The Buddle Inn

Although safely back stateside, I've got a few more adventures from the Isle of Wight...

When I spoke with David Yates about finding a good pub serving his beer, he suggested The Buddle Inn.  So, armed with the Buddle as our destination, we arranged a hike through the "Back of the Wight" to preface our beer destination.

We started of at St. Catherine's Oratory, or the Pepperpot as known by the locals, dating back to 1313 AD it is Britain's oldest medieval lighthouse.  It was built as penance for a man who stole wine.  Let that be a lesson to you.  

From there, we walked to the current lighthouse at St. Catherine' s Point.  Built in 1837 it replaced the Pepperpot, in part due to the wreck of the Clarendon in the previous year.  

Although normally open for tours, sadly, the lighthouse was closed.  In order to make up for it, we walked the nearby fields and snacked on sandwiches while taking in its grounds.

After working up a fairly good thirst, not sustained by the bottles of water we brought, we finally stopped at The Buddle Inn.

The Buddle is not only a local pub, it's a destination pub.  It is well out of the way.  Feat not though, as it is well worth the trip.  

With a spacious beer garden out front and a large compartmentalized dining area inside, the Buddle has tons of character.  

They also had Yates.  Just as David promised.

In fact, the real ale selection at the Buddle was one of the best I'd seen.

Fuller's, Yates, Goddard's, Island Brewery.  The Buddle had them all covered.

Arriving a little after 11, the place was still fairly empty.

For those who had sojourned out at the early hour, they were in the beer garden soaking up some rare English sun.  We followed their lead and certainly had no complaints as we polished off our drinks.

The Buddle is a pretty amazing spot and what made our outdoor perch even better, was the beautiful view of the English Channel, just over the tree tops of the garden.  Definitely a destination pub, no matter what distance needs traveling.

The Old Customs House

As a special treat to meet friends, we spent Friday across the Solent in Portsmouth.  With almost 1000 years of history, Portsmouth is most notably home to a large naval base and to some, more importantly, their football club, Pompey.  Although we always "pass through" Portsmouth, we never really spend a lot of time there.  This may have to change.  They have a lot going on.

Amazingly, the weather has continued to be beautiful.  Seizing this rare moment of local perfection, I hitched a ride to the top of the Spinnaker Tower.  The Tower offers a breathtaking view of Portsmouth, the naval yard, the Solent and the north coast of the Isle of Wight.  On a clear day, you can see forever.

The observation tower's most interesting attraction was not out the observation windows.

It was on the floor.

I'm standing on glass and yes, those hoofs are mine.  Scary, I know…the view was frightening too.  

Although it didn't cause me a lot of vertigo, it did provide a great source of amusement, as I watched others scurry across the glass.  Some were certainly more adventurous than others.

After leaving the tower, we checked out the HMS Warrior.

Although the Warrior isn't going anywhere, we found another working sail ship that was.

It's crew was making last minute preparations for a tug boat to pull them out to the harbor.  

After our sightseeing jaunt was over, we made our way to lunch at The Old Customs House.  Part of Portsmouth's harbor renovation was selling off part of the naval yard to make way for new commercial development.

They did a nice job of blending old and new.  A channel leading to the harbor was lined with old world war relics -  mines, torpedoes, anti aircraft guns and to me, the most impressive sight: The Old Customs House.

Built in 1790, The Old Customs House originally served as the headquarters for the HMS Vernon and later the Commandant General Royal Marines.  The building screams history and inside, has been completely renovated.

The floor plan, as far as I could tell, seemed to be intact.  The entire pub is made up of different rooms.  Some only with tables and chairs.  Others with tables, chairs, leather couches and sofas.

We grabbed a sofa near a window and I slid over to the bar to grab a pint while we waited on our friends.

The Old Customs House is "tied" to Fullers.  So I had a nice opportunity to try a special style brewed for the Queen's Jubilee next weekend, Hope and Glory Jubilee Ale.  

Later on for lunch, I had a Fuller's Discovery.

I've had Discovery at home, but when you compare bottle to cask, there is no comparison.  No gas, just naturally carbonated fresh clean beer.  

Speaking of lunch, the menu was quite expansive. This always gives me trouble.  Too many choices can kill me.

As with most pubs, we placed our food order at the bar and then went outside with our friends to enjoy lunch under the wonderfully warm sun.

For food, I ended up turning toward standard pub fare with the sausage and mash.

Zoë had the bacon, cranberry and brie sandwich.  Although I wasn't allowed any of the sandwich, I did snag some cole slaw.

Finally, my regret. I should have gotten Keith's sausage platter.

Five sausages were served on a board with various mustards and chutneys.  Yes, it was meant to be shared, but I'm fairly certain I could have eaten it all myself…if I had ordered it.

The Old Customs House was great on all counts: ambiance, food and beer.  It served as a great location to catch up with friends we so rarely get to see.  We really couldn't have asked for a better time.  I believe in the future we are going to do more than simply "pass through" Portsmouth.

The Village Inn

I was in the Village Inn five years ago.  I was also in it last week.  I had no idea the Village Inn I was in five years ago was the same one I was in last week.  It was that different.  

Within the last year, new owners took over and made major renovations inside.  It was completely different - basically all new.  Most importantly, it was really quite good.

One of the neat things about so many of the buildings in England is their history.  It's not every day you can take a picture of a pub...

and later realize someone took the same picture 150 years ago.

We inadvertently stumbled in on buy one starter get one free day.  My kind of inadvertent.  We skipped "lunch" and went for the starters.  First up, a great chutney & pate plate,

followed by creamy leek soup.

Both were excellent, as was the real ale.

The Village Inn is small, but cozy.  A mixture of tables and leather chairs scattered the dinning room.  Out back was a fairly large beer garden, sheltered by a pergola.  Everything was new and fresh.

Our lunch visit was so good, we swung back for dinner earlier this week.  The staff was warm, inviting and attentive. I really couldn't ask for much more.  Bembridge is lucky to have this as a local.

The Village Inn
61 High St
Bembridge
Isle of Wight PO3 5SF

Tel: 01983 872616 

What's on the Grill #245: Brisket in the UK

Although the English refer to both grilling and BBQ as "barbecue", on this trip I was determined to BBQ in the US sense of the word: low and slow.  Bob has really worked his Weber Performer over the last five years.  However, of everything he has prepared, he has never tackled a brisket.

Looking back at what Weber is doing in the UK and hell, even a growing number of international visitors to APP, it really appears BBQ is gaining traction worldwide.  However, over at Josh's Meatwave, a really interesting comment thread on European BBQ made me realize one obstacle when looking to the US for advice: meat cuts.  

When Bob and I decided to cook brisket, we sort of ran into the same problem.  All of the brisket we found was rolled.

After an afternoon walk, we swung by a local butcher with a great array of local meat.  Thankfully, brisket in the UK is brisket, so it was easy to find.  We also had the ability to choose how much we wanted.  The butcher put the roll on his cutting board, gauged the width of my outstretched hands and sliced.

With a little help from Wendy, we released the brisket from its bindings.

With the twine removed, a tug was needed to finish the release.

And voila, flat brisket.

Immediately, the biggest apparent difference was the lack of a substantial fat cap.  Although some cap was present, it was nothing compared to what I am used to seeing.  It was more of a "fat sheet" than a big comfortable "fat duvet".  

I had already decided to brine and I'm glad I did based on what I found.  Since I was only cooking a 2-3 pound brisket, I reduced my brine to 2 quarts of water, 1/3 cup salt and 1/2 cup sugar.  For all of my usual brisket procedures, check here.

The brisket sat submerged in the fridge overnight and I went to sleep.

Brisket Day

The next morning, I pulled the brisket from the fridge, about an hour before grill time, and then helped Bob ready the Performer.  I was concerned about keeping the grill temperature low enough, as Bob's briquets seem to put off an extraordinarily large amount of heat.  

With the grill finally riding 250 and the brisket rubbed, it went to the grate.

I spent the first couple hours jockeying vents trying to keep the temp in the 250-300 range.  When I finally felt things had stabilized, Bob and I did what else, but go for a little bike ride.

We cycled to Yarbridge and a pint at one of it's finest pubs and, as a friend on Twitter told me, their only pub.

When we returned, about 5 hours into the cook, we topped up the grill with freshly lit coals.  About 3 hours later the brisket hit 188 F.  I pulled the brisket off the grill and allowed it to rest.  Why 188?  Everyone was hungry and wanted dinner and didn't want to wait 2 degrees.  Total cook time, 8 hours.

About this time I also popped open a Well's Eagle IPA.  

While there was certainly a good hop bite, I was hoping for something just a little more.  Nonetheless, still a good beer.

The brisket sliced up nicely and went great with Wendy's traditional smathering of vegetables: mashed suede (rutabaga), roast squash, carrots and broccoli.  

For the sauce, I worked up a sweet english mustard sauce.  It turned out pretty good, but I'm still working on some fine tuning.

I had a lot of concerns going in, but it all worked great.  In hindsight, I'm really glad I brined.  The brisket wasn't as tender as I'm used to, but still hit all of my buttons.  Overall, mission UK brisket was a success.  How do I know?  Wendy had seconds.  That never happens.

After going through the paces with Bob, he is all set to give it a try on his own.  He loves long cooks and now has one more meal in his arsenal.  I can't wait to hear how it goes.