Friday 25 January 2019

A million thank yous to pie fans of the World!

At times like this, when you sit back and actually reflect on the pie-oneering work that we have done, as writers of the world's leading pie review blog, it can sometimes blow you away! Never in a million years would we have thought back in November 2009, when www.pierate.co.uk turned from a "funny idea" into a registered domain, that today we would be celebrating 1,000,000 page views! I'll pause there and say it again - ONE MILLION page views... to a website that pretty much only talks about pies!!!


#QueenOfPies Katie Peel
Photo Credit: Fabio @KazooPR @PukkaPies
But that is exactly what has happened! And it's only due to the loyal support of friends and family and the wider community of pie fanatics out there across the world! While most of our views have been from the UK and USA, there have been views from all over the world, including Australia, China, Canada and much of mainland Europe! Pies really are a world cuisine!

Of course you know how highly we regard the pie here on Pierate, having rated over 625 in the past nine years, but along the way it has been great to meet so many pie makers and other pie fans, whether via twitter or in person. And one of the biggest fans we’ve had the honour of meeting is Katie Peel aka @AwayDayPieGirl, who is a fellow pie blogger and has also judged with us at the British Pie Awards in Melton Mowbray. Katie even made the time to come down to one of our Pierate Pie Nights in Birmingham a few years ago and regularly joins us in a twitter conversation (or should we say pie debate!!)

#QueenOfPies Katie Peel
Photo Credit: Fabio @KazooPR @PukkaPies


Katie’s football pie blog #AwayDayPieGirl has traced the pies and lows of the National League North as she follows her team Telford United (a team we admittedly still need to get in our Pieremiership Table!) And get this, she even has her own branded pie fork!!! But her recent crowning moment was when she was crowned by Pukka Pies (who were celebrating their birthday) with the title Queen of Pies, after winning a social media vote for most passionate pie fan! It’s been great getting to know her, seeing her great voluntary work both with the football club she supports and beyond, and we look forward to seeing her again at the British Pie Awards this March, where we will officially bestow on her a new accolade – that of being an Honorary Pierateer! She joins an illustrious list of pie fans and pie makers who really do show their passion for pies and Katie has certainly demonstrated that! Well done Katie!!

Katie's Pie Fork!!!

It seems crazy to think that on the 4th July 2016 we were celebrating another impressive milestone being reached - that of us having had 500,000 pageviews! Less than three years on, we've had twice that number, and are delighted so many pie fans have been able to enjoy and benefit from our pie research! Our slogan has always been "We rate all the pies so you don't have to" and 1,000,000 page views down the line, it appears many of you enjoy our musings aboard the Pierate Ship and on twitter @pierateers! So... here's to the million pie views! So long, and thanks for all the pie views!!

RAS

Pierate is a pie review website charting a course to find the ultimate pie. For all the pies we have reviewed have a look at our Pie Rankings or find pies of a particular flavour under Pies: Categorised.

Make sure you
and let us know your thoughts!
continue reading "A million thank yous to pie fans of the World!"

Wednesday 23 January 2019

British Pie Week 2019 Logo Launch

With British Pie Week just a few weeks away and Pierate - Pie Reviews becoming the leading promoter of the pie in British Pie Week, we thought that the week long celebration of pie needed a new logo!


British Pie Week 2019 Logo
British Pie Week 2019 Logo
With the pastry company behind British Pie Week seemingly not promoting the week long event any more, there is no designated British Pie Week logo for 2019, so we at Pierate Pie Reviews have stepped in and can officially announce the new logo to the world!

Featuring a pie design, knife, fork and the date, we've kept the logo simple but effective and we are happy for any websites, companies or other sources to use the logo for free. Unlike the previous commercial logo, we're not looking to promote our brand or product, but simply want a logo that focuses on the pie and puts the pie back into the centre of British Pie Week!

For those that don't know, we at Pierate Pie Reviews are a few friends who love pies and want to see them recognised for what they are - the piefect heart warming meal or snack in a pastry parcel! It just so happens that we've rated well over 625 pies in the process! And we once again plan to be at the heart of British Pie Week 2019 - which is this year from Monday 4th to Sunday 10th March - and you can follow our adventures on Twitter and this blog throughout the week, as we once again do our daily Pie Week Diary.

For more information about British Pie Week, join the thousands of readers of our "British Pie Week - Everything you should know!" article from a year ago!



British Pie Week Pierate
British Pie Week 2019 is from 4th to 10th March!
If you’re a pie maker or pie seller we hope you'll find the new logo helpful - you're free to use it! Also if you have any special promotions for British Pie Week, get in touch with us and we can celebrate your British Pie Week offers! Either send us an email to pierateship@yahoo.co.uk or tweet us @pierateers to let us promote your pie week plans!

Whatever you’re going to be up to this British Pie Week - and it's never too early to start planning - we hope you have pie and enjoy it! For more ideas, why not check out our #PiePledge video below?


RAS

Pierate is a pie review website charting a course to find the ultimate pie. For all the pies we have reviewed have a look at our Pie Rankings or find pies of a particular flavour under Pies: Categorised.

Make sure you 
and let us know your thoughts!
continue reading "British Pie Week 2019 Logo Launch "

Tuesday 1 January 2019

Stirling Effort from Blairmains

Blairmains Farm Shop Pie Reviews

A walking trip in the Ochils near to Stirling was a great excuse for a bit of a treat. Nearby Blairmains Farm Shop was the ideal location. We headed into the cafe which had the wonderfully Scottish name 'Coffee Bothy' an advertised a Sweet Pie of the Day. The farm shop also had a good range of meat pies so how could I resist? I grabbed an Apple pie and a Steak & Ale Pie, both timeless classics.

I started with pudding by eating the sweet apple pie first. At £1.95 it wasn't very expensive but then it wasn't very big. It looked well cooked with brown pastry librally coated in sugar. I thought it looked great, with an interesting shape to the pastry case. It stood up on its own without the need for a foil case which indicated sturdy pastry. However, it wasn't very tall so unfortunately there wasn't a lot of room for much apple filling. The pastry was different to many apple pies in that it tasted more like the shortbread that you might get with a christmas mince pie. I enjoyed the crunchy biscuit taste for a nice change. It was quite sweet and I am not sure I could have eaten more of it because it was a bit sickly. Despite not being very big it was well filled. The small size didn't allow for big chunks of apple. The filling was nice but was a long way off being my favourite apple pie filling. It was a bit more like the apple jam that you get in Mr Kipling apple pies. There were distinct chunks of apple but they were soft so the pie relied on the pastry to provide a bit of texture. Despite some shortfalls, this pie did really hit the spot, giving me a sugar boost after a lot of walking. It was a nice change to other apple pies.

Apple Pie (Blairmains [FK9 5QA])
4.14/7

I took the Steak & Ale pie home with me to eat later. At £2.95 this pie promised locally reared meat. The pie was in the classic oval shape where the pastry lid is much wider than the base meaning there is less Capacity than you might expect. This tactic is normally used by pies at the lower end of the market so it wasn't all that promising. At £2.95 I expected what little filling they could fit in there to be top quality. And I wasn't disappointed by the quality, the meat was very nice and tasty. However, there was a bit of a lack of sauce in the pie and when the pastry to filling ratio was a bit pastry heavy I could have used some gravy to help the pastry go down.

The pastry was a bit generic and lacking in the golden brown Colour you expect for a high end pie. Whilst it travelled back down to England in an excellent Condition, the style of pie also looked a bit generic and again, not quite what I expect for the price. Whilst reasonably tasty I could have probably have eaten two of these pies.

Steak & Ale (Blairmains [FK9 5QA])
4.03/7


continue reading "Stirling Effort from Blairmains"