Who serves the best pint of Wherry in town?

I went out to the pub last night with some friends (yes, I really do have some). I won’t say which hostelry, but we were chatting to the owner about life in general (and beer in particular) when he announced that his establishment served the ‘best pint of  Wherry in Fakenham’. His patrons had told him so many times, he told us.

I didn’t actually agree with him, but said nowt – there was no point in debating the subject and it would have been bad-mannered to disagree with him while sitting in his own pub downing a pair of his pints. However, I thought I’d see if my fellow local beer-swillers real ale connoisieurs thought the same way. Apart from Harry Hill’s favourite method of settling an argument – “FIGHT!” – there’s only one way to do it… I’ve created a new website poll.

Woodforde’s is a Norfolk brewery and their Wherry bitter is very widely available in the Fakenham area. It’s a pretty safe choice for landlords, as it’s a well-known session bitter (ie not too strong at 3.8 percent alcohol) which sells very well. Unfortunately it can be bland and as dull as dishwater if not kept well, but when served in good condition is a wonderfully fresh-tasting ale with aromatic, floral hop qualities and citrus overtones. Beautifully light and refreshing.

So which pub in town serves the best pint of the stuff? I’m interested to hear other drinkers’ opinions, so please vote in the poll on the right. If you can’t stand the stuff yourself (I realise not everybody has a beer lover’s exquisite and refined taste) but know somebody else who does, point them to this site so they can register their vote. It’s a subject very dear to many people’s hearts

Cheers!

What do you reckon to this story in today’s EDP? Marston’s are a large Staffordshire-based brewery and pub company (they have over 1700 pubs across the UK). They own the Wychwood, Jennings, Banks’s, Brakspeare and Ringwood beer brands as well as high-street ‘cooking-lager’ brands  like Carlsberg, Stella Artois, Carling and Fosters.

They’re apparently looking at opening a bar & restaurant in the Clipbush Lane area, close to the proposed Health Centre complex.

Do we need it? Is an edge-of-town site good for our town?

We were in Kings Lynn today, so we dropped into Beers of Europe in Setchey. It’s an amazing place for beer-lovers, as I’ve no doubt mentioned before on this blog. It’s the first visit of  this year for me, so I took the opportunity to look for some old favourites (like Fullers London Porter and Schlenkerla Rauchbier Märzen – a smokebeer from Bamberg) and also found some I’d been wanting to try for a while (Krušovice Cerne, a Czech dark lager).

They have a decent selection of ciders but I couldn’t find the one Lindsey, my daughter wanted (I texted her to ask if she had any requests). I did, however, find some different interesting ones as well as Asahi Black Japanese lager, which is her partner Al’s favourite. My wife, Mary chose a bottle of St. Peters Grapefruit beer, so everybody has something to sup and savour over the bank holiday weekend!

Is this thing turning into a food & drink blog? No, it’s purely coincidental that the last few posts have had something to do with eating and drinking. Now… what’s for dinner?

Am I obsessed with food and drink lately? Maybe I am, but this is no time to go into denial – there’s some Fakenham food & drink blogging to be done…

A new restaurant is about to open in Newmans Yard, off Norwich Street. D’Inacios Brasserie will serve its first dishes next Wednesday (5th May). Coffees during the day in the courtyard (don’t you just love that wisteria?) with a la carte lunches and a sophisticated-sounding menu in the evenings.

Intriguingly, the leaflet I was just handed in town says, “Fine Wines, Ales & Food”, so it’ll be interesting to see how they approach their beer menu. You’re advised to book – their number’s 01328 851247. Tell ‘em you saw it here on the Fakenham Blog and I may be able to blag some kind of discount when I drop in to check them out

The Hourglass (formerly known as The Horse & Groom) in Sculthorpe is set between the village street and the main A148, with lots of parking space. We’d booked a table for four at 7pm and when we arrived there were four diners already enjoying a meal – however it’s quite a big pub-restaurant and the place looked deserted!

The contemporary decor is attractively minimalist, with cream paintwork and tasteful canvases on the wall. Very clean-and-sharp-looking but not too much ‘character’ for what I assume is quite an old building. I like it though. The landlord is friendly and attentive and after a round of drinks was ordered (the Woodforde’s Wherry was in decent nick but the only other ale choice was Bombadier) we were shown to our table.

For starters we chose whitebait, vegetable risotto and blue cheese mushrooms. They didn’t take very long to arrive and were all delicious. Our main courses were rump steaks with chips & mushrooms, rump of lamb on a spinach & potato bed and pork ribs with BBQ sauce & chips. All were absolutely excellent fare – the dishes could simply not be faulted. The ribs were tender and tasty – loads of them too. One of our group remarked that it was the most tender rump steak he’d had! Can’t be bad, can it?

So… all told very good indeed. The choice of beer was a tad dull and predictable but of decent quality. The food was lovely and the surroundings and staff were great. Recommended.

It’s very pleasant inside The Oak, in Oak Street Fakenham. The staff are always helpful and friendly and even manage to put up with the banter from my mate with a cheery smile (we’ve been in there enough to be recognized now). Last night I dropped in for a meal and a pint with two pals after working late at the office – it was around 7.45 when we arrived.

The menu was in a state of flux (a new list of dishes was arriving next day) . Many dishes were ‘off’ but we managed to make a choice from what remained – my mate and I both went for a liver and onion suet pudding (I know – it sounds unusual) and his partner chose a fish dish. After being told subsequently that only one liver pudding existed, my mate chose the fish too. We didn’t have to wait long for it all to arrive, as there were only a few people in the place. I’ve never seen it choc full.

The liver & onion pudding (avec les chips ‘n’ peas) was fine, if a tad strong tasting. Maybe because it was beef liver (as we were informed). The fish dishes came served in a creamy sauce along with a single bowl of chips to share, which had been requested instead of mashed potato. Strangely no vegetables arrived to go with them, despite being included in the description we found afterwards. The desserts were fine, I was told (I didn’t have one myself) so overall the food was OK but not ideal. I’ll let them off though, due to the menu thing. Maybe next time I’ll try the Mexican Fajita Tower they were planning to introduce on the new menu. That does sound nice!

The beer: Us fellas had originally ordered a pint of Wherry, the only ale available, but when poured it was completely vinegary and undrinkable (not the first time that’s happened to me there). As the only other choice was a smoothflow-type bitter, we were offered a bottle of St. Peters each which was fine. They were the only bottled ales in the pub though!

The verdict: I quite like The Oak. The owners and staff are great and the surroundings are really nice. It’s a very pleasant place to go. However, I always leave thinking I’d really like it a lot more if they paid more attention to their beer. I think they are in a bit of a ‘Catch22′ situation as they don’t have the turnover to justify more ales – let’s face it, if the very popular Wherry doesn’t sell fast enough and goes off they’re not selling lots. I have suggested ordering smaller quantities of local brewers’ ales in the past, but maybe that didn’t prove possible. Last night I suggested that they could try ofering a wider choice of bottled beers – maybe with a local flavour or conversely a range of good Belgian beers. They need to attract more custom and a Unique Selling Point like that would provide a good reason to go there. We’ll see – I’ll no doubt be going there again soon!

If, like me, you use the BBC news website to catch up on what’s happening in the world, you may have seen evidence of the presentation of news items being skewed by external influences. I just saw something on the site today which leads me to believe it’s still happening, despite them being aware of the problem.

There’s a screenshot below of a section of their site which displays the most popular and most shared text news items and the most viewed video stories. There’s one story shown in the most read section, “Beer with 32% strength launched” about a Scottish craft  Brewery called Brewdog who have created a beer which has a very high alcohol content. Trouble is, the story was from November – why is it suddenly appearing as a ‘most-read’ story in the middle of February?

I have a suspicion that this story could be an example of one being bumped up the list artificially. It may be no coincidence that the brewery concerned are skillful in the art of viral marketing (as well as making excellent beer) and they have a share-ownership scheme which is coming to a close and has been widely promoted over the past few days.

OK, so if you like Brewdog (and you think their viral marketing methods are doing this), you may think they’re clever in the way that they’re getting national news coverage for free. However, if nothing else it should make everybody think twice about the way our news is presented and the fact that we’re constantly manipulated by all kinds of marketing and political / religious / commercial  lobbying ploys.

With all the effort going on to boost the town’s image, it’s a crying shame that The Crown Hotel in the Market Square remains closed. It’s currently owned by London property developers Wildmoor who, I believe, purchased the building from the previous owners – who then leased it back from the company and remained as managers. After a short while, the managers opted out of the lease and the pub has been closed since March 2009.

I know somebody (a client) who has just looked round the property with a view to taking the lease on. We’d been talking about the town in general some time before Christmas and the subject had got on to pubs (how strange, I hear you say!). I mentioned the fact that Kick Start Fakenham was originally interested in the re-opening of The Star. We came to the conclusion that The Crown was in a great location and could be run as a going concern given the right circumstances - and would considerably enhance the town centre if it was open again.

My client’s viewing of the property had made it obvious that lots of work needed doing to get the place running. The bar area had been previously renovated, taking away much of of the character of this 18th century building (including the original fireplace). The kitchens needed replacing. The rooms upstairs needed work. Sounds like £££s of investment are required to get things up to scratch.

I wonder if Wildmoor have the foresight to see that The Crown isn’t actually a great investment as things stand. The lease, as advertised here at £60,000 a year seems more than a tad overpriced if the intention was to get a tenant in quickly. No wonder it’s still unoccupied. Maybe it would be a better investment if the owners were willing to sell the building on again.

Any local entrepreneurs looking for a project? Drop me a line and I’ll put you in touch with my client – who might be interested in joint ownership rather than leasing it (if the owners are willing to sell, that is)!

Several people may have asked about the origins of stout and porter…

Back in the 13th century, it was a Belgian ale called Stout Porter, being named after an old stout porter who worked at Waterloo. This beer, being the original, was 100% true to style – which is strange, as it was a completely clear liquid (this was due to the Belgian Purity laws which dictated that all brewing had to be totally transparent).

In the 14th century it was brought over to Britain, but the style immediately became less than 100% true due to small mammals being added to the mash to provide extra fizz and fermentation (English brewers had misheard the Belgians’ accent as “stoat porter”). No matter, because the Danish brewers of Northampton quickly went to court and stopped this ale being sold due to it being too like their own lager – almost colourless, fizzy and with a slight whiff of polecat wee.

It wasn’t until the 20th century that the beer took on the dark colouring we associate with it today. Brewers had started adding clinker to the mash, which gave it a smokey flavour. Coal Porter, as it was known, became a success. Inspired by this, more variants were invented: Nyree Dawn Porter, which came to the UK from New Zealand. Gail Porter, which had a great body and a smooth head. Stout Yeoman, made with freeze-dried mashed potato, and finally Alec Guinness – which looked quite weak, but had a force which was strong.

As you can see from the photo, I found my favourite Fuller’s London Porter at Waitrose, Swaffham. They have a nice choice of beers on sale, especially from the Fullers stable. All I need now to quaff over the Xmas holiday is a bottle or two of Schlenkerla Rauschbier (yes, smoked beer really does exist, although it isn’t called ‘Coal Porter’).

Christmas is a time when people tend to spend more money on alcohol to drink at home and I guess we usually spend most of that in the supermarket. I popped into Fakenham’s Tesco to buy some coffee today (they’re the only shop locally which stocks my brand of decaf) and took note of the ‘ale’ section of the Tesco booze aisle.

Disappointing choice, I must say – I’m sure it’s shrunk since the shop opened. Fakenham Morrisons’ ale section must be at least double that size! Waitrose in Swaffham usually has a decent selection too, I seem to remember.  Lidl’s is just a bit of an afterthought – they don’t even stock any good Euro beers.

So… it looks like a December pilgrimage to Beers Of Europe at Setchey near Kings Lynn is on the cards. Imagine a shop the size of Lidl, but full of hundreds of beers from all over the world, and you’ll get the picture. Absolutely amazing place. I’ll be on the lookout for Fullers London Porter and Vintage Ale, Krusovice Cerne, Bernard and Budvar Dark Czech lager and maybe some American ‘hop bombs’ too. Cheers!