-08-22T10:49:00.000+01:002017-08-22T10:49:41.569+01:00<h2>
<span style="color: #3d85c6;">The Robin Hood, Durley, 27th July 2017</span></h2>
We had visited this popular pub in Durley on two previous occasions so we thought it would be a good opportunity for another visit coupled with a nice summers walk. Unfortunately, heavy rain was forecast, although this did not materialise, we took the short bus ride from Bishops Waltham.<br />
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On arrival it was already very busy but we managed to fight our way to the bar to the selection of beers.<br />
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On offer, was Robin Hood Bitter,3.9%, we understand brewed by Greene King for the pub, Wadworths Dirty Rucker, 4% and Trumans Runner, 4%. All the beers tried were in good condition.<br />
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The pie on offer to us was homemade Lamb, Rosemary and Garlic so we retired to our table in anticipation!<br />
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The pie portions were cut from one large pie, which we like as it results in more filling than pastry. The pastry top was latticed which we had not experienced before but as a Pie Club we are always looking for something out of the ordinary. It came with mash or chips and a good selection of fresh vegetables and extra gravy on the side, just as we like it!<br />
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The pie had plenty of filling but we felt not all of the flavours from the rosemary and garlic got through but overall a decent pie accompanied with very good fresh veg. Plates were cleared but there was still room for some of the group to choose from the excellent choice of desserts on offer.</div>
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As the weather was now dry, the more active members of the group elected to walk back to Bishops Waltham. The others returned in various forms of transport not all traditional!<br />
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Scores (max of 5 in each category, 25 overall):<br />
<ul>
<li>Pastry 2.97</li>
<li>Filling 4.17</li>
<li>Beer 4.39</li>
<li>Ambience 3.99</li>
<li>Value 4.46</li>
<li><strong>Overall 19.98</strong></li>
</ul>
Our thanks to everyone at the Robin Hood for a most enjoyable lunch.<br />
Piemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09075811631445026142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763407625275746840.post-38300363484775294162017-07-12T11:54:00.001+01:002017-07-12T12:28:03.490+01:00<h2>
<span style="color: #3d85c6;">The Bakers Arms, Droxford, 29th June 2017</span></h2>
We had previously visited The Bakers Arms in November 2013 so we thought it was time to visit this award winning pub again. The Bakers Arms has won Hampshire Food Pub of the year awards and also awards for it's Sunday roasts so with this impressive record we were eagerly looking forward to the pies.<br />
Four of our group had decided to take advantage of the lovely summer weather to attempt the 8 mile round walk from Bishops Waltham with four others making their own way to the pub.<br />
We arrived at the pub spot on opening time and the first pint of Bowman's Swift One went down very nicely, thank you!<br />
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The other beers on offer were Bowman's Wallops Wood, 4% and Ringwood Old Thumper, 5.1%.<br />
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We had really been spoilt as there were 4 pies on offer to choose from, Pulled Pork and Chorizo, Ham Hock, Leek and Mustard, Chicken and Wild Mushroom and Steak and Kidney. As you can imagine with such a fine choice this was going to take some time for us to make our choices so we had another beer to help us on our way! Amazingly, when we had finally made our decisions we had managed to cover all 4 pies across the 8 of us!<br />
The pies were all individual pies and came with a choice of mashed potatoes or chunky chips with a selection of vegetables.<br />
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All pies had shortcrust pastry with a slightly flaky pastry top and were stuffed full with succulent fillings and everyone agreed that they were indeed excellent pies. Surprisingly, some of us still had room for puddings, but maybe that was the walkers stocking up for the return walk to Bishops Waltham!<br />
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There was a good selection of puddings including Treacle Tart, Crème Brullee and Apple and Pear Crumble.<br />
After taking part in a photo-shoot for the pubs new website the walkers, joined by Michael, looking dressed for the part in his work suit(!), headed off on the return leg of the walk, stopping for refreshments at the Hampshire Bowman.<br />
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Scores (max of 5 in each category, 25 overall):<br />
<ul>
<li>Pastry 4.65</li>
<li>Filling 4.815</li>
<li>Beer 4.55</li>
<li>Ambience 4.7</li>
<li>Value 4.66 </li>
<li><strong>Overall 23.375</strong></li>
</ul>
Thank you to Caroline and everyone at The Bakers Arms for an excellent lunch and congratulations on an excellent score which nudges The Bakers Arms into the lead in the race to be 2017 Pie Club Pub of the Year.Piemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09075811631445026142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763407625275746840.post-20809998031518651932017-06-06T15:52:00.000+01:002017-06-06T15:52:00.541+01:00<span style="color: cyan;"></span><br />
<strong>The Brickmakers, Swanmore, 25th May 2017</strong><br />
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We had visited the Brickmakers on three previous occasions and it has a special place in our hearts as it was the venue of the first meeting of the Pie Club over 6 years ago - when there were just 3 members!<br />
So it is always good to go back and four of us set out from Bishops Waltham on a warm Spring day for the short walk to Swanmore through the meadows and the nature reserve.<br />
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On arrival we were informed that two of the beers on handpumps had just finished and their replacements were not quite ready but the very helpful young lady managing the bar was able to offer us Jennings Redskin @ 3.9% and Fullers London Pride @4% both very acceptable. So the thirsty walkers settled for a pint of the very refreshing Jennings Redskin while we waited for the others to arrive.<br />
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There was a choice of pies on offer, Chicken, Ham and Leek or Venison served with mash or chips and a selection of vegetables.<br />
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Both pies were nicely presented and had been served from proper large pies which is just as we like it as you get more meat to pastry ratio. Impressively, the pies came with a different gravy, a chicken gravy for the chicken pie and a meat gravy for the venison - just as it should be. Both pies had ample succulent fillings with a good shortcrust pastry and silence descended as the plates were quickly demolished!<br />
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As the 3 founder members had all had significant birthdays during the month we felt it appropriate that we should celebrate with desserts of which there was an excellent selection:</div>
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Having cleared the desserts we felt that we were in no fit condition to start the walk back to Bishops Waltham so we retired to the garden to wash down the food with a couple more pints.</div>
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Scores (max of 5 in each category, 25 overall):</div>
<ul>
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Pastry 4.39</div>
</li>
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Filling 4.74</div>
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Beer 4.59 </div>
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Ambience 4.66</div>
</li>
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Value 4.15</div>
</li>
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<strong>Overall 22.525</strong></div>
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Congratulations to everyone at the Brickmakers as this is an improvement of a previous score of 21.92 on our last visit in July 2015 and many thanks for providing us with an excellent lunch and great hospitality once again.</div>
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Piemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09075811631445026142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763407625275746840.post-58899688119808694292017-05-13T17:31:00.003+01:002017-05-13T17:31:15.096+01:00The Bucks Head, Meonstoke, 27th April 2017<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Several of our members have fond memories of our last visit to <a href="https://www.thebuckshead.co.uk/">The Bucks Head, Meonstoke</a>, which we last visited in <a href="http://meneatpies.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/the-bucks-head-meonstoke-25th-september.html">2014</a>, which remains unique in the annals of the Pie Club as it was the only time where we have been presented with 2 pies. On that occasion the Bucks Head was (sadly from their point of view) pipped at the post in the final reckonings for 2014, coming 2nd to our all-time favourite pub, The Wheatsheaf in Shedfield, by a mere 0.02 points. Ever since then some of us have felt that it would be the decent thing to do, to give the Bucks Head another shot for glory, so here we were!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It being a lovely sunny day, Eric, Nigel, Lord North, Mike & Si set off on the long cross-country trek from Bishops Waltham, ably led by Nick along a 7km route carefully avoiding <a href="http://www.hampshirebowman.com/">The Hampshire Bowman</a> for all the obvious reasons. It was a long walk, and certainly when we crested the brow of the last hill and saw the pub in front of us we had worked up quite a thirst and an appetite, so we sped down the hill as fast as we could.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We were joined in the pub by fellow member Gordon, who is lucky enough to count this pub as his local, and who organised this outing. We immediately set about deciding which beers to try first. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj26rhLOwzGwa2BDazQ_mc1ffNacztxdNPD7zHbwGkIatVLR8KivI_jr545s9FCLONmwEGxcM9doqPC_sgKttwYO1qrjk2MdKVbLEvj5BfPbuFd0zN-PAXwXyPYZ2PofaPaGtXTMknCZoM/s1600/IMG_1845.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj26rhLOwzGwa2BDazQ_mc1ffNacztxdNPD7zHbwGkIatVLR8KivI_jr545s9FCLONmwEGxcM9doqPC_sgKttwYO1qrjk2MdKVbLEvj5BfPbuFd0zN-PAXwXyPYZ2PofaPaGtXTMknCZoM/s320/IMG_1845.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There was a choice of <a href="https://www.greeneking.co.uk/our-beers/greene-king-ipa/">Greene King IPA</a>, and 2 ales which were new to us: <a href="https://www.greeneking.co.uk/our-beers/belhaven/">Belhaven Wembley 67</a> and <a href="http://www.oakhamales.com/jhb.html">Oakham Ales JHB</a>. Most of us followed what has become our usual convention of choosing to try the lightest ale first, then working our way up to the stronger stuff. So we tried the JHB (Jeffrey Hudson Bitter) first, and found that it was very acceptable (as, indeed, were the other ales). By now we were beginning to worry about our vegan member, who had told us that he would definitely be taking time off from work to join us for this outing, but there was not yet any sign of him.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As we were quenching our thirst, our lovely host Nicki explained what she had in store for us this time. It was a pulled lamb pie served with roast and mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables. Just as it was about to be brought to the table a car pulled up outside, and out tumbled our vegan friend, who had been given a lift to the pub by his boss! He was only just in time. After that commotion we all quickly settled down at the table to wait for the pie. As we took our seats we noticed with approval the condiments which had already been set out on the table, including two types of mustard, and some mint sauce.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ0SvOyCI8AAOsbC1r8dvIKBZn89fhPEBQ1PoY1y-z1hJunWHPYhTJM2fJhrN6ulLrd_RIk8b7RqOk7Zcw456so6mdC2RZVQP5DmjXhw4nJD5pVKtWNIODvXIXX6xNEs73ze-aHoyoJ6s/s1600/IMG_1847.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ0SvOyCI8AAOsbC1r8dvIKBZn89fhPEBQ1PoY1y-z1hJunWHPYhTJM2fJhrN6ulLrd_RIk8b7RqOk7Zcw456so6mdC2RZVQP5DmjXhw4nJD5pVKtWNIODvXIXX6xNEs73ze-aHoyoJ6s/s320/IMG_1847.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When the pie arrived there were gasps of appreciation from all around. The chef had been expecting 11 of us, so he had prepared a pie large enough to satisfy 11 hungry men. But only 7 of us had turned up! Would we be able to handle it?</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNNOTaj7vEOavPIhq0_PwWmkwqRDDt0aNm8D1Mg-ZwVfMfPUCYfOPyRsItwKQuMd47Li3kW-Puuhcn1jtFFoBgbzx1fbQZYAoCebJp-Bnn7O45RtSiGg3_5EXGZpAf9SQWMeOCrl1ni2g/s1600/IMG_1848.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNNOTaj7vEOavPIhq0_PwWmkwqRDDt0aNm8D1Mg-ZwVfMfPUCYfOPyRsItwKQuMd47Li3kW-Puuhcn1jtFFoBgbzx1fbQZYAoCebJp-Bnn7O45RtSiGg3_5EXGZpAf9SQWMeOCrl1ni2g/s320/IMG_1848.jpg" width="240" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The pie came with ample accompaniments: </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXVBXExK3cvMMkRGKSKg3BL19-GPBcDoPUNcLiVCLIE8YjA4LtuClJ3Lmvnp4wVA__0t7vnSlhd36I-zeQoravr4nPrmdobj4vUwdxfT7jD7UCe99nw0cRaSIpE2BGR5NoZiujF6Wno50/s1600/IMG_1850.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXVBXExK3cvMMkRGKSKg3BL19-GPBcDoPUNcLiVCLIE8YjA4LtuClJ3Lmvnp4wVA__0t7vnSlhd36I-zeQoravr4nPrmdobj4vUwdxfT7jD7UCe99nw0cRaSIpE2BGR5NoZiujF6Wno50/s320/IMG_1850.jpg" width="240" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiozaas62Z-2CVjM_ZFyKiKgk1EoWaXQE_plCm4M9rX23lfbEnh8QuowNHIb4GTWwKVdVrJbhkNhVv6iwt38HKiy1U-kh4a0umiGSCoKL7SD4ybzwxOBhKv1KhfiQLiBBm8x62-SuY3bE/s1600/IMG_1851.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiozaas62Z-2CVjM_ZFyKiKgk1EoWaXQE_plCm4M9rX23lfbEnh8QuowNHIb4GTWwKVdVrJbhkNhVv6iwt38HKiy1U-kh4a0umiGSCoKL7SD4ybzwxOBhKv1KhfiQLiBBm8x62-SuY3bE/s320/IMG_1851.jpg" width="240" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPrdQj3mU3PRCEuDgktgm8NG7W222yZwnwUa_VGJZpWP9AiWUJRzWKFcD_ez1vzNROpEN-xVt6Sbwc6o0bKo2mTyX_vBZP91huKJ-pANMpz5PQIOxszuD32AHJrKfOW8qXKn-f3oL6LQQ/s1600/IMG_1852.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPrdQj3mU3PRCEuDgktgm8NG7W222yZwnwUa_VGJZpWP9AiWUJRzWKFcD_ez1vzNROpEN-xVt6Sbwc6o0bKo2mTyX_vBZP91huKJ-pANMpz5PQIOxszuD32AHJrKfOW8qXKn-f3oL6LQQ/s320/IMG_1852.jpg" width="240" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Two dishes of mixed vegetables, gravy served separately in jugs (just the way we like it), and mashed and roasted potatoes. Nobody felt confident enough to have a go at dividing the pie up into 7 equal portions (Joe would normally volunteer for this job, but sadly he is no longer with us as he has fled the country), so we summoned the chef, and after </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">to congratulating him on his magnificent pie, </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">asked him to do the honours.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6KQDH53oM1Xq5nGY1Nc4Bjkr4zo2nxZ3pKXv8ibGrgPZNdWQEKlWyBidaC2AhRg1nWkzGKtj5K6N4VJ8mM5ZuwE7ulcyke8J8GEzGyGH1Zr5KZgkRONb6zCMg1fazYKmZ1yNqopic_i0/s1600/IMG_1853.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6KQDH53oM1Xq5nGY1Nc4Bjkr4zo2nxZ3pKXv8ibGrgPZNdWQEKlWyBidaC2AhRg1nWkzGKtj5K6N4VJ8mM5ZuwE7ulcyke8J8GEzGyGH1Zr5KZgkRONb6zCMg1fazYKmZ1yNqopic_i0/s320/IMG_1853.jpg" width="240" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> When served out, the final result was a dish fit for kings.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimmHRRhLQnoohQO_bdUWtJQVz-siYm5Z3p2IqKAcL_g2D1ICmDibMhPbtY-2QHmmiFcRNft3oKWJOXYgM-bNB1F1lXW3stqhD9lqGvB_AVdCl4BAuKKQ40mXpNKkp6AwzNzhLjxNZGsjw/s1600/IMG_1857.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimmHRRhLQnoohQO_bdUWtJQVz-siYm5Z3p2IqKAcL_g2D1ICmDibMhPbtY-2QHmmiFcRNft3oKWJOXYgM-bNB1F1lXW3stqhD9lqGvB_AVdCl4BAuKKQ40mXpNKkp6AwzNzhLjxNZGsjw/s320/IMG_1857.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And we were 7 happy men.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbUrIl5ne5f3NUFmhfgBQri43NiLmJH6M1EQIRaDZSzz-Rv5kd1hwI0hxjOjBAzoy6RFZ30ssNpHq4iAgahW9QcgNnqj8CnSpst_NABdvOtmMyNDc6KdUh8q0Hlk4puu_EI9E8qDb8kBw/s1600/IMG_1856.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbUrIl5ne5f3NUFmhfgBQri43NiLmJH6M1EQIRaDZSzz-Rv5kd1hwI0hxjOjBAzoy6RFZ30ssNpHq4iAgahW9QcgNnqj8CnSpst_NABdvOtmMyNDc6KdUh8q0Hlk4puu_EI9E8qDb8kBw/s320/IMG_1856.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As for the question that was raised earlier - would we be able to handle such a big pie? - Of course we would!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqZMZA7p4r_1oxTuA75jBbCPmYtD5BfNFWKHpFZR6wq9ZvbNOoO_XqKBtQBA2ff_RYkcU5QDlvrK_EErt9pkW7hi1nxkh7Vd3IOzfxQFjwl-LJopZ44hRVGse4XAFwROfybtdSNYjjid0/s1600/IMG_1858.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqZMZA7p4r_1oxTuA75jBbCPmYtD5BfNFWKHpFZR6wq9ZvbNOoO_XqKBtQBA2ff_RYkcU5QDlvrK_EErt9pkW7hi1nxkh7Vd3IOzfxQFjwl-LJopZ44hRVGse4XAFwROfybtdSNYjjid0/s320/IMG_1858.jpg" width="240" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Our considered opinion was that the pie was excellent. It was in a deep 12" dish, lined and capped with perfectly-cooked pastry, packed with tender lean meat and just the right amount of gravy, and the roast potatoes were the best ever. The vegetables were so good that we ate nearly all of them. Some felt that the pie filling was a bit too sweet, but that was easily remedied by adding mint sauce to cut through the sweetness.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You might think that after such a satisfying meal, we'd have no room for puddings, but as there was such a good choice, of course we did.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoozgeFxdP2ap0AQ1Lx7ZMrlUvvDxjIqc24f10RCa5hLy8435WzTc1dZJyYIJLaWDyc8pUMmMNR77ooYAxRrF8yAE0ZxmlgxeOydX0owZNaWqdkJx5oNu9pXYvidGZOUYcPAULJ1mYMDQ/s1600/IMG_1860.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoozgeFxdP2ap0AQ1Lx7ZMrlUvvDxjIqc24f10RCa5hLy8435WzTc1dZJyYIJLaWDyc8pUMmMNR77ooYAxRrF8yAE0ZxmlgxeOydX0owZNaWqdkJx5oNu9pXYvidGZOUYcPAULJ1mYMDQ/s320/IMG_1860.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We all thought the meal was excellent, and we really appreciated the effort that Nicki, Shaun, and the chef made for us. The pub itself has a very good ambience, having recently been refurbished very tastefully. The food and beer were reasonably priced, with the beer at around £3.95/pint, and the pies at £13 each, so we felt it was good value for money, although we noticed that prices had gone up a bit since our previous visit. Nicki took the edge off the pricing by presenting us with complimentary glasses of port as she gave us the bill. We were pleased to see that she'd taken some notice of the advice we gave her on our previous visit, when we suggested that a round of port would finish us off nicely! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Scores (max of 5 in each category, 25 overall):</span></div>
<ul style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18.48px; margin: 0.5em 0px; padding: 0px 2.5em;">
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><div class="western" style="line-height: 13.2px; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Pastry 4.79</span></div>
</li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><div class="western" style="line-height: 13.2px; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Filling 4.64</span></div>
</li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><div class="western" style="line-height: 13.2px; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Beer 4.61</span></div>
</li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><div class="western" style="line-height: 13.2px; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ambience 4.64</span></div>
</li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><div class="western" style="line-height: 13.2px; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Value 4.6</span></div>
</li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><div class="western" style="line-height: 13.2px; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Overall 23.29</span></b></div>
</li>
</ul>
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<span style="line-height: 13.2px;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 13.2px;">Congratulations to </span><span style="line-height: 13.2px;">Nicki & Shaun, your score in 2014 was 22.32, so once again you have excelled yourselves and raised the quality of your pies to another level. Thank you for a most enjoyable meal.</span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 13.2px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 13.2px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Unfortunately the taxi that was supposed to take us all home failed to turn up, so we had to walk all the way back home - another 7km walk after such a big meal! But it wasn't such a hardship - this time we stopped that the Hampshire Bowman, but that's another story.</span></span></div>
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<br />Pie Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08347387444739738992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763407625275746840.post-14561414151950081952017-04-14T17:20:00.004+01:002017-04-14T17:20:57.375+01:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCB2Mt3TDleaB4CHSdgp4sYFWAgucjiaGWQmq7RP8gKT_lKH8uL0hKPlsplP9oitglGuZLfNEuo0nQesZDLFGjVvPji-dS2Z_COCiKgEFCK2Ucrt6KJDWqeRJihHILNS_Zvk8iFKfQv_1s/s1600/Pie+Club+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a> </div>
<h2>
The White Lion Soberton 30th March 2017</h2>
As a previous winner of the Pie of the Year award and as we had not visited for a number of years we felt it was time for a return visit to the White Lion. So three of the group set off early from Bishops Waltham to walk the 4 miles to Soberton. Walking at a good pace we arrived at the pub just on opening time!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcksUzF9TAUI1NFScPNIZURzr6XIC2IwXhYGifXo2vDo2ThcEqXJp32hjnC4IX8YoTToY3TD0JwboCKwbpulAEDSCTqrbJaT4uSo0XQfpHA73LBeftU9U9B7X6p12kvN6msxhKbMmUa0v1/s1600/pie+club+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcksUzF9TAUI1NFScPNIZURzr6XIC2IwXhYGifXo2vDo2ThcEqXJp32hjnC4IX8YoTToY3TD0JwboCKwbpulAEDSCTqrbJaT4uSo0XQfpHA73LBeftU9U9B7X6p12kvN6msxhKbMmUa0v1/s320/pie+club+1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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As you can imagine we had built up quite a thirst so we were keen to sample the good selection of beers while waiting for the others to arrive. The selection included:<br />
Bowman Swift One - 3.8%, Sharps Doombar - 4%, Cheriton Goodens Gold - 4.8%, Rosies Dry Cider and a very good Guinness for our Guinness drinking member.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCB2Mt3TDleaB4CHSdgp4sYFWAgucjiaGWQmq7RP8gKT_lKH8uL0hKPlsplP9oitglGuZLfNEuo0nQesZDLFGjVvPji-dS2Z_COCiKgEFCK2Ucrt6KJDWqeRJihHILNS_Zvk8iFKfQv_1s/s1600/Pie+Club+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCB2Mt3TDleaB4CHSdgp4sYFWAgucjiaGWQmq7RP8gKT_lKH8uL0hKPlsplP9oitglGuZLfNEuo0nQesZDLFGjVvPji-dS2Z_COCiKgEFCK2Ucrt6KJDWqeRJihHILNS_Zvk8iFKfQv_1s/s320/Pie+Club+2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The others eventually arrived so we continued to sample the beers which were all in excellent condition until being summoned for the main event, the pie! Today's offering was a Beef, Shallot and Red Wine pie served with new potatoes and a choice of garden peas or marrowfat peas ( a sort of mushy broad bean can best describe it - very tasty).<br />
Each meal was served with individual jugs of gravy, which was a nice touch as we didn't have to fight over one gravy jug!<br />
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The banter subsided as we tucked into the pies which were truly impressive, excellent shortcrust pastry with a succulent meat filling. Plates were cleared but there was still room for some of us to cast our eyes over a very tempting dessert list and you can see why most of us could not resist the temptation!<br />
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The desserts were accompanied by a complimentary glass of port - again a very nice touch. We had a bit of time to kill before our taxi arrived so some of us chose to try Rosies Dry Cider, so it was just as well that we were taking the taxi back and not walking!<br />
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Scores for the White Lion (Max 5 in each category - total 25 overall):<br />
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Pastry - 4.70<br />
Filling - 4.77<br />
Beer - 4.71<br />
Ambience - 4.74<br />
Value - 4.41<br />
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<strong>Overall - 23.33</strong><br />
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Many thanks to all the staff at the White Lion for an excellent lunch and their hospitality. The score of 23.33 now puts the White Lion into 1st place - congratulations!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCB2Mt3TDleaB4CHSdgp4sYFWAgucjiaGWQmq7RP8gKT_lKH8uL0hKPlsplP9oitglGuZLfNEuo0nQesZDLFGjVvPji-dS2Z_COCiKgEFCK2Ucrt6KJDWqeRJihHILNS_Zvk8iFKfQv_1s/s1600/Pie+Club+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><br />
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<strong></strong><br />Piemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09075811631445026142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763407625275746840.post-7372992281911157852017-01-29T14:53:00.002+00:002017-01-29T14:53:57.499+00:00The Wheatsheaf, Shedfield, 25th January 2017<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13.2px;">As a gesture of remembrance for our recently-departed friend Joe, we decided that this month's outing should be yet another visit to our (and Joe's) favourite pub of all time, <a href="http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g1192234-d7599686-Reviews-The_Wheatsheaf-Shedfield_Southampton_Hampshire_England.html" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;">The Wheatsheaf Inn</a> at Shedfield, midway between Botley and Wickham, and conveniently on the 69 bus route. We have, of course, been here many times before: Our first visit was <a href="http://meneatpies.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/wheatsheaf-inn-shedfield-29th-may-2012.html" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;">in 2012</a>, quickly followed by a 2nd visit <a href="http://meneatpies.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/2012-pie-of-year-award-presentation.html" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;">in 2013</a> (when we presented them with a well-deserved "Pie of the Year" award), and for our AGMs <a href="http://meneatpies.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/pie-club-agm-at-wheatsheaf-shedfield.html" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;">in 2013</a> and <a href="http://meneatpies.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/agm-at-wheatsheaf-shedfield-11th.html" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;">2014</a>, and another formal evaluation <a href="http://meneatpies.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/the-wheatsheaf-inn-shedfield-24th.html">in 2015</a>. Although their pies have long been highly revered in our memories, it was time for a formal re-evaluation, as we know from bitter experience that things can change over the years. All the same, it was with great expectations that we approached the pub this time.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13.2px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Some of us, in the throes of a new-year fitness binge, decided to walk the 3.1 miles from Bishops Waltham, and did quite well, completing the distance in 50 minutes. There's nothing like the prospect of a great pie and pint to spur us on! Our more sedate members took the 69 bus.</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb1TgnUK8CErPgAaDjaxNBz7lmUNvCZDwxnbhVHSdFEoacYxWjcGTy5KFHfDzFO0hFEJKJMQe-iQ7Gc0ykldJcg3wViTSKGIYwLFfNWjlKkdwMHAY0Qjmxe52rMZjUFVNuiDRWjRMtuphd/s1600/IMG_1786.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb1TgnUK8CErPgAaDjaxNBz7lmUNvCZDwxnbhVHSdFEoacYxWjcGTy5KFHfDzFO0hFEJKJMQe-iQ7Gc0ykldJcg3wViTSKGIYwLFfNWjlKkdwMHAY0Qjmxe52rMZjUFVNuiDRWjRMtuphd/s320/IMG_1786.jpg" width="240" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13.2px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So quickly did we complete the walk that we arrived at the pub before opening time, so for a while there was the pathetic sight of several very tired and thirsty Pie Club members waiting outside the door with tongues hanging out.After a few minutes the landlord Tim took pity on us and let us in. We found that he was in the final stages of an interior refit, with an extension to the dining area.</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0gGHbNHawQ_txSC-M94a118P0g1yPPq15IZjAYBGwJ-OYbBeRQtV8XgnRTWLjoEeKwG7iqNywCUe7wHgAP4xdaY3lB3IDfpwRvEEC-MkemUnffzk8yiBwU_YlIoKUOzDP6zxzCIBzwaZP/s1600/IMG_1790.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0gGHbNHawQ_txSC-M94a118P0g1yPPq15IZjAYBGwJ-OYbBeRQtV8XgnRTWLjoEeKwG7iqNywCUe7wHgAP4xdaY3lB3IDfpwRvEEC-MkemUnffzk8yiBwU_YlIoKUOzDP6zxzCIBzwaZP/s320/IMG_1790.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13.2px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The results make the interior look much smarter, but Pie Club members are renown for their conservative views regarding pub interiors. The changes gave us plenty to talk about, and we doubt if Joe would approve of them. One thing that hasn't changed is the quality and price of the beers, which remain as good as ever.</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizH_5gOoxsvIu4_hoh6X5R7Db7TwF6TrjuqAMkY8gCM98peIOHvUObgOmOH_RxcohoBsBx-pry8eHrmVq-nIfnY9jyJ3rclLj-hn4m90vefkmASz_r1i-G66kjE3pU3n_M3gDQq5ktTLhw/s1600/IMG_1787.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizH_5gOoxsvIu4_hoh6X5R7Db7TwF6TrjuqAMkY8gCM98peIOHvUObgOmOH_RxcohoBsBx-pry8eHrmVq-nIfnY9jyJ3rclLj-hn4m90vefkmASz_r1i-G66kjE3pU3n_M3gDQq5ktTLhw/s320/IMG_1787.jpg" width="240" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13.2px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We were also relieved to see that Sally had done another brilliant job in preparing the Steak & Kidney pie, which was also up to her usual very high standard. The pie had been prepared for 10 people, but luckily for us (and sadly for Doug), one of us had to drop out of this trip at the last minute, leaving 9 of us to cope with this magnificent pie.</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw6o3dBxBKnzZpt9pztxYBb-fkZ-ZyOLvaIrkAtA4q82GDdQTIn53x-_7XpWyoL_OEJegl4_bNr7dpQjkJm2L_LMgpbC89uZ6tvm3cVeIxeSyJo8l5mMr4pnYfqLrkumvT-MbB1yZnjx5h/s1600/IMG_1792.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw6o3dBxBKnzZpt9pztxYBb-fkZ-ZyOLvaIrkAtA4q82GDdQTIn53x-_7XpWyoL_OEJegl4_bNr7dpQjkJm2L_LMgpbC89uZ6tvm3cVeIxeSyJo8l5mMr4pnYfqLrkumvT-MbB1yZnjx5h/s320/IMG_1792.jpg" width="240" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13.2px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The only problem was in dividing this pie up into 9 equal portions, and there were the usual squabbles about some people getting bigger pieces than others. But generally speaking, Stephen did quite a good job of taking over Joe's traditional role in cutting up the pie.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13.2px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The pie was served with generous quantities of vegetables and new potatoes. </span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxYPxEk-OckEn4CCPBVHjxSAdMijWGltVTZ7ocayb-n4sXyvknEFtEz3VMT4sUhNG8pi4T_rSY6ceKK0DGI_CnDPVTg36HT_xEv80iW8Y5eBWr-oRioTPQUY4OK-eKJiW_89aSZM7qUq7V/s1600/IMG_1793.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxYPxEk-OckEn4CCPBVHjxSAdMijWGltVTZ7ocayb-n4sXyvknEFtEz3VMT4sUhNG8pi4T_rSY6ceKK0DGI_CnDPVTg36HT_xEv80iW8Y5eBWr-oRioTPQUY4OK-eKJiW_89aSZM7qUq7V/s320/IMG_1793.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13.2px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Gravy was served separately, in jugs on the side, just the way we like it, and the end result was an excellent meal. </span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMwE1rSstTNbrbtg3v2dHSRxVBe-HCby_alcvqxhlAaEWnfF4OIemlwO3Hq-1akOdDIpCVoW19qb2qtuvEd3IymoU45Q0kjjQLWn_Bj8L9eBoOmfiTFp925PI0hAgOJ5KmCLlpuUqy60y1/s1600/IMG_1794.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMwE1rSstTNbrbtg3v2dHSRxVBe-HCby_alcvqxhlAaEWnfF4OIemlwO3Hq-1akOdDIpCVoW19qb2qtuvEd3IymoU45Q0kjjQLWn_Bj8L9eBoOmfiTFp925PI0hAgOJ5KmCLlpuUqy60y1/s320/IMG_1794.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13.2px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Scores for The Wheatsheaf Inn (Max 5 in each category - total 25 overall):</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Pastry - 4.65<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Filling - 4.5<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Beer - 4.85<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ambience - 4.0<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Value - 4.8<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13.2px;"><span style="line-height: 18.48px;"><span style="line-height: 18.48px;"></span><br style="line-height: 18.48px;" /><span style="line-height: 18.48px;"></span><span style="line-height: 18.48px;"></span></span><span style="line-height: 18.48px;"> </span></span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18px;">
<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Overall - 21.89<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.48px;"><span style="line-height: 18.48px;"><br /></span></span><span style="line-height: 18.48px;"></span><span style="font-size: 13.2px;">Although this score is lower than in previous visits (perhaps a reflection of our more discerning judgement), this still remains, in our view, as near as you can get to the perfect Pie and Pint. </span><span style="line-height: 18.48px;"><span style="line-height: 18.48px;">Once again The Wheatsheaf leaps straight in at number one in our tables.</span></span></span></span><div>
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Piemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09075811631445026142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763407625275746840.post-69152795174717572772016-12-08T12:13:00.000+00:002016-12-08T12:13:08.947+00:00<h3 class="post-title entry-title" itemprop="name" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; font-stretch: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0.75em 0px 0px; position: relative;">
The Hunters Inn Swanmore 24th November 2016</h3>
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This was our first visit to the Hunters Inn so the walking party set off from Bishops Waltham across fields and orchards to meet up with the others at the pub.</div>
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We have used various modes of transport to arrive at our Pie Club venues but never on horseback - maybe one for the future!</div>
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On arrival it was quite busy but we managed to get ourselves to the bar to find that there was a choice of 3 real ales: Bowmans Swift One - 3.8%, Sherfield on Loddon Best Bitter - 4.2% and Theaktons Best - 3.8%. Most of us started on Swift One as it one of our favourite local beers.</div>
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We had a choice of 2 pies which we had selected in advance, Steak and kidney and Venison and they were served in the traditional way with chips and peas.</div>
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There were<span style="font-size: 13.2px;"> some initial concerns when the pies arrived as they were in dishes and appeared to have just a pastry topping. However when we delved inside there was lovely shortcrust pastry on the sides and bottom and loads of filling and no confusion on which pies were which!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.2px;">The plates were cleared and everyone agreed that both pies were excellent. Despite being well fed a few of us elected to have a pudding which included homemade rum and raisin ice cream and treacle sponge and custard.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.2px;">We headed back to Bishops Waltham by foot car and bus but definitely not on horseback!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.2px;">Scores (max. 5 in each category, 25 overall).</span></div>
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<ul>
<li><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, tahoma, helvetica, freesans, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.2px;">Pastry 4.35</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, tahoma, helvetica, freesans, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.2px;">Filling 4.32</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, tahoma, helvetica, freesans, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.2px;">Beer 4.15</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, tahoma, helvetica, freesans, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.2px;">Ambience 3.97</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, tahoma, helvetica, freesans, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.2px;">Value 4.79</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, tahoma, helvetica, freesans, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.2px;"><b>Overall 21.58</b></span></span></li>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, tahoma, helvetica, freesans, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.2px;">Our thanks to everyone at the Hunters Inn for an excellent lunch.</span></span></div>
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Piemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09075811631445026142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763407625275746840.post-72646998638571745932016-11-09T11:11:00.000+00:002016-11-09T11:11:29.455+00:00<h3 class="post-title entry-title" itemprop="name" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; font-stretch: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0.75em 0px 0px; position: relative;">
The Hinton Arms Hinton Ampner 27th October 2016</h3>
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This was our first visit to the Hinton Arms so we set off from Bishops Waltham in taxi's full of anticipation.</div>
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On arrival we found the pub to be very busy, which we should have expected due to it's proximity to the National Trust property at Hinton Ampner (well worth a visit). So we fought our way to the bar to be confronted with a good selection of 4 real Ales.</div>
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We had to choose from Hintons Own from Bowman -3.8%(we suspect this was Swift One), Hampshire Rose from from Ichen Valley - 4.2%, Old Dick from Southwick Brewery - 3.8% and Sportsman from Bowman - 4%(which could have been Wallops Wood). Over the lunchtime, between us, we managed to try all the beers on offer which were all in good condition. Unfortunately, our Guinness drinking member found that it was not to his liking so had to change to lager.</div>
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So after a couple of pints we had built up an appetite and were ready for the pies. There were two on offer, a steak and kidney and steak and stilton in suet pastry!</div>
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When the pies arrived they were huge!</div>
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Both pies had plenty of filling with very tender beef. The steak and kidney pie had a traditional shortcrust pastry and the steak and stilton had a crumbly suet pastry. Both came with with a selection of veg and new potatoes and chips.</div>
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To follow there were a good selection of desserts on offer, but only those of us who do not have watch their waistlines were able to indulge!</div>
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<li><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.52px;">Pastry 4.34</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.52px;">Filling 4.47</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.52px;">Beer 3.85</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.52px;">Ambience 4.27</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.52px;">Value 4.03</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.52px;"><b>Overall 20.96</b></span></span></li>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.52px;">Our thanks to everyone at the Hinton Arms for an excellent lunchtime visit.</span></span></div>
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Piemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09075811631445026142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763407625275746840.post-90716473344552767192016-10-13T10:57:00.000+01:002016-10-13T10:57:18.395+01:00<h2 class="date-header" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px; position: relative;">
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The Rising Sun Swanmore 29th September 2016</h3>
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We had visited this pub on two previous occasions but as there had recently been a change of management we felt obliged to revisit, particularly as we were getting good reports about the pies on offer. So six of us set off on the short walk from Bishops Waltham to Swanmore, meeting the other three members at the pub.</div>
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We received a warm welcome from Amy and Ben and were interested to see that one of the beers on offer was Wayfarer (4%) from a new brewery in Swanmore just around the corner from the pub.This was the obvious choice for our first beer as none of us had sampled this beer before. Unfortunately there were only 2 pints left in the barrel and a replacement barrel was not ready to be tapped - so we will have to keep our eyes open for beers from this new brewery!</div>
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The other beers on offer were:</div>
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Ringwood Red Boar 3.9% and Goodens Gold 4.8%. We all decided on the Red Boar which was a good supping ale. Goodens Gold is an excellent beer but a bit too strong for us at a lunchtime.</div>
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We were all getting quite excited about the pie as Ben was producing a homemade rabbit pie which would be a new experience for some of us. Indeed the pie was excellent, with a lovely shortcrust pastry filled generously with succulent rabbit and served traditionally with huge portions of chips and peas with gravy on the side, just as we like it!</div>
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Plates were cleared so it was surprising to see that a number of the group elected to have a pudding. Maybe not so surprising when we looked at the selection of puddings available.</div>
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As the pub closed at 2.30pm we drank up and started out on the return walk to Bishops Waltham, stopping off at the Brickmakers to quench our thirst.</div>
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Scores (max. 5 in each category, 25 overall)</div>
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<ul>
<li>Pastry 4.64</li>
<li>Filling 4.77</li>
<li><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.2px;">Beer 3.86</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.2px;">Ambience 4.13</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.2px;">Value 4.13</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.2px;"><b>Overall 21.53</b></span></span></li>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.2px;">Our thanks to Amy and Ben for their hospitality and for providing us with such an excellent homemade pie. We know that Ben produces a range of homemade pies so we will be back!</span></span></div>
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Piemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09075811631445026142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763407625275746840.post-52028924408810793922016-09-21T11:16:00.000+01:002016-09-21T11:16:39.898+01:00<h3 class="post-title entry-title" itemprop="name" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; font-stretch: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0.75em 0px 0px; position: relative;">
The Brushmakers Arms Upham 25th August 2016</h3>
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We had visited this pub before but as there had recently been a change of management and we were hearing encouraging reports, through the grapevine, we felt it was our duty to have a return visit and find out for ourselves.</div>
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So six of us set off from Bishops Waltham on a hot and humid summers' day for the 4 mile walk to Upham. Four other gents were due to join us at the pub but for some reason didn't fancy the walk!</div>
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On arrival, we were obviously suffering from extreme dehydration (the walkers that is) so we headed straight to the bar for sustenance in the form of beer! </div>
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We were warmly welcomed and presented with a choice of a good selection of four beers:</div>
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Upham Fields of Gold - 3.8%, Palmers Copper Ale - 3.7%, Fullers London Pride - 4.1% and Cheriton Goodens Gold - 4.8%. Most of us opted for the Upham Fields of Gold which was a refreshing straw coloured beer, which was just what the doctor ordered.</div>
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Having satisfied our thirst over a couple of pints it was time for the main event - the pie!</div>
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This months offering was to be individual chicken, ham and leek pies with chips and vegetables The pies were presented in individual enamel pie dishes which we thought was a nice traditional touch.</div>
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With a little coaxing the pies turn out perfectly onto the plate which suggested that they were cooked to perfection. Which indeed they were! The pastry was very good and there was plenty of excellent filling and it all came with gravy on the side - yum.</div>
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Everybody cleared their plates and some of us even had room for a pudding from the extensive menu.</div>
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The taxi duly arrived to take us back to Bishops Waltham, it was felt that to walk back after such an excellent lunch would be a step too far! However, two of our group did decide to walk back taking a different route - never to be seen again!(they did turn up eventually having taken a wrong turn or two - or had they found another pub?).</div>
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Scores(max. 5 in each category, 25 overall):</div>
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<li>Pastry 4.25</li>
<li>Filling 4.40</li>
<li>Beer 4.24</li>
<li>Ambience 4.38</li>
<li>Value 4.49</li>
<li><b>Overall 21.76</b></li>
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Many thanks to Nicki and her team for a most enjoyable visit and congratulations on an excellent pie which puts the Brushmaker into 2nd position overall for 2016 so far.</div>
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Piemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09075811631445026142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763407625275746840.post-17746667020936509762016-08-18T15:22:00.000+01:002016-08-18T15:22:53.915+01:00<br />
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The Elm Tree, Swanwick, 28th July 2016</h3>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">T</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">his was a new venue for Pie Club so we set off for the short taxi ride to Swanwick.</span></div>
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On arrival we were delighted to find that three of our favourite beers were available on handpump.<br />
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Most of us started on the Flowerpots Bitter - 3.8% and during the course of the lunch also sampled Doom Bar - 4.0% and the delightful but deceptively strong Goodens Gold - 4.8%. All the beers were in excellent condition, as was the Guinness - to the delight of our Guinness drinking member. Whilst enjoying the beer we had to make a choice between three pies on offer - Lamb and Vegetable, Chicken Ham and Leek and Steak and Stilton. Now having already chosen our beer to have to make another decision so quickly was beyond most of us, so by the time we had decided the last Lamb and Vegetable pie had gone, but we still had two to choose from.</div>
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Both the pies on offer were individual pies with shortcrust pastry tops and came with either chips or new potatoes with an excellent selection of vegetables, thus ensuring that we all got our '5 a day' which is important to healthy eating gents like us!</div>
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The pies were also accompanied by extra gravy in jugs, just as we like it. Both pies had good fillings with plenty of meat and the overall opinion was that they were good pies. A special mention for the chips that were excellent.</div>
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All plates were cleared so it was a surprise that most of us elected to have a pudding. But the pudding selection was very tempting, so it just had to be done!</div>
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By the time we had finished the puddings most of us felt like having a snooze, but the taxi was beckoning to take us back to Bishops Waltham.</div>
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<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">Pastry 3.91</span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">Filling 4.44</span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">Beer 4.53</span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">Ambience 4.21</span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">Value 4.15</span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><strong><span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">Overall 21.24</span></strong></li>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18px;">A very enjoyable first visit to the Elm Tree and our thanks to Lorraine and all the staff for their service and for making us so welcome.</span></span></div>
Piemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09075811631445026142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763407625275746840.post-14803404301913101692016-07-17T15:28:00.003+01:002016-07-17T15:35:47.667+01:00The Cricketers, Curdridge, 30th June 2016<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18.48px;">For this month's outing Doug decided that it was about time that we re-visited </span><a href="http://www.thecricketerscurdridge.co.uk/" style="color: #888888; line-height: 18.48px; text-decoration: none;">The Cricketers, Durley</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18.48px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18.48px;"> Our last visit to this fine pub was in June 2013, when we were presented with some rather unconventional pasties and it scored a very respectable 19.625. Since then the pub has been taken over by new management and had a refurbishment, so it's due a re-evaluation.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18.48px;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">This was to be Joe's last outing with us as he has had enough of England and decided to return to his homeland, Canada. This is a sad occasion for us as Joe has long been a popular member of the club. He tells us that he intends to start up a similar club in his home town, Ontario. We wish him well in this venture, and look forward to establishing reciprocal visiting rights in due course.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18.48px;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Joe's departure means that there there will soon be a vacancy in our membership, and we were joined on this outing by a young contender, Nigel, who is hoping to step into Joe's place.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18.48px;">As usual with the Cricketers, there was some confusion about how best to get there. It's not far from Bishops Waltham as the crow flies, but it's not a very pleasant walk along the main road and we couldn't find any alternative routes, so we went by bus again. Since out last visit the local buses have changed and the now had to get a No. 10 bus, which follows the same circuitous route as the old No. 8, and thankfully still stops just outside the pub</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18.48px;">.</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirRr19l-OmS_ccx2yA3tWUKRjfN9EZQ-pDe3RPadTl0KasYzQqyJBVsWeLxm_OH-O8mRAJrV5sDXNyenMYAQk5RZkScj_qnzaV7SyJDhmtEd2AkticRQEsMv5JqsGZgOqH41hADh68GJo/s1600/IMG_1644.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirRr19l-OmS_ccx2yA3tWUKRjfN9EZQ-pDe3RPadTl0KasYzQqyJBVsWeLxm_OH-O8mRAJrV5sDXNyenMYAQk5RZkScj_qnzaV7SyJDhmtEd2AkticRQEsMv5JqsGZgOqH41hADh68GJo/s320/IMG_1644.jpg" width="240" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18.48px;"><br /></span>This is a Greene King pub, and the beers available were Sticky Wicket (3.7%), Old Trip (4.2%), and Speckled Hen (4.5%). The beers were served up by a delightful barmaid and found to be very quaffable. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh90BCwz3GKd6QxG2xxe3J3W7iN1SFht8ebt-HtxYRaAXVaEagbJi1RKf89h5qFGiJViS_fDT1kK0Ksj0DGpGMMpYbsZueL4vRtoSAgUxhKuUjXUMVgOajxlT8FgaALh3LHAokuoszD8I8/s1600/IMG_1645+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh90BCwz3GKd6QxG2xxe3J3W7iN1SFht8ebt-HtxYRaAXVaEagbJi1RKf89h5qFGiJViS_fDT1kK0Ksj0DGpGMMpYbsZueL4vRtoSAgUxhKuUjXUMVgOajxlT8FgaALh3LHAokuoszD8I8/s320/IMG_1645+%25281%2529.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">There was only one type of pie available: A Steak Pie served with mashed potato (with chives) and mixed seasonal vegetables (green & yellow courgettes with carrots). So that's what we ordered.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7XY4BRFT2ll4n9oCgMALruEt30nrn6hJ4t0jSF3EI4lhAQjIafgfOx-oAy_eB8ltjFIAMIz-dL69gqZJIKaVi3ygxFxwzWVPzVliwbonPGS1W2LJsKdwqG54vkLyT7bm8R3nzcvFc01I/s1600/IMG_1649.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7XY4BRFT2ll4n9oCgMALruEt30nrn6hJ4t0jSF3EI4lhAQjIafgfOx-oAy_eB8ltjFIAMIz-dL69gqZJIKaVi3ygxFxwzWVPzVliwbonPGS1W2LJsKdwqG54vkLyT7bm8R3nzcvFc01I/s320/IMG_1649.jpg" width="240" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">This time the pies were shaped conventionally. They were good-sized individual pies made of short crust pastry packed with lots of meat, served with mixed vegetables which were perfectly cooked, and a delicious mashed potato with chives. A small amount of gravy was pre-applied, but more was provided, served separately in jugs on the side, just the way we like it. Although the pie was of a good size, we felt the portions of vegetables and potato were a bit on the small side, although they were very nicely cooked, and the whole meal was very tasty.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Afterwards we still felt a bit hungry so we sampled the puddings. There was a good selection to choose from, and they were all very nice.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjDLOMJ5FSml2tjVPHiok37vACoTaiJqdkhLJ6Isd_QyFW6_9WKxaotbsfEMe3fidwwYa1I5dR7yjvD2S-A0AV6SOV8IBL_EtecMuJdyRoLYov3SF-k0DBI-KGi5rXamsoDs8wHdFAjYI/s1600/IMG_1648.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjDLOMJ5FSml2tjVPHiok37vACoTaiJqdkhLJ6Isd_QyFW6_9WKxaotbsfEMe3fidwwYa1I5dR7yjvD2S-A0AV6SOV8IBL_EtecMuJdyRoLYov3SF-k0DBI-KGi5rXamsoDs8wHdFAjYI/s320/IMG_1648.jpg" width="240" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 23px;">The general ambience of the pub was very good. It's clean, has nicely up-market furnishings, and has no distractions such as music or fruit machines. The gardens are extensive but we didn't use them as the weather wasn't very good. The service was good, but unfortunately the pub closes at 3.00pm. We had to wait ages for the bus back to Bishops Waltham as the bus had broken down and was running half an hour late</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 23px;">. We could have done with the pub still being open as this was valuable drinking time which is now lost for ever.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18.48px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 23px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18.48px;"></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18.48px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Scores (max. 5 in each category, 25 overall): </span><br style="line-height: 18px;" /><span style="line-height: 18px;"></span></span></span><br />
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<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Pastry 3.81</span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Filling 3.98</span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Beer 4.19</span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Ambience 3.86</span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Value 3.59</span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><strong><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Overall 19.44</span></strong></li>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 23px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18.48px;"></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 23px;">This score is slightly down on the 2013 score, and puts The Cricketers 5th out of 5 pubs visited so far this year. There's nothing wrong with this pub, and the meal was excellent, but other pubs are better. Our scores may have been affected by our sadness at losing Joe and paying for his share of the bill.</span></span><br />
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Pie Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08347387444739738992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8763407625275746840.post-72772083110531541872016-06-08T15:38:00.000+01:002016-06-08T15:38:17.063+01:00<h2 class="date-header" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px; position: relative;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; letter-spacing: inherit; margin: inherit; padding: inherit;">Wednesday 8th June 2016</span></h2>
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The Shoe, Exton, 26th May 2016</h3>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">T</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">his was a new venue Pie Club had been meaning to visit for some time so we felt it was time we did so we set off for the short taxi ride to Exton.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">On arrival, we were delighted to find an excellent range of beers on parade!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The beers to choose from were: Wadsworth IPA 3.6%, Horizon 4.0%, 6X 4.1% and from the Yates Brewery, Isle of Wight' Golden 4.0%, Sunfire 4.3% and Golden Tipple 4.7% from the Long Man Brewery. All the beers were in excellent condition and reasonably priced. Our Guinness drinking member had to settle for Wadworth's own stout, Corvus, which was not as good to his taste as his normal Guinness.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After a few beers to quench our thirst we were ready for the main event, the pie! The presentation of the steak and mushroom pie was exceptional with different pastry inscriptions on each pie which was a nice touch. The pie was served in a shallow dish with a flaky pastry top, which is not always to our liking. The pies were all demolished, so they were tasty enough. They were accompanied by mustard mash and roasted vegetables.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMBJo6oIoOX8eLOUraLKlq5SwNHhKTt3NS_vblISIy7Fu9Fv6SbZeat9FrLgTyZSwGOUCVHCPnJ8ySvZ_YqLs1xWRnH0JgLlk3rGBQMvqJY3PaLYR9w9plyd6838tFinC6bk2jn3ATb3eJ/s1600/IMG_2020%255B1%255D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMBJo6oIoOX8eLOUraLKlq5SwNHhKTt3NS_vblISIy7Fu9Fv6SbZeat9FrLgTyZSwGOUCVHCPnJ8ySvZ_YqLs1xWRnH0JgLlk3rGBQMvqJY3PaLYR9w9plyd6838tFinC6bk2jn3ATb3eJ/s320/IMG_2020%255B1%255D.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">No one was tempted to have a pudding so we retired to the lovely pub garden by the Meon river for our final pint and to wait for our return taxi.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">Scores (max of 5 in each category, 25 overall)</span><br style="font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;" /><br style="font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;" /><ul style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px; margin: 0.5em 0px; padding: 0px 2.5em;">
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">Pastry 3.5</span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">Filling 3.94</span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">Beer 4.41</span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">Ambience 4.31</span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">Value 3.51</span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Overall 19.67</b></span></li>
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<span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">Thank you to everyone at the Shoe for making us so welcome on our first visit to a lovely country pub serving a fine selection of ales and a tasty pie.</span></div>
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Piemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09075811631445026142noreply@blogger.com0