Firstly congratulations on winning Burton & South Derbyshire CAMRA Pub of the Year for the third consecutive year! How does it feel?
“It’s fantastic to win it for the third time in a row,” says John McLaughlin, Landlord of The Dog on Lichfield Street, Burton upon Trent. “It makes me really proud to have been judged the best pub in such a famous brewing town filled with other great pubs.”
John took over The Dog in 2015 and has since offered over 2,200 different guest ales, which works out at about ten a week. Along with their core range of Black Country Ales and locally produced Bass, there are regular Tap Take Overs from innovative breweries such as Wild Beer, Thornbridge, Tiny Rebel and Siren.
“We can only strive to do our best and if people enjoy what we do and the selection we give then that’s amazing.”
Is there a secret to running The Dog?
“We don’t have a secret as such. We just strive to do the best we can and to give our customers a warm welcome, with a great selection of beers, a tasty cob and some great events throughout the year,” says John. “And of course the free dog treats on the bar always helps get the four legged votes,” he laughs.
To celebrate the CAMRA presentation, John coincided it with his latest Tap Taker, this by Northern Monk from Leeds. A visit to their website reveals a brewer putting a twist on traditional styles; mocha porter, ice cream pale, ice cream porter, IPA, DIPA, a TIPA called Glory and a 12% Imperial Stout simply named Death. Not your traditional CAMRA fare perhaps?
“They are very selective with their cask beers but we are lucky enough to have a great working relationship with the brewery so they have casked us some beers especially”
To toast his success there were the likes of New World, Henderson’s Relish, Eternal and Striding Edge which seemed to go down very well despite it’s rather light 2.8%, as well as an array of Craft Keg.
After the presentation by CAMRA’s Chairman Mike Gibson, John gave a heartful speech, his face a massive cheesy grin. After thanking his staff and customers John added.
“I’d like to say a massive thank you to our local CAMRA,” he gushed “it is a huge privilege to be voted the best pub especially for the third year in a row.”
John has promised not to let his hat trick go to his head, although he already has his eye on 2020’s prize.
“We want to get four years, five years, we wanna get all the years! Obviously let other people have a go now and again. It is a massive honour!”
@TheDogBurton