The Hunters Inn Swanmore 24th November 2016

The Hunters Inn Swanmore 24th November 2016

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.

We have used various modes of transport to arrive at our Pie Club venues but never on horseback - maybe one for the future!

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.

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.

There were 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!

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.

We headed back to Bishops Waltham by foot car and bus but definitely not on horseback!

Scores (max. 5 in each category, 25 overall).

• Pastry      4.35
• Filling       4.32
• Beer         4.15
• Ambience 3.97
• Value        4.79
• Overall    21.58

Our thanks to everyone at the Hunters Inn for an excellent lunch.

The Brickmakers, Swanmore, 30th July 2015

For our July outing Trev decided to take us all to The Brickmakers in Swanmore, just a short 20 minute walk down the road from Bishops Waltham.  This pub has great significance for the members of the Pie Club as it is of course the site of the Pie Club's historic first outing on 20th January 2011, when it scored 16.4, and, indeed, a memorable follow-up visit on 25th July 2012, when it scored 21.78, and a third visit on 27th March 2014, when it scored 19.98. In terms of scores this place has had a bit of a chequered history, but truth to tell we've always enjoyed visiting this pub because its so close to home and their beers are always good.  Our reason for visiting this place again was that Trev had heard that they are now offering home-made pasties as well as the more traditional pies. Never before have we had a chance to sample a pasty, despite the fact that our constitution clearly states that we are "Committed to the tasting and enjoyment of savoury hot pies, puddings and pasties". 

We were joined on this outing by a special guest, Mike, who immediately confounded us all by telling us that he was on a temporary Vegan diet in order to try to lose some weight. If he is hoping ever to become a full member of the Pie Club he should learn not to say things like that. 

As we approached the pub we noticed that it is now called "The Brickmakers", whereas in the past we have always referred to it as "The Brickmakers Arms".  We're not sure when this change took place, but we're happy to go along with it.

On arrival we were warmly welcomed by the very attractive barmaid, and confronted with a tempting choice of ales.

The ales were the very locally brewed Upham Ales Punter 4%, the also very locally brewed Bowman Ales Wallops Wood 4%, as well as Ringwood Best 3.8% and Ringwood FortyNiner 4.9%. It was a difficult choice between the increasingly-popular Upham or our old favourite Bowman, so in the end we decided to drink both of them.  Both were fine beers, served well at the correct temperature, and went well with the meals.

As we were trying out the beers the landlady rushed in carrying trays of freshly-made pasties and explained to us that they were traditional home-made pasties made with short crust pastry, beef and vegetables, and they were big. We couldn't believe how big they were. But as well as the pasties we had a choice of pies: Venison Pie, or Chicken Ham and Leek Pie, all served with mixed vegetables and a choice of mash, thin, or chunky chips.  It was a difficult choice for many of us, but not for Mike, who said that as he was on a vegan diet he'd have the Venison Pie.  Hmmm, ... we're still not sure that we want him as a full member.

The pasties were big, packed full of tasty moist filling enclosed in short crust pastry, and much appreciated by all who had them. The mixed vegetables included Mange tout, French beans, shredded cabbage, and maybe some other green stuff.

The Chicken, Ham and Leek Pies were also very good. The pastry was so good that some people even gave it full marks.

The Venison Pie looked just as good, but was let down a bit by the filling, which was a bit dry and not very tender. 

The puddings were of a good standard and very similar to what we have had here on earlier visits.  After puddings, we were offered some free mints (a nice touch) presented with the bill, which came to £32 each.  The pasties were £10.00 each, and the pies were £12.50 each (unchanged since last visit). The beers were slightly more expensive this time (around £3.20/pint), but still not bad value. Trev did remark that the pies were a little deer, but he was probably thinking of the venison pies at the time. The service was very good, and the barmaid was quite delightful.  The pub was clean, busy but not too noisy, and overall ambience of the pub was very good, and it was a most enjoyable outing.

Scores for The Brickmakers, Swanmore (Max 5 in each category - total 25 overall)

Pastry - 4.52

Filling -  4.27

Beer   -  4.49

Ambience - 4.57

Value  - 4.07

Overall  - 21.92

This score means that The Brickmakers leaps into first place in our rankings of the pubs that we have visited so far this year. It's also the best score achieved by The Brickmakers in all of our visits over the previous 4 years, so it represents a considerable achievement.  Closer examination of the individual scores shows that the pasties and chicken pies were very well appreciated, but there was something non-quite-right about the Venison Pie fillings, which brought down the overall scores. This is a shame, but nevertheless The Brickmakers did very well and should be proud of their achievement.

The Rising Sun, Swanmore, 30th October 2014

We had previously visited The Rising Sun, Swanmore, as our fifth outing back in 2011 when we were but a fledgling group with just 5 members. So we felt it was time to revisit this excellent pub.

As we are all in to fitness and health matters we decided to walk the 2 miles to the pub - this also helps to build up a thirst and offset the expected pie and possibly pudding intake. So in various groups, Nick, Trevor, Gordon, Stephen, Paul (Lord North) and Eric set off from Bishops Waltham, joined by Doug at Swanmore and at the pub by Joe who had elected to cycle over.

On arrival at the Rising Sun we were greeted by the welcome sight of four beers on hand pump and were informed that there was also a beer in the barrel we could also sample - so a busy afternoon was anticipated!

We were all very impressed with the selection of beers, some that we had never tasted before. There was Sharp's Doom Bar 4%, Irving Best Irving Type 42 Best 4.2% from Portsmouth, That Old Chestnut 5.2% from  Weltons Brewery in Horsham, Tom Cat 4.7% from Red Cat Brewing, Winchester, and Golden Arrow 4.5% from Cottage Brewing in Somerset, so we got tucked in!

After a couple of pints we decided it was time for the pie which was a steak and ale pie served up with peas, separate chips and gravy with additional jugs of gravy - just as we like it. It was served with a sprig of greenery on top which was soon removed!

Overall, everyone felt it was a good pie with a nice short crust pastry and plenty of filling. Despite generous helpings some of us still had room for puddings! Those that participated chose:

Rice pudding with clotted cream

Lemon Cheesecake

Chocolate Brownie

Treacle pudding

Again all the puddings were well received and all plates cleared!

We then slowly finished off our beers, the last one very kindly on the house - thank you!

Overall a very good return to the Rising Sun and many commented that it was one of our best meetings in terms of the ambience and excellent discussion created by good food and good beer.

We then headed back to Bishops Waltham stopping off for some refreshment enroute at the Brickmakers!

The scores for the Rising Sun, gratefully compiled by Nick are:

Scores (max of 5 in each category, 25 overall):

• Pastry 4.25
• Filling 4.06
• Beer 4.53
• Ambience 4.04
• Value 4.20
• Overall 21.08

The Rising Sun is currently in 5th place out of the 9 visits this year in what is proving to be a very close contest.

The Brickmakers Arms, Swanmore, 25th July 2012

Those of us who still have functional memories often look back on the early days of the Pie Club with some degree of rose-tinted nostalgia. It may be a trick of our memories, but many of us have been heard to observe that pies today are not as good as they used to be in the good old days. So, by way of a trip down memory land, and to put this hypothesis to the test, we decided to return to  The Brickmakers Arms, Swanmore, the historic site of the very first Pie Club outing on 20th January 2011. It is only fair to point out that the pub has undergone a change of ownership since our first visit, and so was ripe for reassessment.

It being a fine sunny day, some Pie Club members chose to walk to the pub. For some this was easier than others. It was easiest for Doug, obviously, as he lives in Swanmore and counts The Brickmakers Arms as his local. Others chose the road route and a few hardy individuals chose the cross-country route. Needless to say, by the time we all arrived at our destination we had all worked up a fine thirst. We were greeted warmly by the landlady, who proudly showed us what she had to offer:

The excellent range of beers available included several of our favourites, including Bowman Swift One 3.8%, 
Bowman Wallops Wood 4.0%, Hammerpot Woodcote Bitter 4.5%. At this point something struck us - we've grown (in more ways than one)! There were 3 of us present at the inaugural meeting, and now there were 7 of us. Only one member, Paul T, was absent.  On a fine sunny day, such was the allure of our favourite beer, the Swift One, that even the hardened lager and Guinness drinkers succumbed to its attractions and we ordered 7 pints of Swift One @ £3/pint. The landlady suggested that we might like to wait in the garden until the pies were ready, so off we went, to debate the important matters of the day.

There was only one type of pie available on the menu - Pork & Vegetable Pie, served with buttered vegetables and a choice of thin-cut fries, fat chips, or champ mash. All for a reasonable £10.95.

After our 2nd pint (or was it the 3rd?) we were shown to our table inside, and without much delay the food was presented to us. First to arrive was the pie with thin-cut fries:

The pie had the fully-approved home-made short-crust pastry (not Jus-rol!), and was filled with an interesting mix of shredded pork with carrots, peas, sweet corn, apple, onions and peppers. The accompanying vegetables were a seasonal mix of freshly-cooked steamed courgettes, mangetout, and cabbage, with a touch of butter added. The gravy was served in the approved manner, with a small portion pre-applied to the pie, and a larger portion served separately in a jug. We found the taste of the gravy very interesting - we had to ask to find out what the ingredients were, and found out that they included rosemary, calvedos, and ginger! All things considered, this was a very original pie and a far cry from the ubiquitous Steak & Ale pies, which, frankly, we're starting to get a bit bored with. It's a shame we don't award points for originality.

Next came the pies with fat-cut chips:

And finally came the pies with champ potato (again, an unusual offering):

We all agreed that all varieties of the potatoes very very good, and that the whole meal was very nicely cooked, very tasty, and well presented. The portion sizes were ample, but, unusually, we all managed to eat up what was put in front of us, and several of us still had room for puddings.  This is no reflection on the portion sizes, but rather reflects the ease with which we were all led astray by the sight of a tempting pudding menu:

We felt obliged to sample a selection of different puddings:

The puddings were all very good, but perhaps Doug made the best choice - The Love Puff Pastry Slices:

The ambience of the pub was judged to be very good. There was a TV and piped music in the bar area, but we couldn't hear the music in the (separate) dining area, and the TV was switched off. The pub is very clean and comfortable - there are even 2 sofas available, which is a very nice touch. The service was excellent. Another nice touch was that when we were presented with the bill we were also presented with a dish of home-made chocolate sweets, which were very tasty:

Scores for The Brickmakers Arms, Swanmore (Max 5 in each category - total 25 overall)

Pastry - 4.21

Filling -  4.57

Beer   -  4.13

Ambience - 4.32

Value  - 4.55

Overall  - 21.78

This was another excellent afternoon - another fine traditional pub, recently refurbished, with attentive staff, good beer, and another exceptional pie.  Surprisingly, despite having such a fine range of ales available, when it came to the scoring we had to mark the beer down slightly as it was served slightly too chilled (OK, it was a hot day, but anyone would have thought we were in Australia!). As it is, this score is sufficient to ease the Brickmakers Arms into 2nd place in our rankings, ahead of the Brewery Bar, and second only to the Wheatsheaf. But the competition is close, very close.

On our first visit to this pub in January 2011 we also had a Pork Pie, although the recipe was completely different. On that occasion our score for the visit was only 16.4, and yet, according to Pieman's recollection, it was a very impressive pie. Pieman imagines that as that was our first outing, perhaps we hadn't calibrated our scoring system correctly. Does this mean we're going to have to revisit all the pubs we've been to before?

Our normal monthly outing for August has been cancelled, in order to make way for our special first anniversary celebration, at a secret location on 26th August, when, for once, friends and wives will be invited. Look out for the full report in due course.