Brewhouse & Kitchen, Dorchester

Official site of Brewhouse & Kitchen - www.brewhouseandkitchen.com

Official site of Brewhouse & Kitchen - www.brewhouseandkitchen.com

Some serious money has been spent here,converting and extending the Dorchester South stationmasters house.To the right of the entrance are the brewing coppers and vessels,while ahead is a long bar stetching along a back wall.The furniture is mixed,some high tables,some modern benches some comfy chairs with much exposed brickwork it is quite classy.To one end of the bar there is a large barn shaped extension with a vaulted roof and a large raised central fireplace with an extractor chimney running vertically to the roof top.You can sit on stools around the perimeter of this area,which must be warming in the winter but not functional on my June afternoon visit.The rest of the furniture in this room was mainly dining tables but there were a few sofas to the side.An attractive garden is laid outside away from the traffic. There are two ranks of four handpumps offering beer brewed on the premises which on my trip meant Judge Jeffrys (£3.75 and watery),Stationmasters (3.2%),Nine Stones,90th Birthday Celebration ,Luubeck,Cerne Abbas and Massachusetts Bay with one clip reversed. Menus were on every table but I didnt sample the wares,there was funky muzak and a few hipsters floating around earnestly discussing beer styles.It's a fun place to visit but I do worry about the quality of the real ale produced here,mine tasted rather like home brew.

This splendid Victorian house was once the station master's residence, and it has since been both offices of the old Eldridge Pope brewery (now ploughed under the adjacent Brewery Square complex) and The Station Hotel. The inside is bright and airy and has thus lost nearly all of the building's historic charm. Tiled floors and bright paint abound, and the presence of the bright copper brewing plant does little to make it homely. There is a mix of seating ranging from Venus flytrap-like armchairs to hard wooden stools. The kitchen bit is clearly the money spinner, as the beer prices are not high. The food is expensive, but portions are not bad and it was well cooked. The staff were a little too attentive but friendly enough. There were five or six home brewed beers on draft plus at least one cider. I tried Crickmay, their best bitter, which was quite hoppy but lacked any real body, the Cerne Abbas Giant, quite zesty and refreshing, the Station Master which was a bit dull and Pumpkinstein, a pumpkin and cinnamon flavoured beer which was an interesting experiment but not something I would drink on a regular basis. It all felt a bit artificial, but it's fine for a boozy lunch and I would include in a crawl.

After a refurb the Station has now re-opened as The Brewhouse and Kitchen