The Kings Head, Hursley, 29th May 2014

This was Eric's first time to choose the venue, and he surprised us all by choosing to go to The Kings Head at Hursley, described by Google as an "Ivy-clad Georgian inn with classy bedrooms and a rustic-chic restaurant with a Modern British menu", so ... maybe not in the same league as the pubs we usually go to, and maybe a bit too classy for the likes of us. Still, "onwards and upwards" we said to each other as we waited in our customary position outside the Bishops Waltham Tandoori  for our taxi, working up a healthy appetite by breathing deeply in the curry aromas wafting from the nearby kitchen. Once again we were let down by the pre-booked taxi, but Chase Cars came to our rescue, and soon we found ourselves in the unfamiliar surroundings of Hursley, outside the Kings Head.

On our best behaviour, we ventured inside, to be met by a very welcome sight:

In no time at all we cast aside our inhibitions as we surveyed the choice of ales and settled into our first pints of Itchen Valley Belgarum 3.9%, except for Tall Paul, who, as usual, preferred Guinness.  As we enjoyed our Belgarum, we checked out the other ales that were available: Andwell's King John Ale 4.2%,
the ever-popular Bowman Ales' Wallops Wood 4.0%, Ringwood Ales Best Bitter 3.8%, and the ubiquitous Sharp's Doom Bar 4%. All in all, a fine selection of ales which some of us did our best to sample, but others were content to stay with the Belgarum for the whole session as it was such a fine ale and in very good condition.

Eric had already discussed the menu with his friend Jimmy (current owner of the Kings Head), so we knew in advance what we would be getting. Jimmy explained to us that we weren't in the pie season so he'd had to provide something special for us. No complaints there! We had a choice of Beef Bourgignon Pie or Rabbit & Prune Pie. This put us all in a bit of a pickle as we'd never had either of those pies before on any of our outings. After some discussion we realised that "Beef Bourgignon" means "Beef with Mushrooms and Red Wine", which we all agreed sounded rather good. On the other hand some of us have digestive systems which have seen better days (it happens to men as they get older) and were rather concerned about the effects that prunes might have on them*. In the end, after a lot of discussion, 2 of us decided to try the Beef Bourgignon, 4 of us decided to live dangerously and try the Rabbit & Prune, and none of us was disappointed. The pies all came with "greens and mash" - no choice - but the Beef Bougignon pies were served with plain Mash and a red wine gravy, and the Rabbit & Prune pies came with Mustard Mash and a mustard gravy. The "greens" were broccoli. 

At first glance the portions looked to us to be a bit on the small side, but in fact they were ample. The pies were individually made, with a rich shortcrust pastry that literally melted in the mouth. The pie fillings were full of tender moist meat, and just the right degree of moisture. Even the prunes tasted good. In fact rabbit & prune is a partnership made in heaven. The sauce/gravy was served separately, in a jug, just the way we like it, and complemented the pies perfectly.  The mash and greens were done very nicely.  After we had all (without exception) cleared our plates, some of us found that we still had room for a pudding. The pudding menu lacked any of what we would call the old school favourites (which gentlemen of a certain age seem to relish), but the puddings that we tried were presented very nicely and were very tasty.

This is a very clean and tidy place to eat. Dining here is a very pleasant, refined experience, quite outside what we usually experience on other outings. We ate in a separate dining room, away from the bar, and the room was less than half full, so it was quiet and we had very few distractions, although when we first sat down we found ourselves sitting directly beneath a loudspeaker from which musak (one of our pet hates) could be heard loudly enough to make it difficult for us to hear what others were saying, but when we mentioned this to a nice waitress it was turned down (not off!) straight away, so it wasn't really a problem.  The service was excellent - actually maybe a little over-attentive at times, as we were asked several times if we were ready to order our puddings. 

Our final bill for the food came to £38 each,  (The pies were £12.50 each, puddings £6.50 each, ale £3.80/pint), so it wasn't a cheap meal (compare with our previous outing, to the Brewery Bar, where the final bill was only £28 each), but the quality of the whole experience was outstanding, .

Scores for The Kings Head, Hursley (Max 5 in each category - total 25 overall)

Pastry - 4.42

Filling -  4.48

Beer   -  4.26

Ambience - 4.22

Value  - 4.23

Overall  - 21.59

These scores are in some ways quite curious as the pastry and filling were rated less good that those at the Brewery Bar, but the Beer and Ambience were scored much higher. As it is, the overall score of 21.59 is just high enough to nudge The Kings Head into first place in our rankings of pubs visited this year, ahead of the Brewery Bar by a mere 0.04 points. It just goes to show that we gentlemen appreciate a bit of class from time to time. Congratulations to Jimmy and the staff at the Kings Head, who looked after us very well, and thoroughly deserve this high score. 

* Regarding the prunes, at the time of writing, no ill-effects have been reported.

The Brewery Bar, Botley, 24th April 2014

On a fine spring day in April a large gathering of excited gentlemen (Nick, Trev, Paul E, Paul T, Si, Joe, Doug, Stephen) assembled outside The Crown in time to board the No. 8 bus to Botley, heading for The Brewery Bar in Botley. This time we had no trouble finding our way to the pub as we had fond memories of our previous visit there in 2012.  As has become customary on the No. 8 bus, we invited the driver to come and join us, but he declined our invitation as he had some concerns about leaving a bus full of passengers parked in the middle of Botley for a few hours.

As always we were given a warm welcome by the landlord, and presented with a difficult choice of ales: There was Silver King Ale 4.3% from the Ossett Brewery in Yorkshire, Abbott Ale 5% from the Greene King brewery in Bury St Edmunds, and Bath Ales' Gem 4.1%.

The Gem was an amber ale and seemed a little too sweet for some of us. The Silver King is a lager-style golden ale which found more general approval among us, except for Tall Paul who, of course, stuck to his preferred Guinness (and reported that it wasn't quite up to scratch).

The Brewery Bar is a funny sort of place.  On the face of it, it has so many things about it that we disapprove of (Sports TV on continuously with the sound turned down, fruit machines,  pool table, etc) that we would normally avoid such a place, but they always seem to serve an interesting range of beers from around the country, and their pies are among the best available anywhere. Today's pie was a Steak & Guinness Pie, served up as 2 pies, to be shared between 8 hungry gentlemen.

The pies came with a bowl of assorted vegetables (carrots, broccolli, caulifower) which had been freshly cooked to perfection (au point, as someone said).

And we had lashings of chips, which were also freshly cooked and done to perfection.

The gravy was served separately, in jugs, just the way it should be, and the end result was a lovely plateful.

The pie was as near perfect as could be: tasty short crust pastry enclosing tender pieces of lean steak in a rich gravy, with a few whole mushrooms, and a definite hint of Guinness. Most us us didn't have any room for a pudding, but a few of us managed to try some, and found that they were very good:

Once again we found that the ambience of the pub was good.  It's clean, tidy, and the service was excellent. Our final bill for the food and 4 rounds of drinks came to £28 each, including service, which we thought very good value for money (The pies were £8.95 each, puddings £4.75 each, ale £3.50/pint).

Scores for The Brewery Bar, Botley (Max 5 in each category - total 25 overall)

Pastry - 4.69

Filling -  4.54

Beer   -  3.91

Ambience - 3.85

Value  - 4.54

Overall  - 21.54

This was another excellent afternoon - a nice traditional pub with attentive staff, good beer, and another exceptional pie.   For The Brewery Bar this score represents a significant improvement over their 2012 score (which was 20.5, and still not a bad score), and puts them straight into first place in our rankings of pubs visited so far this year, and is actually the 3rd highest score achieved by any pub that we have ever visited (beaten only by The Wheatsheaf and The Brickmakers in 2012). So, well done to the Brewery Bar!

On our return to Bishops Waltham we adjourned to The Barleycorn to take advantage of their happy hour, which seems to last all afternoon.

The Brickmakers Arms, Swanmore, 27th March 2014

We are always mindful of our historic heritage, so for this outing we decided to return to our roots with a visit to The Brickmakers Arms, the site of the Pie Club's very first outing on 20th January 2011, and, indeed, a memorable follow-up visit on 25th July 2012. The Brickmakers has always been one of our favourite pubs, mainly because it is so close to home, but also because they always seem to have an excellent range of beers available, and their pies aren't half good. It being a nice day most of us decided to walk there, the walk being just the right length to alloiw us to work up a bit of a thirst and a bit of an appetite.  We met up in the pub, and were pleased to see Doug, who for understandable reasons has had to miss our last few outings.  The welcome was, as always, very warm.

We were immediately confronted with a bewildering choice of ales: Marston's Pedigree 4.5%, St Austell Tribute 4.2%, Jennings Lakeland Stunner 3.9%, and the ever popular Bowman Ales Wallops Wood 4.0%.  There was nothing for it - we were going to have to try them all, starting with the the lightest, and working our way up to the heaviest.

While we were doing this we considered our next difficult decision - we had a choice of Pies! We had a choice of traditional Steak & Ale Pie (nobody chose this), Venison Pie (there were only 4 of these left, so 4 of us chose this), or Chicken, Bacon & Tomato Pie (the rest of us those this). All came with mixed vegetables (cabbage, beans & carrots), and a choice of Mashed Potato, fat chips or thin chips.

This is a venison pie with mashed potato:

This is a venison pie with fat chips:

This is a Chicken, Bacon & Tomato Pie with fat chips:

This is a Chicken, Bacon & Tomato Pie with thin chips:

The gravy was served separately, in jugs, just the way we like it, and there were actually two different gravies served up - one to go with the Venison Pie, and the other for the Chicken, Bacon & Tomato pie.  We were also provided with (for the first time ever) a jug of vinegar for the chips, and two jars of mustard.

The Venison Pie was judged by all who tasted it to be very good, although Trev remarked that "it was a bit deer" (geddit?).  But there was some difference of opinion about the Chicken, Bacon & Tomato Pie. Some felt that the tomato taste was a bit overpowering, and couldn't taste the chicken or bacon. In fact it tasted a bit like a pizza topping, and could almost have been a calzone.  We also noticed that although both pies had a short crust pastry, they were different. The pastry on the Chicken, Bacon & Tomato Pie was shorter. We queried this with the chef, who was kind enough to explain that both pastries were made with identical recipies, but one (the Venison Pie) was made using plain white flour from Sainsbury's, but the other was made using plain white flour from Lidl. So in future we're going to have to make a point of finding out the provenance of the flour in the pastry!

The portions were a good size, but not excessively large, so we all managed some pudding, and there was quite a range available:

After pudding, we were offered a free chocolate brownie to share between us (a nice touch), and we had free mints presented with the bill (another nice touch), which came to £266 between 8 of us (including 10% service which had already been added to the bill).  The pies were £12.50 each. A pint of Wallops Wood was £3. So value for money was about average, but the service was very good, 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 Arms, Swanmore (Max 5 in each category - total 25 overall)

Pastry - 3.89

Filling -  4.18

Beer   -  4.23

Ambience - 4.08

Value  - 3.61

Overall  - 19.98

2013 Pie of the Year Award Presentation

After another year of dedicated devotion to duty in 2013, 8 of the gentlemen members of the Pie Club gathered together on 27th February 2014 for a formal presentation to the Landlord at The White Lion, Soberton of the 2013 Pie of the Year certificate. Unfortunately Doug wasn't able to join us for this special occasion, but the rest of us carried on without him, certain in the knowledge that it's what he would have wanted.

We have fond memories of the outstanding Chicken, Ham Hock and Leek Pie that we were presented with on that happy day in July when we last visited the White Lion, and it was with mounting excitement that we entered the bar. It seems that Allen, the landlord, and Katie, the barmaid, had also been looking forward to this occasion as they were obviously very pleased to see us.

But never mind that. We were more than very pleased to see the tempting array of fine ales that were on offer: The ever-reliable Sharps Doombar 4%, and 2 excellent ales from the local Bowman Ales Brewery including our favourites Swift One (3.8%) and Wallops Wood (4.0%). Once we'd quenched our thirst with the first pint, we got on with the serious business of the day and presented Allen with his well-earned certificate.  Congratulations to Allen, and all the hard-working staff at the While Lion!

After another pint we moved into the dining room to sample another one of their excellent pies. As we took our seats at the table we noticed a very dangerous-looking object sitting on the table, of which, more later.  We were slightly taken aback when we learned that we were not going to have another Chicken, Ham Hock and Leek Pie, but our fears were groundless. We were presented with a Steak, Mushroom and Stilton* Pie that was every bit as good.

This was a pie that was perfect in every respect, but unfortunately this was a special celebratory meeting of the Pie Club and therefore, according the rules of the constitution, we were unable to do a formal assessment of the pie. This was probably just as well, because if we had then this pie would probably be the winner of the 2014 Pie of the Year award, but we have to be fair to other pubs and give them a chance to win. The thrice-cooked chips were perfect as well (yes, those are chips in the photo, not roast potatoes).

After such an excellent pie, only Stephen* felt able to have a pudding. He had a Treacle Tart and Custard, which was, apparently, very good. Notice how the custard was served separately, in a jug. It's attention to little points of detail like that that wins our approval. It was a big jug as well.

Then our attention turned to the very dangerous-looking object sitting on the table, which turned out to be a decanter of fine port, courtesy of the house!

Now, we're not normally port drinkers, but it would have been rude of us to have declined such a generous offer, so with a great deal of effort we managed to polish it off between us (and as a consequence there were a few sore heads the next morning!).  Only when we'd finished the port did Allen demonstrate to us the correct way for a gentleman to decant port into glasses, and we all felt a bit chastened when we realised that perhaps we're not all real gentlemen after all.

So, congratulations once again to all who work at the White Lion. Long may you continue to offer such good pies! And no doubt we will be back again to sample more of your excellent wares. And we must bear in mind the special offer available on Mondays:

* Unfortunately, Stephen has a strong dislike of Stilton cheese, and was unable to fully appreciate just how good this pie was. He made up for it by having some pudding.

The Ship Inn, Owslebury, 23rd January 2014

6 of us met at the Tandoori (as is becoming a habit) to take a taxi to  The Ship Inn at Owslebury.

Unusually for the year it was a sunny day and the roads we used to Owlsebury were not flooded. We were joined there by Doug who needed a car for a subsequent journey.The welcome was unusual with the owner on customer side of bar, and we were slightly disappointed to find only two beers - Greene King IPA 3.6%  and Morland Best Bitter 4%. Both of these were well kept. 

We much appreciated the cosy nature of the bar, with its log fire blazing away.There was a choice of individual pies - steak, and chicken and mushroom. They arrived in individual dishes and there was some amusement at the efforts to remove from the dishes without landing on the table or ones lap.

The pies were well filled but the steak was rather chewy and could have best had a longer stewing time.The pies were accompanied by a choice of well cooked chips or mash, and also large bowls of well cooked vegetables. Gravy was served in separate containers.

Quality of the food was indicated by the empty plates, 

but this did not stop a few attacking the puddings. 

Of particular interest was a suet pudding spotted dick, but a crumble was also a choice. Unusually, Doug was unable to finish his crumble - the portions so generous.Happy memories.

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

• Pastry 3.96

• Filling 4.16

• Beer 3.39

• Ambience 4.2

• Value 4.43

• Overall 21.12

So the Ship Inn at Owlsebury immediately leaps to first place in our rankings of pubs visited in 2014, which is hardly surprising as it was the first pub we visited in 2014.  But it's a respectable score, which would have earned them an honourable 3rd place had we visited them in 2013.

Pie Club AGM at The Wheatsheaf, Shedfield, 12th December 2013

For the 2013 Annual General Meeting of the Pie Club we chose to meet at the pub which won our coveted 2012 Pie of the Year Award: The Wheatsheaf at Shedfield.  In truth we were keen to meet there as it was a good excuse to sample one of their pies again, but more on that later. 

Pieman has asked that we do not disclose most of what was discussed at the AGM as it was a private matter, for members only, and many of the items on the agenda were of a sensitive nature. However, he has allowed us to report on one item: the decision regarding the winner of the 2013 Pie of the Year Award. This is clearly a matter of great interest to many people.  Pieman felt that we should show some compassion for the contenders and put them out of their misery by announcing the winner straight away, so here we go.

Here are the results of our investigations to date. Out of interest we show the scores of all the pies that we have sampled since that historic occasion in 2011 when we had our first outing, although obviously only those pubs that we visited in 2013 are eligible to be considered for this highly-coveted award.

2011	DATE	O/A	PIE	O/A	PIE
		SCORE	SCORE	RANK	RANK
The Brickmakers	20/01/11	16.33	7.50	6	5
The Rising Sun	01/03/11	19.25	7.13	5	6
The White Horse	31/03/11	16.20	7.10	8	7
The Hampshire Bowman	21/04/11	21.50	9.00	1	1
The Barleycorn	23/06/11	20.38	7.73	2	3
The Black Dog	28/07/11	19.65	7.98	4	4
The Farmer's Home	27/10/11	16.30	6.63	7	8
The Bugle, Twyford	24/11/11	20.30	8.23	3	2
2012	DATE	O/A	PIE	O/A	PIE
		SCORE	SCORE	RANK	RANK
The Robin Hood	23/02/12	19.63	7.63	6	7
The Bugle	29/03/12	16.60	6.90	8	8
Southampton Arms,	26/04/12	19.10	7.70	7	6
The Wheatsheaf	29/05/12	22.71	9.20	1	1
The Brewery Bar,	28/06/12	20.50	8.58	5	3
The Brickmakers,	26/07/12	21.78	8.78	2	2
The Black Dog	27/09/12	20.98	8.25	3	5
The Dog & Crook	25/10/12	16.11	4.82*	9	9	* crusty
The Hampshire Bowman	29/11/12	20.60	8.44	4	4
2013	DATE	O/A	PIE	O/A	PIE
		SCORE	SCORE	RANK	RANK
The Queen Inn	31/01/13	20.83	8.20	4	4
The Wheatsheaf	28/02/13	award	event	only
St James Tavern	28/03/13	19.10	6.51	8	10
The Barleycorn	25/04/13	19.37	7.59	7	7
The Crown	30/05/13	16.71	7.00	10	9
The Cricketers	27/06/13	19.63	7.37	6	8
The White Lion	25/07/13	21.24	8.82	1	1
The Brushmaker's Arms	22/08/13	21.22	8.76	2	2
The Bush	26/09/13	20.64	8.50	5	3
The Fox & Hounds	31/10/13	18.38	7.87	9	6
The Baker's Arms	28/11/13	20.91	8.04	3	5

It was an easy decision to make. The White Lion at Soberton is a clear and deserving winner. Our hearty congratulations go to Alan, the landlord at the White Swan, who must be feeling pretty pleased with himself now.  Reading the report of our visit to the White Lion (which can be seen here) brings back many happy memories for all who were there, and even brings a few tears to our eyes.  We hope to visit the White Lion in February to formally present Alan with our prestigious Pie of the Year Award. We're hoping that we can persuade Pieman to join us for this outing and present the award to Alan in person, but he is becoming increasingly reclusive these days. Hopefully we will be able to entice him out of his secret underground bunker (somewhere under the streets of Bishops Waltham) with the prospect of sampling a truly excellent pie.  

With the business of the AGM out of the way we got on with sampling once again the ales and pie which had been thoughtfully provided for us.  Of course we were eager to see if the pie would be as good as it had been on previous occasions, and we weren't disappointed.  This time it was a Steak & Kidney Pie:

This was our AGM, so we didn't do a full formal assessment of the pie (for that you should read the report of our visit in 2012 here) but our informal judgement was that this pie was every bit as good as the pies we've had before.  As you might expect, the ales were mostly from the Flowerpots Brewery in Cheriton, and all in very good condition, although we did observe that prices have gone up a bit since our last visit. The ales now range from £2.70 to £3.00 per pint.  This is still exceptionally good value. To put these beer prices into context, you can have 4 pints here for less than the price of 3 pints in certain other pubs in the area.

Looking at the scores achieved by The Wheatsheaf in 2012 and The White Lion in 2013, The Wheatsheaf is still our overall highest scorer.  We are thinking of making The Wheatsheaf our club headquarters.