DRINKS
By carefully monitoring customer demands and tastes, we have refined our extensive range of draught beer, lager, and cider. Our passion lies with cask-conditioned beer. The key to serving a great pint through our four hand pumps is ensuring freshness, maintaining the correct temperature, and upholding cleanliness, and not to forget using the correct branded glassware.
To guarantee freshness, and at our request,the vast majority of our cask-conditioned beer is now supplied in Pins (4.5 gallon barrels). Previously, everything was supplied in Firkin-sized (9 gallons) barrels, which sometimes resulted in the very tail end of the barrel not being as fresh as we would have liked.
HOUSE STANDARD & GUEST ALES
Three of our hand pumps are dedicated to our nearly permanent beers: Palmers Copper (3.7 ABV), Fullers London Pride (4.1 ABV), and St Austell Proper Job (4.5 ABV), which are always available.
We also offer a very popular range of weekly guest ales, which are regularly rotated in no particular set order. These can include Palmers Dorset Gold, St Austell Tribute, DBC Jurassic, Bath Ales Gem, Exmoor Ale, and Otter Ale.
Finally the perennial favourite draught Guinness which our customers tell us is the best in the region.
The guest beer selection will also be adjusted seasonally, with lighter beers introduced during warmer months and Christmas brewed beers during the festive period. While the presence of a specific guest ale cannot be guaranteed at any given time, whichever one is on tap will provide a contrast to our three House Standards.
LAGERS & CIDERS
We offer three contrasting lagers Amstel, Birra Moretti and the new kid on the block, Flagman (4.5% ABV) from the Apex Brewery just north of Sherborne. A delicious smooth golden festbier style lager brewed British with a gentle malt sweetness. We love it as do our customers.
West Dorset is cider country, with the largest following attached to Thatchers. Our range Thatchers includes three ciders on draught and five bottled. On draught we have: Thatchers Gold; Haze and Rascal, in bottles we have: Katy; Apple and Blackcurrant; Blood Orange, Rosé and Thatchers Zero.
Complementing our sparkling ciders we have two award winning locally based still ciders: Harry’s Haymaker medium -dry from South Somerset (6.0% ABV) and Isaac’s Alchemy medium cider (6.6% ABV) from West Dorset.
WINES & SPIRITS
Our extensive and moderately priced wine list, with an emphasis on red wines, is wide ranging in content and very popular. We always stock an exceptional range of spirits to suit every taste, including local gins, vodka, and brandy (Conker, Conker Bowser Leaf, Black Cow, and Sherborne Castle Brandy.)
Our cocktail range is extensive, with particularly strong demand for the Espresso Martini and Old Fashion, again all sensibly priced.
CONKER GIN
Small batch premium quality Dorset-based distillery. International award winner. “This gin is ace in a martini and delicious with tonic in a very British way” John Tarode Master Chef Presenter.
BLACK COW VODKA
The world's first pure milk vodka made in West Dorset, near Beaminster, is distilled at the dairy farm of Jason Barber, bottled by hand and created from a 250-head dairy heard. Smooth and delicious.
FORDINGTON GIN
Dorsets finest premium gin at 45% ABV with a twist of extra juniper and blood oranges - a truly original gentle and distinctive flavour.
SHERBORNE CASTLE BRANDY
Distilled from the Castle vineyard wines and barrel-aged for at least eight years. Probably the very best ‘non-cognac’ brandy we have tasted. A must for the connoisseur.
NO/LOW ALCOHOL
The days have thankfully long gone from tasteless Kaliber lager. We offer probably the most comprehensive range of no/low alcohol beers, lagers and ciders in the whole of Dorset. All personally tested by us for taste. The current range tastes so good you will want to come back for another and still be able to drive home safely. Recognising the shift in personal preference to low or no alcohol we currently stock no less than twelve different options. Four ales, three lagers, four ciders and of course Guinness 0.0% (which really does taste like the real thing).
