Just three weeks prior to Pierateer RAS's big day, getting married to his fiancee Andrea, the Pierateers RAS, SJL and TJP all set sail on the Pierate Ship to Cardiff, along with a motley crew of fellow Pierateers, for Pierateer RAS's stag do. While lots of fun was had playing mini golf, indoor curling and football, the real pie-light was the lunchtime stop off at Pieminister Cardiff, where Pierateer RAS rated the "Moolin Rouge" (after having enjoyed it a few times previously but never having quite made it to reviewing it!). All while dressed as a giant pie, of course...

For those who don't know, Bristol pie giant Pieminister started back in 2003 and opened up a shop in Birmingham city centre in mid-2017 which we've frequented a number of times already, including for a number of pie week or pie anniversary visits. In total we have rated over 20 Pieminister pies and one of our very first pie articles was about Pieminister back fifteen years ago in 2009!

Since then we've tried some of their "Pie Election" winners (when pie fans got to choose which old favourites to bring back to the menu for British Pie Week 2015) and we were even crazy enough to try their Cricket pie in 2017! Yes, that's right - it had actual whole insects in it!!

For his stag do pie, Pierateer RAS chose the "Moolin Rouge" pie, which is rated below alongside the scores of the 17 other stag do guests - including, of course, Pierateers SJL and TJP, who both did a great job of co-organising the stag do. Many thanks guys! In reality, with some delicious pies and great banter, everyone was a winner at Pieminister Cardiff that lunchtime!

Pieminister Moolin Rouge Pie Review

The Moolin Rouge is a British beef steak, dry cured bacon and red wine pie. The pie was classic Pieminister, with a delicious crisp outer pastry and a well filled and meaty filling. We've had a number of steak pies from Pieminister and they are always well filled with meat and have a good flavour with the accompanying gravy in the pie, whether it be an ale or in this case red wine. It gave a great flavour and complimented the tender beef steak well, creating yet another top pie filling!

Pieminister "Moolin Rouge" British beef steak, dry cured bacon and red wine pie
Score: 6.14/7
[Colour 6.25, Capacity 6.5, Consistency 6.5, Condition 6, Chewiness 6.25, Cheapness 5, Content 6.5]



During the two hours Pierateer Rob chatted pies with his friends, including giving info about how to rate a pie on the 7 Cs of pie rating. This led to Pierateer Rob recording the ratings of all 17 guest's pies too, the scores of which are as follows:


Deer and Beer (by Pierateer SJL) - 5.93/7 (Colour 6, Consistency 6.5, Capacity 6.5, Chewiness 5.5, Cheapness 5, Content 6, Condition 6)

Mooless Moo (by Pierateer TJP) - 6.21/7 (Colour 5.5, Consistency 6.5, Capacity 7, Chewiness 6.5, Cheapness 5, Content 6.5, Condition 6.5)

Free Ranger (by Anthony) - 6.21/7 (Colour 6, Consistency 6.5, Capacity 7, Chewiness 6, Cheapness 5, Content 7, Condition 6)

Deer and Beer (by Stu) - 5.14/7 (Colour 5, Consistency 5, Capacity 6, Chewiness 4, Cheapness 3, Content 4, Condition 6)

Moo (by James) - 5.21/7 (Colour 4, Consistency 6, Capacity 7, Chewiness 5.5, Cheapness 5, Content 6, Condition 3)

Deer and Beer (by Barnaby) - 4.07/7 (Colour 5, Consistency 4.5, Capacity 3, Chewiness 4, Cheapness 4, Content 2, Condition 6)

Moolin Rouge (by Xavier) - 4.86/7 (Colour 6, Consistency 4, Capacity 5, Chewiness 5, Cheapness 4, Content 4, Condition 6)

Moo and Blue (by Andy) - 5.57/7 (Colour 6, Consistency 6, Capacity 5, Chewiness 5, Cheapness 4, Content 7, Condition 6)

Moolin Rouge (by Dave) - 6/7 (Colour 6, Consistency 6, Capacity 6, Chewiness 6, Cheapness 5, Content 6, Condition 7)

Free Ranger (by Adam P) - 6.07/7 (Colour 5.5, Consistency 6, Capacity 7, Chewiness 6, Cheapness 6.5, Content 6.5, Condition 5)

Moolin Rouge (by Martyn) - 6/7 (Colour 5, Consistency 6, Capacity 7, Chewiness 6, Cheapness 7, Content 5, Condition 6)

Fungi Chicken (by Chris) - 5.43/7 (Colour 5, Consistency 5, Capacity 6, Chewiness 5, Cheapness 5, Content 6, Condition 6)

Moo (by Rob D) - 5.79/7 (Colour 6, Consistency 5.5, Capacity 6, Chewiness 5.5, Cheapness 6, Content 6, Condition 5.5)

Moolin Rouge (by Mark) - 6.21/7 (Colour 6.5, Consistency 6, Capacity 7, Chewiness 6.25, Cheapness 5.5, Content 5.75, Condition 6.5)

Moo (by Adam CW) - 6/7 (Colour 7, Consistency 5, Capacity 6, Chewiness 7, Cheapness 5.5, Content 6, Condition 6.5)

Moo and Blue (by Craig) - 6.14/7 (Colour 6, Consistency 7, Capacity 5, Chewiness 7, Cheapness 7, Content 5, Condition 6)

Maroc Star (by Adam T) - 6.29/7 (Colour 7, Consistency 7, Capacity 6, Chewiness 7, Cheapness 5, Content 6, Condition 7)


Thanks to Pieminister Cardiff for hosting our Pierateer Takeover for Pierateer Rob's Stag Do. It was a great meal and part of a great weekend of fun!

Pieminister Deer and Beer Pie Review

As an added bonus, to celebrate Pierate Pie Reviews turning 15 years old on Tuesday 12th November 2024 - on what we refer to as International Pierate Day - Pierateer RAS returned to his "local" and had the "Deer and Beer" pie at Pieminister Birmingham. Here's how that pie rated:

The "Deer and Beer" is a wild venison, milk stout, mushroom and thyme pie. Once again the pie had the textbook Pieminister delicious crisp outer pastry and a well filled and meaty filling. There was quite a decent amount of meat inside and went well with the mushroom and flavourings, however despite very much enjoying the flavour of the pie, it was hard to get much of a sense of the deer or beer flavouring itself. While I would happily eat this pie again, I was expecting a bit more deer and beer flavouring from a pie of that name! But that said, I still enjoyed the pie! 

Pieminister "Deer and Beer" Wild venison, milk stout, mushroom and thyme pie
Score: 6/7
[Colour 6.25, Capacity 6.25, Consistency 6.5, Condition 6, Chewiness 6.25, Cheapness 5, Content 5.75]


RAS

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It wouldn't be right to not celebrate our Pierate anniversary with a pie party and, while last year's had to be limited to just Pierateer Rob and his support bubble (which was still a decent sized pie-rty due to all the Senior kids!), this year we are back in a pie shop and ready to celebrate the only way we know how: eating and rating pie!! 

Pierateer Rob visiting Pieminister Birmingham

So on 11th November, Pierate are going to rummage and pillage the pies at Pieminister Birmingham once again as we host a Pierateer Takeover for our 12th anniversary - just like we have done in the past during British Pie Weeks such as British Pie Week 2018!

Being held from 7pm on Thursday 11th November, the night will be a chance for friends of the Pierateers to catch up on what's been going down on the Pierate Ship, and most importantly to eat and rate some delicious pies! It's sure to be a great way to celebrate 12 years of pie rating!

Pieminister Birmingham at 16 Waterloo Street

For those who don't know, Bristol pie giant Pieminister opened up a shop in Birmingham city centre in mid-2017 and we've frequented it a number of times already. However we certainly hadn't waited until they opened a shop in Birmingham before rating one of their pies, for we have rated 19 Pieminister pies in total and one of our very first reviews over 10 years ago was from Pieminister!

Since then we've tried some of their "Pie Election" winners (when pie fans got to choose which old favourites to bring back to the menu for British Pie Week 2015) and we were even crazy enough to try their Cricket pie in 2017! Yes, that's right - it had actual whole insects in it!!

So here's the details of the pie night and how you can get involved:

Kick off 7pm

Delicious pies on offer at Pieminister - we've rated 19!

We'll be arriving at the Pieminister Birmingham shop for 7pm, where we'll have some dedicated Pierateer Takeover tables set aside for us! (We advise you book up to avoid disappointment!)

Pick your pie!
There are a whole host of pies to choose from on their menu.

Who rate all the Pies?!
During the two hours Pierateer Rob will be around to chat pies, give you a bit of info about how to rate a pie on the 7 Cs of pie rating, as well as a brief update on what we've been up to over the years! And if he can, he'll try to answer your pie-related questions (like when is a pie not a pie?!) Just look out for him in his black Pierate t-shirt and don't be afraid to come up and say hi if we haven't met yet!

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The countdown to British Pie Week continues with our most exciting announcement yet! Pierate are going to rummage and pillage the pies at Pieminister Birmingham once again as we host a Pierateer Takeover in British Pie Week 2020 - just like we did last year and in 2018!

Pierateer Rob visiting Pieminister Birmingham

Being held from 5:30-7:30pm on Tuesday 3rd March, the night will be a chance for pie fans across the Midlands and friends of the Pierateers to catch up on what's been going down on the Pierate Ship, and most importantly to eat and rate some delicious pies! It's sure to be a great way to kick off British Pie Week 2020!

Pieminister Birmingham at 16 Waterloo Street

For those who don't know, Bristol pie giant Pieminister opened up a shop in Birmingham city centre in mid-2017 and we've frequented it a number of times already. However we certainly hadn't waited until they opened a shop in Birmingham before rating one of their pies, for we have rated 19 Pieminister pies in total and one of our very first reviews over 10 years ago was from Pieminister!

Since then we've tried some of their "Pie Election" winners (when pie fans got to choose which old favourites to bring back to the menu for British Pie Week 2015) and we were even crazy enough to try their Cricket pie in 2017! Yes, that's right - it had actual whole insects in it!!

So here's the details of the pie night and how you can get involved:

Kick off 5:30pm

Delicious pies on offer at Pieminister - we've rated 19!

We'll be arriving at the Pieminister Birmingham store at about 5:30pm, where we'll have some dedicated Pierateer Takeover tables set aside for us! (We advise you book up to avoid disappointment!)

Pick your pie!
While there are a whole host of pies to choose from on their menu, as it will be British Pie Week we're sure there will be some special sur-pie-ses! While we await the big reveal from Pieminister soon, they are promising some cracking pie-rizes for pie fans in store!!

Who rate all the Pies?!
During the two hours Pierateer Rob will be around to chat pies, give you a bit of info about how to rate a pie on the 7 Cs of pie rating, as well as a brief update on what we've been up to recently! And if he can, he'll try to answer your pie-related questions (like when is a pie not a pie?!) Just look out for him in his black Pierate t-shirt and don't be afraid to come up and say hi!

And while we'd be delighted to see a few of you there on the Tuesday, if that date or time doesn't suit you then don't forget that British Pie Week lasts all week and the Pieminister restaurants up and down the country will have a fab pie-motions on!




In the meantime, you can find out more about The Pierateers or about what we've been up to in previous British Pie Weeks on the world's leading pie review blog! But for now why not watch our short video clip to find out how you can get involved in British Pie Week too?

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The countdown to British Pie Week continues with our most exciting announcement yet! Pierate are going to rummage and pillage the pies at Pieminister Birmingham once again as we host a Pierateer Takeover in British Pie Week 2019 - just like we did last year!

Pierateer Rob visiting Pieminister Birmingham

Being held from 5:30-7:30pm on Monday 4th March, the night will be a chance for pie fans across the Midlands and friends of the Pierateers to catch up on what's been going down on the Pierate Ship, and most importantly to eat and rate some delicious pies! It's going to be a great way to kick off British Pie Week 2019 and comes just days before we go to the 11th annual British Pie Awards to provide our live feed of all the pie action!

Pieminister Birmingham at 16 Waterloo Street

For those who don't know, Bristol pie giant Pieminister opened up a shop in Birmingham city centre in mid-2017 and we've frequented it a number of times already. However we certainly hadn't waited until they opened a shop in Birmingham before rating one of their pies, for we have rated 19 Pieminister pies in total and one of our very first reviews over 8 years ago was from Pieminister!

Since then we've tried some of their "Pie Election" winners (when pie fans got to choose which old favourites to bring back to the menu for British Pie Week 2015) and we were even crazy enough to try their Cricket pie in 2017! Yes, that's right - it had actual whole insects in it!!

So here's the details of the pie night and how you can get involved:

Kick off 5:30pm

Delicious pies on offer at Pieminister - we've rated 19!

We'll be arriving at the Pieminister Birmingham store at about 5:30pm, where we'll have some dedicated Pierateer Takeover tables set aside for us! (We advise you book up to avoid disappointment!)

Pick your pie!
While there are a whole host of pies to choose from on their menu, as it will be British Pie Week the shop has a special Mothership offer on Monday. For those who don't know, a Mothership is your favourite pie with mash, peas, crispy shallots, Cheddar cheese and gravy - all for just a fiver! And that includes their British Pie Week 2019 special - Lady Baa Baa (yes, you guessed it - a lamb pie!!)

Who rate all the Pies?!
During the two hours Pierateer Rob will be around to chat pies, give you a bit of info about how to rate a pie on the 7 Cs of pie rating, as well as a brief update on what we've been up to recently! And if he can, he'll try to answer your pie-related questions (like when is a pie not a pie?!) Just look out for him in his black Pierate t-shirt and don't be afraid to come up and say hi!

And while we'd be delighted to see a few of you there on the Monday, if that date or time doesn't suit you then don't forget that British Pie Week lasts all week and the Pieminister restaurants up and down the country have a fab pie-motions on, a different one each day. More info at https://www.pieminister.co.uk/pie-week-19/




In the meantime, you can find out more about The Pierateers or about what we've been up to in previous British Pie Weeks on the world's leading pie review blog! Plus we'll soon be posting our British Pie Week #PiePledge article - with our full plans for British Pie Week - but for now why not watch our short video clip to find out how you can get involved in British Pie Week too?

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Pieminister “Moodog” British Beef Steak, Dry Cured Bacon and Brewdog Ale Pie Review

Pieminister Sunday Best Pie Review

You could be forgiven for thinking that top pie maker Pieminister – from whom we have rated nineteen pies previously, the majority of whom have been Pierate Recommended or Pierate Highly Recommended – must be running out of new inventions for the humble pie! After all, it wasn’t that long ago that they dug deep into the reci-pie book to create a Cricket, Chipotle Chilli and Black Bean pie (yes, that’s crickets the insect!) to spice up British Pie Week 2017! But even though we have eaten through the majority of the menu, we still keep going back for more, especially now they have opened a pie shop in Birmingham City Centre that is not far from Pierateer Rob’s humble abode!

We did however still manage to find a new pie flavour we hadn’t rated before in the form of the Moodog pie, a British Beef Steak, Dry Cured Bacon and Brewdog Ale pie.

However, that wasn’t exactly the reason we were there this time round! For while our pie blog naturally focuses on the pie itself, it can’t be ignored that the sides you get with your pie contribute significantly to the enjoyment of said pie. Serve it with cold mash, overcooked chips or a thin, water-like gravy and you’re certainly not going to please pie connoisseurs like us! Which is why we couldn’t turn down an invite to try the new “Sunday Best” option from Pieminister, which hit their pie shops recently, for a new meal ex-pie-rience!



The idea is simple – take all that is good about the trimmings of a classic Sunday Roast, add them on top of or around a top rated Pieminister pie, and *poof* you have a magical Sunday lunchtime treat for the whole family to enjoy! It’s a wonder no-one thought of this before!!! As you can see from the graphic, the “Sunday Best” option is any of Pieminister's award winning pies on a pile of delicious mash, topped with a Yorkshire Pudding filled with swede mash, roast garlic & rosemary potatoes and finished with free range British Pork crackling and a pig-in-blanket. All served-up with a brimming boat of gravy on the side. And all this for less than 10 of your English Pounds at £9.95!

The crackling was crisp and delicious, the swede mash, potato mash and roast garlic and rosemary potatoes (though sounding perhaps a little carb heavy) complimented the pie and other sides well and there was even a pig in blanket for a little more meatilicious content! All sat in a Yorkshire Pudding, the bedrock of a classic Sunday Roast!

And for the main course, there was the pie, naturally! The beauty of this meal option was that you could have any of their Pieminister pies on sale in the middle of this Sunday trimmings sandwich! So whether you preferred a pie with vegetables, meat or without the wheat, Pieminister could provide you a Sunday dinner experience for all taste buds. You could even go Vegan with “Kevin”, their new vegan pie, if you so desired! As mentioned, I went for the Moodog pie, which was one of the few meat pies on the menu yet to be rated on the Pierate Ship!

Pieminister Sunday Best Pie Review

As you can see from the pictures, the pie came stacked with all the “Sunday Best” trimmings, but this didn’t detract from the quality of the pie itself. It was lovely and golden on top, though certainly a lot more pale and gravy-stained on the sides. However the sides and base were quite crisp too, alongside the golden top. The lovely Pieminister pastry one again surrounded a well filled content, with a definite focus on meaty steak chunks with a few tasters of bacon to vary the flavour. The balance between crisp pastry and a moist, meaty filling was delightful and I’ll definitely look to have another one soon!

Looking at the pie alone, Pieminister have once again produced a Pierate Highly Recommended pie. And I for one am delighted they’ve decided to sell it as part of a delicious roast trimming dinner in my local Pieminister pie shop! It’s a great idea to offer the additional trimmings while keeping the pie choice flexible, and I will certainly bear it in mind when I next want the best pie meal possible on a Sunday afternoon!

Pieminister “Moodog” British Beef Steak, Dry Cured Bacon and Brewdog Ale Pie
Score: 6.07/7
[Colour 6, Capacity 6.25, Consistency 6, Condition 6, Chewiness 6.25, Cheapness 5.5, Content 6.5]
RAS

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After a busy summer period, including a couple of Pierateer weddings (check out the wedding pie we had!!), it's high time we set sail on some more pie related adventures! But before we do, we thought it would be rude not to fill you in on some exciting pie news we've come across these last few weeks. Check them out below!

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Fellow Pie rater needs your Pukka vote!

Regular viewers of our @pierateers twitter feed will know that we follow and regularly chat with fellow pie blogger and football fan Katie Peal, who came to one of our Birmingham Pie Nights and has been a fellow pie judge at the British Pie Awards with us.

She supports Telford United and travels around rating pies at the lower league football grounds they play in. She's created her own special persona - @awaydaypiegirl - and has even got her own branded pie fork that features regularly on her Twitter! This lady is dedicated to pie!! And it's for that reason we're backing her in the com-pie-tition Pukka Pies have set up to find the biggest Pukka Pies superfan! Check out the tweet below:

It’s time to put our superfan in your hands! Who do you think deserves the crown? RT for @awaydaypiegirl, who lives and breathes all things pastry, and LIKE for @JimJamRadford, who shouts his fandom loud and proud. Take it away, vote ends Monday, 17th September! pic.twitter.com/2rLZP7eJKQ

— Pukka Pies (@PukkaPies) 12 September 2018

You can vote by either retweeting (for Katie) or liking (for Jim) the post above on the Pukka Pies Twitter account or voting on the Pukka Pies Facebook page until Monday 17th September. All the best Katie!!

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Pierateers heading back to Pieminister for their Sunday Best!

You may recall back in March of this year during British Pie Week 2018 we hosted a Birmingham Pie Night at the Pieminister pie shop in Birmingham City Centre. If not, you can read all about our Pie Night here - especially to whet your a-pie-tite as we'll be planning another for British Pie Week 2019!

But before all that, we're excited to be going back to Waterloo Street this coming Sunday to try out Pieminister's new "Sunday Best" pie meal option. If you've ever thought "What would happen if you combined an award winning pie with a roast dinner?" then think no more - you can try it out at your local Pieminister shop each Sunday starting this very Sunday 16th September!

To whet our a-pie-tite Pieminister sent us a preview description and it sounds e-pie-c!!!

"The Sunday Best is any of Pieminister's award winning pies on a pile of delicious mash, topped with a Yorkshire Pudding filled with swede mash, roast garlic & rosemary potatoes and finished with free range British Pork crackling and a pig-in-blanket. All served-up with a brimming boat of gravy on the side."

If that doesn't sound amazing, I don't know what does! Look out for the pie rating next week!!

British Pie Week Pieminister Pie Night

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MyPie is set to open a London pie shop!!

Pierateers with number 1 pie maker - Chris! (L to R - Chris, SJL, TJP, RAS)

Possibly the best pie news we've heard all year:

MyPie London, who make our number 1 rated pie out of over 600 have shared on Twitter that they're planning to open a pie shop in central London next month! We'll be sure to check out the MyPie website for updates from Chris about the details, but the plan is to open 20th October in Zone 1 for a three month period. We for one cannot wait to visit!!

From 20th October - we’re opening a restaurant. In zone 1. On one of the most famous damned streets in the world. #openforbusiness #pie #mash #peas #scotcheggs #3monthsonly

— MYPIE (@MYPIE_LDN) 3 September 2018

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British Pie Awards Winner Turner's Pies are now available for postal delivery!

Check out this great news from Turner's Pies, who were the Supreme Champions at the British Pie Awards 2018. They are now available for postal delivery!! We look forward to placing an order soon so we can get them on our pie rankings page. Act quick if you want to enter their com-pie-tition, which closes at 6pm today!!

#piesbypost GIVEAWAY ‼️
To celebrate our new service piesbypost. com we're giving away a whole box of #AwardWinning Pies. (Anywhere in UK)

To enter simply FAV,RT & TAG a friend you MIGHT share your pies with it they are extra nice😋

Winner announced Friday 6pm. 🤞 pic.twitter.com/w2YJFqVJ6g

— Turner’s Pies (@TurnersPies) 13 September 2018

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If you have a story you think would be good to feature on the web's leading pie review site, send us an email at pierateship@yahoo.co.uk or contact us on Twitter @pierateers Follow @pierateers

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For those who missed the news, on Day Two of British Pie Week the Pierateers rummaged and pillaged the pies at Pieminister Birmingham as we hosted a Pierateer Takeover!

Pierateer Rob at the Pieminister Pie Night

You can read more about the plans we had in our preview article but from 5:30-7:30pm on Tuesday 6th March, Pierateer Rob and friends of the Pierateers enjoyed eating and rating some delicious pies!

For those who don't know, Bristol pie giant Pieminister opened up a shop in Birmingham city centre in mid-2017 and we've frequented it a number of times already. However we certainly hadn't waited until they opened a shop in Birmingham before rating one of their pies, for we have rated 19 Pieminister pies in total and one of our very first reviews over 8 years ago was from Pieminister!

Since then we've tried some of their "Pie Election" winners (when pie fans got to choose which old favourites to bring back to the menu for British Pie Week 2015) and we were even crazy enough to try their Cricket pie last year! Yes, that's right - it had actual whole insects in it!!

This year Pieminister decided to do a special offer each day of British Pie Week and it was a veggie pie-motion on the Tuesday - whereby meat free pies were only £2 when you bought a side. Lots of Pierateer Rob's friends chose a meat free pie, including their new vegan pie "Kevin" - but even a cheaper pie couldn't stop Pierateer Rob going for the meaty Moodog Pie! Here's what he thought, followed by a number of pie ratings from the guests at the Birmingham Pie Night!

The Moodog is British Beef Steak, Bacon and Brewdog 5am Red Ale (though with the recent news of a new "pink ale" from Brewdog, who knows if there will be a new "pink ale" pie in future?!) The pie was classic Pieminister, with a delicious crisp outer pastry and a well filled and meaty filling. The steak and bacon combined well and the gravy was a nice consistency - runny but not too runny! A little bigger and a bit more steak would have made this even higher rated, but in all I very much enjoyed the Moodog and hope to have another soon! (Remember, a pie - and thus a pie night - is not just for British Pie Week, as our "7 ways to survive post British Pie Week" article reminds us!!)

Pieminister “Moodog” British Beef Steak, Bacon and Brewdog 5am Red Ale Pie
Score: 6.11/7
[Colour 6, Capacity 6.25, Consistency 6.25, Condition 6.25, Chewiness 6.25, Cheapness 5.5, Content 6.25]



During the two hours Pierateer Rob chatted pies with his friends, including giving info about how to rate a pie on the 7 Cs of pie rating. This led to a number of guests completing a Pierate scoring card, the scores of which are as follows:

Moo and Blue (by Miranda) - 6.71/7 (Colour 6, Capacity 7, Consistency 7, Condition 7, Chewiness 7, Cheapness 6, Content 7)

Wild Shroom (by Aradhana) - 6.14/7 (Colour 5, Capacity 6, Consistency 6, Condition 7, Chewiness 6, Cheapness 7, Content 6)

"Kevin" Vegan (by Claire) - 5.86/7 (Colour 6, Capacity 7, Consistency 6, Condition 6, Chewiness 5, Cheapness 7, Content 4)

Wild Shroom (by Joel) - 5.86/7 (Colour 7, Capacity 6, Consistency 5, Condition 6, Chewiness 5, Cheapness 6, Content 6)

Saag Pie-neer (by Hajra) - 5.57/7 (Colour 5, Capacity 6, Consistency 5, Condition 5, Chewiness 5, Cheapness 6, Content 7)

Heidi (by Shereen) - 5/7 (Colour 4, Capacity 6, Consistency 5, Condition 5, Chewiness 4, Cheapness 6, Content 5)


Thanks to Pieminister Birmingham for hosting our Pierateer Takeover and we hope to organise another next British Pie Week! As you can see from the scores, everyone thought the pies were Pierate Recommended or better (5/7 or above) so I'm sure there will be plenty of guests again next British Pie Week!!

RAS

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The countdown to British Pie Week continues with our most exciting announcement yet! Pierate are going to rummage and pillage the pies at Pieminister Birmingham as we host a Pierateer Takeover in British Pie Week 2018!

Pierateer Rob visiting Pieminister Birmingham

Being held from 5:30-7:30pm on Tuesday 6th March, the night will be a chance for pie fans across the Midlands and friends of the Pierateers to catch up on what's been going down on the Pierate Ship, and most importantly to eat and rate some delicious pies! It's going to be a great way to kick off British Pie Week 2018 and comes just a day before we go to the 10th annual British Pie Awards to provide our live feed of all the pie action!

Pieminister Birmingham at 16 Waterloo Street

For those who don't know, Bristol pie giant Pieminister opened up a shop in Birmingham city centre in mid-2017 and we've frequented it a number of times already. However we certainly hadn't waited until they opened a shop in Birmingham before rating one of their pies, for we have rated 19 Pieminister pies in total and one of our very first reviews over 8 years ago was from Pieminister!

Since then we've tried some of their "Pie Election" winners (when pie fans got to choose which old favourites to bring back to the menu for British Pie Week 2015) and we were even crazy enough to try their Cricket pie last year! Yes, that's right - it had actual whole insects in it!!

So here's the details of the pie night and how you can get involved:

Kick off 5:30pm

Delicious pies on offer at Pieminister - we've rated 19!

We'll be arriving at the Pieminister Birmingham store at about 5:30pm, where we'll have some dedicated Pierateer Takeover tables set aside for us! (We advise you book up to avoid disappointment!)

Pick your pie!
While there are a whole host of pies to choose from on their menu, as it will be British Pie Week the shop has a special veggie pie-motion on the Tuesday - whereby meat free pies are only £2 when you buy a side. This includes their new vegan pie, called "Kevin!"

Who rate all the Pies?!
During the two hours Pierateer Rob will be around to chat pies, give you a bit of info about how to rate a pie on the 7 Cs of pie rating, as well as a brief update on what we've been up to recently! And if he can, he'll try to answer your pie-related questions (like when is a pie not a pie?!) Just look out for him in his black Pierate t-shirt and don't be afraid to come up and say hi!

And while we'd be delighted to see a few of you there on the Tuesday, if that date or time doesn't suit you then don't forget that British Pie Week lasts all week and the Pieminister restaurants up and down the country have the following fab pie-motions on, a different one each day. See the graphic below (click on it to make it bigger!) and there's more info at www.pieminister.co.uk/pieweek/





In the meantime, you can find out more about The Pierateers or about what we've been up to in previous British Pie Weeks on the world's leading pie review blog! Plus we'll soon be posting our British Pie Week #PiePledge article - with our full plans for British Pie Week - but for now why not watch our short video clip to find out how you can get involved in British Pie Week too?

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Pieminister Mince Pie Ice Cream Pie Review

Mince Pie Ice Cream Pie Review

Yes, you read that right! An ice cream pie! And not just that, it has the word “pie” in the title twice, so that’s got to be a good thing, right?!

Welcome to part two of my Christmas venture to try the new Christmas 2017 additions to the Pieminister menu. Having visited the relatively new Birmingham store on Waterloo Street last week to try their new “The Cracker” Turkey and Ham pie, I could hardly resist a pudding pie that had “pie” in the title twice, could I?! Turns out not, as before I knew it the Mince Pie Ice Cream Pie with Gingerbread biscuit and rum sauce landed on my table, beautifully decorated with a crisp golden star as a lid.

What particularly persuaded me to go for one was the fact I’d never had an ice cream pie before! Plenty of pies WITH ice cream, but not one with ice cream in it (although Pierateer TJP had tried to make a Neapolitan ice cream pie a few years back, to mixed success). With a more biscuit like pastry to this dessert pie, which was very different to the traditional flaky Pieminister pastry I have come to know and love on their savoury pies, it did take some getting used to! And the thought of having ice cream in the pie and some of the mince outside the pie was a slight quirk! However before I go on I must say I did very much enjoy the pie and my first ice cream pie adventure.


However for the pie-hard Pierate fans in the room, I am now going to have to get technical for a minute and comment about the make-up of the dessert laid in front of me. For if I am being true to our 8 year old definition of a true pie, the filling should be fully encased in pastry, which this dessert wasn’t. For one there was a star lid on a circular side/base pastry, so that immediately would mean there were gaps in full encasement. But also there was a second even more noticeable issue of the mince content of the pie spilling out of the pastry encasement onto the plate, as well as raising the height of the star lid.

Pieminister Mince Pie Ice Cream Pie Review

Therefore, as lovely as this mince pie ice cream pie tasted, it won’t get top marks on our website for lack of a full encasement, not that this would stop me or anyone else enjoying them while they are still on the menu! The capacity was decent, the ice cream very nice and the mince fruity and flavoursome. I certainly struggled to finish it following a pie for dinner too, but as a pie soldier I managed to eat it all in the end! Very filling and very nice.

The only other thing to comment on is the price, which at £5 is quite pricy for a mince pie with ice cream (even if, as mentioned, the mince and ice cream are not in the locations you’d normally expect!) While I’d happily eat another one, I’d be slightly put off by the price, considering a mince pie can be bought for about 25p each in most supermarkets!

Still, this was a beautiful and quirky creation, looks brilliant and certainly added to my festive enjoyment of Christmas at Pieminister!

Pieminister Mince Pie Ice Cream Pie
Score: 5.29/7
[Colour 6, Capacity 5, Consistency 6, Condition 5.5, Chewiness 5.5, Cheapness 3.5, Content 5.5]
RAS

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Pieminister “The Cracker” (Turkey and Ham) Pie Review

Pieminister Cracker Turkey and Ham Pie

Like London buses, it had been a while since I’d rated a new Pieminister pie (to be fair, with 17 reviews already, it is becoming trickier each time to find a new one!!) and now two have come almost at once! For following hot on the heels of my review of their new(ish) pie shop in Birmingham City Centre, where I rated their “Kate and Sidney” pie as Pierate Highly Recommended, I was invited by them to try their new festive pie – “The Cracker”.

Alongside a number of their regular festive pies, which include “Deer Santa” (a venison pie), “Mistle Moo” (a Christmassy take on their steak pie) and the “Christingle” pie (the vegetarian option of roast parsnip, cheddar, leek and chestnut), “The Cracker” is their new pie for Christmas 2017 and it did the classics well. It was a British Turkey and Ham pie, with cranberries, parsnips and sherry.


With a slightly mixed bag from Turkey pies I’d had in the past, and a reputation as a meat for being a bit dry on occasion, I eagerly awaited how the turkey and ham pie from Pieminister would rate. And I have to say I was pleasantly surprised at the moistness of the pie in general (from a nice sauce) and a quite well packed content with succulent meat pieces, considering the ingredients are 13% turkey and 5% ham. Unfortunately one of the pieces of turkey was rather large and chewy, but other than that it was very nice meat.

Pieminister Cracker Turkey and Ham Pie - Cross Section

The other thing was that I was expecting more of a noticeable hit with cranberries, especially as some turkey pies with cranberry in have been noticeably heavy with the sweet cranberry (one was very red in colour too!) but the cranberry flavour didn’t really present itself. On a personal note I wasn’t too bothered, as I don’t really like the overly sweet cranberry flavour and the parsnips provided enough of a different flavour anyway. However we do always note in our reviews if a flavour is labelled on the pie contents but not really noticeable.

The pastry colour was once again lovely and golden, particularly on top, and while the base pastry this time round seemed a little overdone than usual, I still very much enjoyed the pie and even the base pastry was still all eaten (unlike a few over baked pies I’ve had before – particularly at football grounds!!)

Overall the pie, chips and gravy meal cost £8.50, which as I said before is a little pricey for a meal of pie, mash/chips and gravy, but being a new city centre store and comparing this to other pie meals in pubs and shops in Birmingham city centre, I don’t think this is too unreasonable a price. And I’d certainly happily buy another one this Christmas season! I’ll soon review the Mince Pie Ice Cream Pie I also had on my festive visit to Pieminister!

Pieminister “The Cracker” British Turkey and Ham pie, with cranberries, parsnips and sherry
Score: 5.75/7
[Colour 6, Capacity 6.25, Consistency 6, Condition 6, Chewiness 5, Cheapness 5.5, Content 5.5]
RAS

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Pieminister “Kate and Sidney” British Beef Steak, Kidney and Craft Ale Pie Review

Pieminister Steak and Kidney Pie Review

It hasn’t escaped my attention as a pie connoisseur in England’s second city Birmingham that there has been a bit of a lack of pie shops in the city, especially following the closure of “Urban Pie” a few years back. It was therefore encouraging to see that top pie maker Pieminister – from whom we have rated sixteen pies previously, the majority of whom have been Pierate Recommended or Pierate Highly Recommended – have changed all that with a new shop opening a few months ago in the heart of the city centre.

While some of you may have noticed on Twitter that we visited early on in their first week of trading in the city a few months back, we decided to visit again more recently once they had properly settled in to their new location to get a proper reflection of the new store. Of course we weren’t disappointed, with another top rated and highly recommended pie! The store itself is decorated in standard Pieminister fashion – quite simple brick façade with neon lights. It’s great to have another pie option right in the heart of the city, just off Victoria Square at 16 Waterloo Street.



So onto the pie I had, which when I looked at the menu was becoming a struggle to find a new option we hadn’t already rated!! I went for the “Kate and Sidney” pie, which was British Beef Steak, Kidney and Craft Ale. I went for the classic meal with a super side upgrade of skin on fries, which meant my meal cost £8.50. This is a little pricey for a meal of pie, mash and gravy, but being in a new city centre store and comparing this to pie meals in pubs and shops in the city centre, I don’t think this is too unreasonable a price.

Pieminister Steak and Kidney Pie Review

As you can see from the pictures, the pie was lovely and golden on top, though certainly a lot more pale on the sides. However the sides and base were quite crisp too, alongside the golden top. The lovely Pieminister pastry one again surrounded a well filled content, with a definite focus on meaty steak chunks rather than the kidney. I was appreciative of this decent blend, as many steak and kidney pies can use the kidney as a cheap filler for a pie, but this was certainly not the case here! The balance between crisp pastry and a moist, meaty filling was delightful and I’ll definitely look to have another one soon!

Once again Pieminister have produced a Pierate Highly Recommended pie and I for one am delighted they’ve decided to sell it – alongside their other top range of pies - in the heart of England’s second city, Birmingham!

Pieminister “Kate and Sidney” British Beef Steak, Kidney and Craft Ale Pie
Score: 6.04/7
[Colour 6, Capacity 6.25, Consistency 6, Condition 6.25, Chewiness 6.25, Cheapness 5.5, Content 6]
RAS

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