Bar Review - The Black Dog

Whitstable's Newest Micro Pub

Shepherd Neame Brewery is now one of the big boys of brewing, and on the company's Kentish home turf you can't throw a stick without hitting one of their pubs.

Don't get me wrong, I've always liked Shepherd Neame ale. It's far preferable to the horse p*ss passed off as beer made by some of the multi nationals.

It's just that, in the south eastern corner of England, there could perhaps be more variety - particularly in a county as famous as Kent is for its hops.

Whitstable's newest pub, The Black Dog, goes to some lengths to redress this, with a small, carefully chosen, revolving selection of ales and a quirky character all of its own.

Whitstable has, or at least had, a tradition for small one-room pubs. At one time there was a small bar on almost every corner. Virtually all are now closed, but The Black Dog is very much in this vein. 

The premises, still owned by Mike McWilliam, whose venture The Black Dog is, were at one time a small gallery, and more recently a café.

There is one small bar at the end of the room, with a few taps. That's pretty much it. And the taps are just for show. Giving our order to the barman he promptly ducked behind a partition to pour the pints direct form the barrel. 

I've not seen that in a boozer for about 20 years.

We tried a slightly flowery pale ale - Dark Star's Hophead, and a really rather excellent dry hopped fruity brown ale, Altered States from Kent Brewery - not an outfit I'd heard of before.

One of the most appealing aspects of enjoying real ale is the opportunity it affords to always try interesting beers that otherwise you would not have been aware of.

There was also a ginger infused cider on tap, but I was called back to HQ to attend to the roast before we could order our 3rd round!

Led Zeppelin fans amongst you will have clocked the name - on a trip to the gents I noticed that the room had been christened "The Jimmy Page Suite." Excellent.

The pub also had a "Monty" Toby jug behind the bar, what more could you ask for in a battleship cruiser?

I'm actually looking forward to seeing my parents again (they live down the road) just so I can nip back in to The Black Dog to see what they have on.

No pub is complete without a bust of Monty...

As my chum Ollie quipped, "this is the perfect bar for a lost weekend." Well it would be impolite not to work your way through The Black Dog's ale selection.

There's no website, but you can stay abreast of the pub's latest news on Facebook.

Better yet, if you're in Whitstable pop in. The address is:

66, The High Street

Whitstable

Kent

CT5 1BB

As Black Dog have commented on their FB page, "Drink local - easy said, easy done." Pubs only stay open if people frequent them. Luckily that's easy to do in this part of the world.

It makes a refreshing change to see a pub like this again. The next time I'm there I'll raise a glass to the renaissance of the Whitstable small pub. I wish Mike and his team every success.

Cocktail Hour

Gin & Beer @ The Bird & The Churchkey.

Another gin based cocktail this week, and a rather unusual one at that.

As an Englishman gin and beer both are dear to the heart. So the stiff upper lip quivered with excitement on finding out one of Copenhagen's newest bars, The Bird & The Churchkey, had combined the two in their signature cocktail.

Unsurprising then that the founding principle of The Bird is to provide excellent gin and beer. As such it is stocked with over 60 gins, and sports some 40 craft beers. At last count there were 20 types of gin & tonic gracing the menu.

The bar itself resembles a pleasantly down at heel 1930's London gin palace. Located on Gammel Strand, staggering distance from New Utility HQ, it was the work of a moment to nip round the corner to meet up with the The Bird's manager, Christian Tønnesen, for a re-tasting. (I've had this cocktail before but was too over-refreshed to take notes.)

First mixed by a barman at Cocks & Cows (a Copenhagen burger bar whose premises The Bird took over. Both are owned by Nord Gruppen), the original Gin & Beer used garden variety Kronenberg and dry gin. In addition to tweaking the quantities, Christian switched the cooking lager for Franziskaner Hefe-Weizer, a fruity German wheat beer.

For the gin he plumbed for Bulldog - with a very contemporary un-gin-like flavour profile, it is distilled using juniper, dragon eye (a relative of the lychee), poppy seed and other botanicals. A profile, Christian argues, more suited for use in cocktails.

Assemble the following:

1. 2cl Bulldog Gin.
2. 3cl Cherry Heering.
3. 1cl Simple syrup.
4. 2cl Freshly squeezed lemon juice
5. Bottle, Franziskaner Beer. (The Bird have it on draught.)
6. Ice.
7. Large brandy glass.
8. Cocktail shaker.

Pour a dash of the beer and the syrup in to the brandy glass, add ice. Give the gin, Cherry Heering and lemon juice a jolt in a shaker. Strain in to the glass and top with the rest of the beer.

In taste the end result is reminiscent of a strong Belgian fruit beer crossed with a zesty American pale ale. Initially the sweetness of the wheat beer and Cherry Heering are to the fore, with pleasingly sharp lemon & spicy liquorice notes to the finish - the latter coming from the botanicals used in Bulldog gin.

I urge those who love their gin and beer to patronise The Bird & The Churchkey.
An excellent establishment, it is staffed by people with a clear love for what they do. Unusually for Copenhagen the service is very friendly too.
I was particularly impressed that Christian crushes cucumbers each morning to make ice cubes of the juice. Detail is all.

Other recent liquid highlights include a Gabriel Boudier Saffron Gin G&T and a French gin, the name of which I was too squiffy to write down, garnished with grapes.

The Bird's liver threatening proximity means that, if I have not descended in to a gin soaked spiral of vice and destitution, I am sure to feature more from them soon. You can find out more here.

If anyone knows of any more beer based cocktails do get in touch.

Chaps Can Bake Too..

Illegal Stout Bread...

It is nearly the weekend, so time to again turn our thoughts to food & drink.

Living life on the edge.. the Danish Police could be here any second.

I've not ever been a fugitive from the law before, however this bread contains marmite, illegal here in Denmark, so I suspect my days as a free man may be numbered!

Based on a German recipe I found, this is a mite more involved than last weeks' soda bread offering but don't let that put you off - this is some of the nicest bread I've tasted. Wonderfully aromatic with the complex taste of the stout mixed with marmite & honey.

The dough is left to rise overnight, and then again for a few hours, creating a lovely moist loaf.

Ingredients:

1. 10g of fresh yeast (or a 1/4 tsp of the dried stuff.)
2. 1 liberal dollop Marmite.
3. 1 tbsp honey.
4. 330ml stout or porter, room temperature.
5. 400g strong white or spelt flour.
6. 200g rye flour.
7. 1 tsp salt.
8. 25g warmed butter, diced.
9. 1 tbsp left over beer, for brushing

Procedure:

1. Crumble the yeast in to a jug, add the beer, honey and marmite and mix well.
2. Mix the flours, salt and butter in a large bowl until you have something that resembles bread crumbs.
3. Make a well in the middle and pour in the liquid. Gradually work over until it is all mixed together and you have a sticky dough - if too wet add a little more flour.
4. Turn out on to a floured work top and knead enthusiastically for 10 minutes. The dough will gradually firm up.
5. Plonk in to  a bowl, cover & let dough rise for a minimum of 6 hours, ideally overnight in the fridge. The dough should double in size.
6. Turn out on to work top again and punch to deflate.
7. Shape in to a round and place on a baking sheet.
8. Cover & leave in a warm place to rise for 1 to 4 hours (depending on the initial temperature of the dough.)
9. Preheat oven to 200ºC / 400ºF / Gas-mark 6.
10. Assuming you have not already drunk any left over beer use it to brush the loaf. If you want to dust with cracked rye.
11. Score the loaf with a sharp knife.
12. Bake for 35 mins or until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped underneath.

Enjoy!