The Odd Wheel, Wembury

The Odd Wheel, Wembury, Devon

Given it’s location just down the road from the farm it’s not surprising that this was on the agenda. I’m pleased to note that the pub is still attracting locals and tourists after being reopened in late July 2010 following a long closure. There have been some tweaks to the interior and there is now some new play equipment for the younger pub goers as well.

The number of real ales available at any one time has stabilised at 5 all of which are served via hand pump. Courage Best is still a permanent fixture but Sharps, St Austell and local Summerskills beers were available during the week and my takeaway container was busy. The Sharps Honey Gold was superb and my favourite from the week, but all the beers I tried were obviously kept well.

It still saddens me that faced with a good selection of beers there are still people who plump for the John Smiths on keg – aargh!

The Odd Wheel is a popular eating venue now and the food was good but not the best from the week – see The Foxhound below. Booking a table is strongly advised in the evenings during the peak holiday months. There are expensive items on the menu but some cheaper items are there too – and a childrens menu.

Read the full pub review of the Odd Wheel.

Clovelly Bay Inn, Turnchapel

One evening we headed over to Turnchapel after a gap of some years. The road around Staddon Fort provides some breathtaking views over the bay to Plymouth.

Turnchapel is a tiny, cramped little place and I would seriously advise not attempting to drive down the narrow hill to get to the pubs as parking is almost non-existent and finding somewhere to turn round is a challenge too. Having learned from previous visits we parked at the top of the hill and walked down.

There are two pubs in Turnchapel and the Clovelly Bay Inn is the first one you come to – on the left. It has a striking new coat of yellow paint so you shouldn’t miss it. It’s the current (2011) local CAMRA Pub of the Year – an award it stole from the Borringdon Arms just a little further up the road.

Four real ales and a real cider were available. I tried a taster of all the beers and liked the Dartmoor Legend the best followed by the Cottage Wicked Hound. My wife enjoyed the Skinners cider too.

Some might consider the food a little pricey but the quality is superb and the portions are large. The pub was initially quite empty at 6pm but quickly filled up. The atmosphere was very friendly and it would be a superb pub to have as a local. There were big smiles from all the family for the Clovelly Bay Inn.

The Foxhound, Brixton

Walked from the farm in Wembury over to Brixton one evening along the Erme Plym Trail. Our aim was to visit the Foxhound which Ron had kindly recommended to me in the comments for the Odd Wheel, Wembury review. Compared to walking along a regular pavement the walk was perhaps a bit demanding for my 6 year old but even she agreed it was worth it afterwards.

The Foxhound is on the main A379 road in the centre of the village and right next to the chip shop. There are two main bar areas and a small dining room off to one side at the back of the pub.

There were five hand pumps on the bar with some local choices (two from Summerskills) and some from further afield. Booking tables is advisable as the pub does get full of diners.

For the younger children there’s a box of toys. Bizarrely this is placed close to the bar in the larger of the two seating areas. Those wishing a child free drink may prefer the smaller bar on the right as you come through the front door.

We didn’t walk back to Wembury but used the reasonably priced local taxi firm.

Brains SA at Morrisons

Anyway, quite a few reductions from the normal 500ml bottled beer price to report this month:

• Shepherd Neame – Master Brew – £1.00
• Wyre Piddle – Piddle in the Hole – £1.05
• Brains – SA – £1.25
• Brains – SA Gold – £1.25
• Wells & Youngs – Banana Bread – £1.50
• Jennings – Sneck Lifter – £1.50

There are also these 4 Badger (Hall & Woodhouse) beers – all at £1.49:

• Golden Champion
• Golden Glory
• Fursty Ferret
• Tanglefoot

All these prices are effective until 21st August 2011 according to the shelf labels.

No sign of the £1.00 Brewers Dark from J W Lees that’s been a cheap mainstay for some months. There’s no empty allocated space on the shelves so it’s not certain if that long-running offer has finished now. Perhaps the appearance of Master Brew at £1.00 is a signal there.

Alcohol Free

One other offer to mention this month is the 8 can fridge packs of Bavaria 0,0 alcohol free beer at £2.00 – that’s 25 pence a 330ml can. Non-alcoholic beers are not to everyone’s taste I know but this one is pretty good, especially straight out the fridge on a warm summer evening (if you get those where you live).

Unfortunately Morrisons don’t stock the Bavaria 0,0 Wit any more – a delicious and fruity non-alcoholic wheat beer. Looks like I’ll have to make a trip to the dreaded Tesco’s soon as my stocks are running low.

Bottles

Lees Brewers Dark at Morrisons

The prevailing price of 500ml bottled beer seems to have crept up to £1.75 now so finding deals on the beer is even more important now.

The two really low-priced favourites are still on the shelves although the Wyre Piddle Piddle in the Hole has increased to £1.05 leaving the J W Leew Brewers Dark as the only one at £1.00.

I thought the Castle Rock Kiss Me Kate was a limited edition but there still seems to be plenty on the shelves at £1.50. The only other price reduction is on Greene King’s Very Special IPA which is £1.49 – pretty good for a beer that’s 7.5%! But that’s way too strong for me.

Cans

A very uninspiring selection of cans in at the moment but one cheap price did stand out – 4 x 440ml cans of Thwaites Mild for £2.98. Perhaps appropriate for CAMRA Mild Month…

Non-Alcolholic

No special deals at all on any of the alcohol free brands, and unfortunately the delicious Bavaria 0,0 Wit seems to have disappeared off the shelves completely now.

Pleased to relate that there are some special offers on beers at Morrisons this month although the reduced price has crept up over the last few months. My research this month was carried out at my usual Woking branch of Morrisons.

Royal Wedding Special

Anti-royalists can look away now, but screaming for attention at the end of the drinks aisle is a mountain of bottles of ‘Kiss Me Kate’ from the Castle Rock brewery of Nottingham. Known for their excellent Harvest Pale cask ale they seem to have jumped on the royal wedding bandwagon. Unsure as to how good Kiss Me Kate is as I haven’t bought any yet. It’s priced at £1.50 for a 500ml bottle.

Other 500ml Bottles

Our old favourites Wyre Piddle Piddle in the Hole and J W Lees Brewers Dark are still available at £1.00 a bottle. But the new ones for this month are:

• Jennings Snecklifter – £1.45
• Adnams Broadside – £1.45
• Morland (GK) Old Speckled Hen – £1.49

Those 3 prices are all labelled as effective until 17th April – there’s no date on the Kiss Me Kate.

Alcohol Free

On the non-alcoholic front, Becks Blue has a small price reduction and is now at £3.00 for a pack of 6 x 275ml bottles. This is not a brilliant deal but cheaper than normal.

The multi packs of Bavaria cans were on special offer but in Woking this has just finished.

Some recent posts tagged Morrisons

• Morrisons Beer Offers – July 2011 Update Jul 29th, 2011
• Morrisons Beer Offers – February 2011 Update Feb 8th, 2011
• Morrisons Beer Offers – January 2011 Update Jan 16th, 2011

The Speaker in Westminster

Don’t expect them all to be on at once – Dennis has 4 handpumps and he sets aside 2 of them for his festival beers. Contact the pub directly (020 7222 1749) if you need to know what’s on today. Also, remember that the Speaker doesn’t open at weekends – just Monday to Friday midday – 11:00pm.

Anyway, here’s the list:

• Zenith Pale Ale (ABV 4.0%) Summer Wine (Holmfirth, W. Yorkshire) – No tasting notes available.
• Pail Ale (ABV 3.7%) Concrete Cow (Milton Keynes) – A very pale beer brewed using lager malt and hops.
• Welsh Pale Ale (ABV 3.7%) Breconshire (Brecon, Powys, Wales) – Pale golden and mildly hopped, based on an old Welsh beer style.
• Brentwood IPA (ABV 3.7%) Brentwood (Brentwood, Essex) – A lightly hopped, pale session beer.
• Harvest Pale Ale (ABV 3.8%) Castle Rock (Nottingham) – Pale yellow and hoppy, Champion Beer of Britain 2010.
• Whitwell & Mark Pale Ale (ABV 4.4%) Derwent (Silloth, Cumbria) – A full flavoured, classic pale ale.
• Farne Island Pale Ale (ABV 4.0%) Hadrian & Border (Newcastle upon Tyne) – A copper coloured, well balanced bitter.
• East Anglia Pale Ale (ABV 4.6%) Humpty Dumpty (Reedham, Norfolk) – Dry, amber coloured best bitter with a citrussy aroma.
• Leeds Pale (ABV 3.8%) Leeds (Leeds) – A golden, citrussy ale with a hoppy finish.
• Palmer’s Best Bitter (ABV 4.2%) Palmer’s (Bridport, Dorset) – A predominantly malty best bitter. AKA Palmer’s Traditional IPA.
• Funnel Blower (ABV 4.5%) Box Steam (Colerne, Wiltshire) – A dark brown porter with a subtle vanilla aroma.
• Burton Porter (ABV 4.5%) Burton Bridge (Burton, Staffordshire) – Smooth yet smoky, hints of coffee and chocolate.
• Bottle Wreck Porter (ABV 4.7%) Hammerpot (Poling, West Sussex) – A traditional, flavoursome black porter. Named after a local 19th century shipwreck that contained hundreds of bottles of porter.
• Yorkshire Porter (ABV 4.4%) Old Mill (Snaith, East Yorkshire) – A delicious, slightly sweet porter with roasted chocolate flavours and a pleasant hop aroma.
• Old Slug Porter (ABV 4.5%) RCH (Weston-Super-Mare, Somerset) – A rich, dark brown beer. Chocolate, coffee, roast malt and hops, with lots of body and dark fruits.
• Black Bee (ABV 4.5%) Phoenix (Heywood, Greater Manchester) – Brewed with a blend of roasted malts and honey.
• Captain Pigwash (ABV 5.0%) Potbelly (Kettering, Northants.) – An easy drinking, dark porter.
• Humpty Dumpty Porter (ABV 5.4%) Humpty dumpty (Reedham, Norfolk) – A full bodied, malty brew with hints of liqourice.
• Battledown Porter (ABV 4.5%) Battledown (Cheltenham, Glous.) – A dark red porter with a hint of coffee, velvety smooth and rich in malt.
• ST. PATRICK’S SPECIAL – Shenanigans Black Lager (ABV 4.2%) Harviestoun (Alva, Clacks.) – A black lager brewed with roasted barley. Strangely familiar.
• ST. PATRICK’S SPECIAL – Paddy’s Tarmac Tipple (ABV 4.5%) Moles (Melksham, Wiltshire) – A dark and smooth porter style beer with a rich, fruity palate.

See you there…

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• The Speaker in Westminster The highlight of our pub crawl in the St James's Park area of Westminster was a pub called the Speaker. Aug 13th, 2009