AGM at The Wheatsheaf, Shedfield, 11th December 2014

After another year of dedicated devotion to duty in 2014, the gentlemen members of the Pie Club gathered together at The Wheatsheaf Inn, Shedfield for their annual general meeting.  Our choice of venue was, of course, an acknowledgement of the very special place in our hearts occupied by the Wheatsheaf.  We will never forget that momentous pie we were served in 2012 which won the Pie of the Year Award that year. Add to that the excellent range of Flowerpots Ales available here at very low prices and we have what has become the spiritual home of the Pie Club and the gold standard against which all other pubs are measured.  Knowing that our hosts, Tim and Sally, had laid on another very special pie for us, we were eager to get the formal business of the day completed quickly so that we could get on with the much more important business of tackling another Wheatsheaf pie.

We agreed that in future our annual award for excellence would be "The Pie Club Pub of the Year" rather than "The Pie of the Year". This is a more accurate reflection of the fact that our award is based not just on the quality of the pie, but also on the overall experience of the pub visit.

We then went on to consider which pub should receive this coveted award for 2014. Here are the scores for each of the pubs that we visited this year:

1. The Black Dog, Waltham Chase (27/11/2014): 22.34
2. The Bucks Head, Meonstoke (25/09/2014): 22.32
3. The Kings Head, Hursley (29/05/2014): 21.59
4. The Brewery Bar, Botley (24/04/2014): 21.54
5. The Ship Inn, Owslebury (23/01/2014): 21.13
6. The Rising Sun, Swanmore (30/10/2014): 21.07
7. The Hampshire Bowman, Dundridge (26/06/2014): 20.70
8. The Queen Inn, Winchester (24/07/2014): 20.58
9. The Brickmakers, Swanmore (27/03/2014): 19.98
10. The Hurdles, Droxford (28/08/2014): 19.20

It was a very close contest, with the Black Dog in Waltham Chase winning by a very narrow margin. Our hearts go out to Nicki and Shaun at The Bucks Head, who must have thought that with their bold imaginative move of serving us 2 pies each they had the award in the bag, and perhaps in any other year they would have won, but they were just pipped at the post by Peter and Kathy at the Black Dog with their equally bold and innovative idea of offering us a Sausage, Bacon & Black Pudding Pie. Commiserations are due to all the other venues - there were no bad pies here, and everyone did very well.  

Congratulations to Peter and Sally at The Black Dog for a well-deserved win. We are looking forward to our next visit to The Black Dog, in March, when we will present the award.

Now on to more important matters.  While we were deliberating over our AGM, we were well assisted by the excellent range of beers which were available:

We found that these ales were a great help in our decision making. Meanwhile, Sally had prepared a special Steak & Kidney Pie for us. When it was brought out for us there was a moment of respectful silence followed by a buzz of appreciation as we saw just how good it was. 

We helped ourselves.  Made with short crust pastry, and served with perfectly cooked carrots, brocolli and new potatoes, with a jug of gravy on the side, this was as near perfect as a pie can possibly be.

The end result was inevitable - a full set of empty plates and very happy gentlemen:

To use our usual methods to evaluate this experience would be an insult to all concerned. This experience is sublime. It is beyond evaluation. Suffice to say, this pub will continue to be the spiritual home of the Pie Club, and sets the standard by which all other pubs are measured. We are looking forward to our next visit to The Wheatsheaf, which will probably be in December for our next AGM, unless we can think of some excuse for not waiting as long as that. 

The Ship Inn, Kingswear, 8th October 2011

Whilst taking a well-earned short break in Devon, Simon had a good meal at The Ship Inn, Kingswear.

To make a change from fish (almost compulsory in this part of the world) Simon opted for the Cow Pie (this being the first time he had come across a Cow Pie on a menu anywhere). It was a great pie, let down by the puff pastry topping, as can be seen below:

The filling was perfect: 1" cubes of tender lean beef in a delicious gravy with nothing extraneous added, and lots of it! The accompanying vegetables were fresh perfectly cooked. The chips were hand-cut and cooked perfectly. The accompanying ales were excellent: there was a choice of 5, including the ever-tempting Otter Amber Ale 4%, which was nicely served at the correct temperature. The pub landlord, Colin,  and the staff were very friendly and welcoming. The general ambience was very good.  Value for money was fair, with the beer weighing in at only £2.80/pint.

But the whole thing was let down by the puff pastry topping. It wasn't even good puff pastry. It was dry and tasteless and stuck to the roof of your mouth. It was like eating a dry cream cracker, only not as tasty.

To make up for the disappointment of the first course, Simon had another pint, and some pudding - very good fruit crumble with custard:

After the meal Simon remonstrated with Colin about the poor quality of the pastry. The landlord was very apologetic, and explained that they'd tried using proper short-crust pastry but there were too many problems with it. Apparently it's something to do with the re-heating. To which Simon's only reply was "Huh!".

PS Simon was accompanied on this trip by his good wife Jean, who had Whole Plaice and Chips, which she said was excellent.

PPS On this same trip Simon visited The Cherub Inn in Dartmouth with Jean:

It's a fine pub, but when Simon asked "What's the Pie of the Day?" the answer was "Fish Pie". Enough said.

Please note that Simon visited the pub without any other members of the Club, so opinions expressed above are purely personal and not representative of the Club.