Essex Days Out

The CAMRA Good Beer Guide iPhone ‘app’ led me to the Dove Street Inn in Ipswich yesterday. I’d downloaded it a couple of days previously, and used it to identify somewhere in central Ipswich to drink, knowing that I would be in need of a drink at the end of a day that saw me drive from Colchester to Brighton for a 2.5hr meeting in the morning, then drive back to Colchester, park up in the railway station car park, and then train to Ipswich for an afternoon meeting. The cunning plan to park at Colchester and then train was to enable a few pints to be sunk after work, and for SWMBO to rendezvous with me at the car park to drive me home.

The Good Beer Guide identified a couple of likely pubs in Ipswich town centre. The Fat Cat Inn looked the most promising ”the intimate inn is always a joy to visit’ according to the guide. But was some way out of town. Consequently my drinking partner and I only got as far as the Dove Street Inn. And I have to say that there is a bit of failing with the Good Beer Guide, as the entry for the Dove Street Inn doesn’t really do it justice. Until know I’d have put The Odd One Out in Colchester as my favourite ‘proper’ real ale pub, but now now.

The Dove has a corner location, about 5 mins walk from the Regent Theatre. There’s a main bar which is very light and roomy, and a couple of other rooms – the small back bar which still has the feel of a living room, being particulary quaint. I didn’t fully explore the rest of the pub, so a further visit will be necessary to do that.

The range of beers was excellent. There were two ranks of five pumps on the main bar, with other pumps and barrels elsewhere.

First up I tried a Honey Porter from St. Peter’s Brewery. I chose it on two accounts : a pint of porter is my preferred option, and St. Peter’s Brewery is a local one, based in Bungay. I’m not a big fan of honey, and, to be honest, the honey and porter combination didn’t really work for me. It wasn’t a porter with a hint of honey, it had a full on honey flavour and nose to it, which rather overwhelmed the porter. But for those with a sweeter tooth, it could work. It didn’t stop me finishing the pint though!

After that I stuck to the Black Dog Mild. A pub serving both a porter and a mild! It’s brewed by Elgood’s Brewery from Wisbech in Cambridgeshire, so it hadn’t travelled far. It’s only 3.5% abv, but full of flavour. If I hadn’t had a 6:00am start and 250 motorway miles and four hours worth of meetings under my belt, I coule have sunk several
of them! I also had to leave some room for some food, and whilst not quite gastro pub fayre, the steak and stilton pie, mash and mushy peas went down a treat. The pie was triangular? A close second in my pub pie ratings, secondly only to the pork pie hidden by mushy peas that I had in about 1981 in a pub at t’foot of Ilkley Moor, that has now achieved near-legendary status.

There’s other home cooked food on the menu, and the pub holds beer festivals, and live music. I’m going to have to get there again soon! They have a very informative website at http://www.dovestreetinn.co.uk/ , including a regularly updated guide to what is still left in each barrel, which is a new one to me. And there’s a plan for a micro-brewery over the road with a couple of bed and breakfast rooms. Put me down for a room!

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