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Disappointment of the week with Tris39
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Detail Pages
The Dog, Burton On Trent Town, Burton on Trent
Burton on Trent
DE14 3QZ
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 7 of 10) see review guidelines
Blue Scrumpy left this review about The Dog
Black Country Ales pub in the town centre that surprisingly was the first pub I found open in the town when walking from the station on a Tuesday afternoon. I received a warm welcome from the barman.
The interior is very similar to other BCA pubs I have been in. It is carpeted and nicely decorated, giving it a really comfortable feel. Seating can be found on either side of the central bar.
The beer and cider range is excellent. The choice can be viewed on a TV screen to the right-hand side of the bar. This was the best beer and cider range I found in Burton. Although neither of the beers I had were particularly good quality, which suggests that they're trying to stock too many.
Black Country Ales beers were Fireside, Pig on the Wall & BFG. Guests were 4T's Mango Fever, Salopian Nick of Time, Kinver Edge, Oakham Inferno, Bewdley William Mucklow's Dark Mild, Muirhouse Malibrew & Lenton Lane Cherry & Vanilla Twist & Stout. Ciders were Broadoak Twisted Lime Cider & Lilley's Strawberry Cider & Bee Sting Perry. Craft beers were all from Salt - Jute, Loom & Huckaback.
There weren't too many customers inn, but talk soon turned to the big local news story about a 35-year-old woman wandering around the town smashing windows with an axe. Amongst the victims was a kebab shop, an Indian restaurant, a cinema and the leisure centre. I got the impression that the Dog had also been targeted, with the barman confirming that he'd already had the window(s) fixed. Either way, the woman was apparently apprehended by the police directly outside the police station!
With better beer quality, this could be the best pub in town. Either way, I was still impressed with this pub.
On 29th September 2023
- rating: 7
[User has posted 2452 recommendations about 2451 pubs]
Pub SignMan left this review about The Dog
This is a popular Black Country Ales pub located at one end of the main town square. The pub has a single room layout with the bar opposite the entrance, carpeting throughout and seating around the rest of the perimeter. The bar has a pretty amazing counter with some intricately worked dark wood panels, matched by similar woodworking on the bar back, where a large pub mirror acts as a prominent centrepiece. The room boasts some highly decorative, low ceramic wall panels topped with modern floral wallpaper to surprisingly great effect, and to this has been added plenty of black and white photos of the town, many showing images of the brewing industry. There’s also a TV screen or two detailing the full beer range, which is pretty handy considering the scope of the draught products available. Smartly upholstered banquettes skirt the perimeter with matching chairs in support, broken only by the presence of a lit fireplace on the far right-hand side of the room. There was a good Friday afternoon crowd in when I paid my visit, ensuring a nice, buzzy ambiance in contrast to other pubs around town that I visited in the afternoon.
A handsome row of handpulls offers no less than ten cask ales and three or four real ciders – too many for me to make a note of, although I did record that the beer I plumped for was Beartown Polar, which came in at a reasonable £1.90 for a half. The barman was pretty friendly, and the locals were happy to engage newcomers, making it feel like a very welcoming place.
I really liked this one, which seemed to be a popular choice among Burton’s real ale drinking community, thanks in no small part, I suspect, to by far the widest selection of ales you’re likely to find in town. Thankfully, quality didn’t appear to have been compromised by this degree of quantity, which marks this out as a must do pub for anyone drinking their way around Burton.
On 7th June 2023
- rating: 8
[User has posted 3114 recommendations about 3114 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about The Dog
This pub has a bold, symmetrical Tudorbethan facade that just invites a visit (especially when you get close enough to see the Black Country Ales signage). The interior has been given the expected traditional makeover, although it left me feeling rather cold in this instance. However, the diverse choice of 11 real ales - including an excellent Jar porter from Flagship (£1.90, half) - and three ciders on handpump couldn't be faulted.
On 1st December 2022
- rating: 7
[User has posted 8117 recommendations about 8117 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Will Larter left this review about The Dog
Black Country Ales usually get a good press, and looking at my review below (from March 2020) I was still in that camp two years ago. When pubs reopened after the lengthy lockdown in 2021, many were cautious about resuming their former business model, gradually building up the number of beers on the bar as restrictions were lifted and people gained confidence, which made sense. I've been to a few Black Country Ales pubs since April last year and I would say they are stocking too many beers and they are not checking the quality, relying instead on their customers to tell them when a beer is off. Maybe this is why almost everyone in the Dog was on lager or spirits at the time of my visit. To be fair, I'd just missed a slew of Pubs Galore crawlers, but their positive reviews suggest that they didn't go for the same beer as I did. My half of Slaters 1 Hop wasn't off, it was just a bit tired and flabby; and believe me I know tired and flabby as I see it in the bathroom mirror every morning. (My next pub was the Olde Royal Oak, which had half the number of beers compared with the Dog, and my beer was so good I tried another, which was just as good.)
Date of visit: 14th October 2022
On 28th November 2022
- rating: 5
[User has posted 3740 recommendations about 3477 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Steve of N21 left this review about The Dog
There are some very good remaining traditional Inns in Burton but a fair few (The Elms, the Burton Bridge Inn, The Coopers Tavern for example) tend to be on the outskirts of town, but the Dog is ideally centrally placed on Lichfield Street and makes a good double with the Old Royal Oak, which is nowadays also well worth a visit for its ales.
Owned by Black Country Ales since 2015 I believe who took it over and gave it a significant makeover. Who cares if it’s a bit contrived, its all very traditional and comfortable and a great place to sit and enjoy a pint and I will certainly forgive them as it comes with a very impressive ale range on offer.
The bar supports 14 hand pumps along its length, which for our visit were dispensing 12 ales and 2 Ciders.
For our visit Black Country Ales Pig on the Wall, Fireside and BFG were on which no doubt are permanent regulars and then there were guests of Marston's Pedigree, Flagship Jar Porter, Little Eaton Brewery Old Mill Plum Stout, Slaters Premium Best Bitter and 1 Hop, Coach House Posthorn Premium Pale Ale, and Salopian Hiding in Plain Sight, which was literally hiding on the lone pump the other side of the bar pillar to the rest of the pumps. Not sure if that was intentional or just an amusing quirk of positioning. I went for the Little Eaton Stout and it was on fine form.
Was being well utilised and quite lively on this particular late Friday lunchtime and I can see why. I also am adverse to babies in pubs but was prepared to forgive as it was lunchtime and you can’t really blame the pub for the lack of parenting skills of its owners.
On 30th October 2022
- rating: 8
[User has posted 2110 recommendations about 1992 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Tris C left this review about The Dog
I too thought that this brewers’ Tudor-style pub had a rather contrived interior, with a richly patterned carpet, ornate carved bar front, panelled ceiling and studded vinyl banquettes to the periphery, the whole lot seemingly dating from a radical makeover from 2015.
It’s now owned by Black Country Ales, the website mentioning that there were 14 pumps, me opting for a half of Little Eaton’s Oatmeal Stout which was good. What wasn’t advertised was the incessantly screaming baby which did it for me, so I went outside for a fag.
On 17th October 2022
- rating: 6
[User has posted 1985 recommendations about 1951 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Graham Coombs left this review about The Dog
As described below, this is a Black Country Ales pub done up in their version of Victorian decor, which is sort of posh drawing room. The expected good selection of ales and ciders did not disappoint.
On 16th October 2022
- rating: 8
[User has posted 3339 recommendations about 3276 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Moby Duck left this review about The Dog
Traditional looking town pub, fully carpeted out along with some plush upholstery made this pub a little too smart and contrived for my taste. Plenty of beers were on offer, the sign outside boasted 14 real ales but three of these were real Ciders, but of course 11 beers is more than enough and I chose Black Country BFG. There's nothing wrong with this pub at all but I prefer a more earthy boozer.
On 16th October 2022
- rating: 6
[User has posted 1872 recommendations about 1845 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Bucking Fastard left this review about The Dog
Black Country Ales have done a great job with this pub,it's very much in line with their other chain boozers.The interior has been updated but retains a traditional feel,there are different sections all the way around a centrally placed servery.To the right,a snug and a very good darts throw,at the front a series of bench seats with more seating on the left side.The A board outside was particularly welcoming for one PuG crawler !
Loads of handpumps along the length of the bar with BCA Pig on the Wall, Fireside and BFG no doubt regulars leaving guests on my trip of Slaters Premium and 1 Hop,Coach House Posthorn Premium,Flagship Jar,Little Eaton Old Mill Stout,Marston's Pedigree and Salopian Hiding in Plain Sight (NBSS 3.5).There were also two real handpumped ciders from Rosie Pig and Snails Bank.
That's a very decent and interesting ale line up ,so it's a must visit and I will be back for a much long session next time.Only fly in the ointment was a couple of young kids with their parents in an obvious drinking boozer,but it didn't affect my enjoyment.
On 15th October 2022
- rating: 8
[User has posted 2727 recommendations about 2727 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Will Larter left this review about The Dog
This was not my first visit here; my first attempted visit was in 2013 when I decided not to enter when seeing a solitary Greene King IPA hand pump through the window. A couple of years later it was bought by Black Country Ales and taken to the other extreme, of numerous hand pumps offering a plethora of beers. I've been in once or twice under the new regime, and my latest visit was towards the end of a day's crawl around Burton, so my notes were a little sketchy. I count 11 hand pumps in my photo, with three BCA beers, plus two from Blue Monkey, two "locals" (Bass and Worthington White Shield) and four others (including Salopian and Navigation). I enjoyed my half of White Shield, I think only the third time I've come across this beer on draught. It has become normal in some circles to criticise pubs for having too many beers, partly because it puts pressure on competitors to have more beers on than their business can sustain, with resulting loss of quality and diminishing confidence in real ale. I have only ever been served one bad beer in a BCA pub (one that had recently reopened in Stourbridge, the Seven Stars), so I don't have a personal gripe about this. The fact that they have been using this model for several years now and doing very well suggests that they are mostly getting it right.
On 15th March 2020
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3740 recommendations about 3477 pubs]