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The Naval & Military Club (Free House)
| Beer (sort) | Average Score (sort) | No. Samples (sort) |
|---|---|---|
| Mersea Island - Skippers |  | 1 |
| Three Acre - Christmas Old Ale | | 1 |
| Leigh on Sea - Bawley Bitter |  | 1 |
| Black Box - Landing Gear | | 1 |
| Georges - Wickedy Witch | | 1 |
| Colchester - 16/884 Porter | | 1 |
| Chelmsford (also branded as Blueshack) - Vintage Ale 1837 X Mild | | 1 |
| Black Country - Fireside Bitter | | 1 |
| Mersea Island - Island Gold | | 1 |
| Colchester - Sweeney Todd | | 1 |
Visits Details
| Beer | ABV | Score | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mersea Island - Skippers | 4.80 | | 3rd beer of the visit: Very good head and lacing and lasting on this Essex dark amber coloured best bitter from south of Colchester. A dry but hedgerow-fruited first hit. A dry bitterness rising and a red berry or two tap dancing on my old palate alongside a Cara malt, a type of caramel malt, joined by a host of roasted malts. A very pleasant sailing downwards with a moreishly dry bitter note keeping me entertained on its final passage. |
| Three Acre - Christmas Old Ale | 5.60 | | 9th beer of the visit: This old ale from south-east of Uckfield, and south of Blackboys, smiled with a very good head and lacing and lasting and having arrived on Santa's Dray. A dry malty first hit. A fruity spiciness rising with a piney flavouring in salute to the Christmas tree. A red berry or two jumping in seasonal joy for the season to be jolly and a chestnut-infused dryness on its winter sleigh downwards. |
| Black Country - Fireside Bitter | 5.00 | | 8th beer of the visit: Brewed on the site of the Old Bull's Head since 1834 in Lower Gornal, north-west of Dudley and Birmingham in the West Midlands, this amber coloured bitter came with good head and lacing and almost lasting. A dry hoppy first hit. A sweetened bitterness rising. A dry hoppy note winning over before its final paddle downwards. |
| Mersea Island - Island Gold | 4.50 | | 2nd beer of the visit: Very good head and lacing and lasting on this Essex golden ale from south of Colchester. A fruity first bite. A dry hoppiness rising, crafted using lager malt and a blend of selected hops. A fruity sweetness lingering before sailing out. |
| Colchester - Sweeney Todd | 4.20 | | 4th beer of the visit: Very good head and lacing and lasting on this Essex-brewed bitter from north-west of Colchester at Wakes Colne. A very malty biscuity first hit. A red-fruited hoppy bitterness rising with a subtle dry spiciness. Care of its crystal rye, a liquorice toffee flavouring and used sparingly as here for a dark beer. A fragrant hoppy bitterness paddling out. |
| Leigh on Sea - Bawley Bitter | 3.40 | | 10th beer of the visit: Fresh on was this bitter just before ordering it and so a job for the festival volunteer to find as it took a good few days to settle. Came with a fine head and lacing and lasting. This Leigh on Sea-based Essex bitter presented a dry bitter first bite. Its Bramling Cross and Brewer’s Gold hops lending it a mildly hoppy bitterness. A spicy hedgerow fruitiness erupting along with a hint of blackcurrant flavouring. A hoppy bitterness drifting out with a moreish dryness hanging on to the end. The bitter's name is in homage to the traditional small fishing boats used in the Thames Estuary to bring back cockles and shrimps. |
| Black Box - Landing Gear | 3.80 | | 1st beer of the visit: Good head and lacing and lasting on this local bitter brewed in Aviation Way, just outside Southend Airport, and with the brewery launched in early 2022. A dry bitter first bite. A very bitter hoppiness rising. A good dry hoppy note dancing out off the club's dance floor before its final descent downwards. |
| Georges - Wickedy Witch | 3.60 | | 5th beer of the visit: Very good head and lacing on this bitter from Great Wakering, north-east of Shoeburyness, and lasting. A dry malty first hit. A fruity bitterness rising aided by its Pilgrim hops. Sadly, no eye of newt was added! A bitter note or two descending on the witch's broom on the final descent with a hint of caramel malt in on the mix. Eddie Gadd, the previous owner of George's kit, came up from his Ramsgate Brewery for George’s pilot brew on 11th May 2011. |
| Colchester - 16/884 Porter | 6.00 | | 6th beer of the visit: this Essex-brewed porter, from north-west of Colchester at Wakes Colne, presented good head and lacing and almost lasting. A moreishly hoppy first hit aided by its Kent Goldings and Fuggles. A fruity sweetness rising and a caramelised maltiness sailing out. |
| Chelmsford (also branded as Blueshack) - Vintage Ale 1837 X Mild | 6.50 | | 7th beer of the visit: This collaboration with TO OL from Denmark came lightly coloured for a mild. Good head and lacing and lasting on this mild from south-east of Chelmsford. A sweetened hoppy first hit. A marmalade-infused hoppiness rising from its jar, no doubt attractive to Paddington Bear, and a fruited spicy note or two sailing out. It has been brewed to a 1837 recipe using barley that has been revived by UK Maltsters which began in 1827 working with the UK malting industry. According to the company, there were about one thousand eight hundred member companies in 1827, and today there are eleven but still representing more than 98% of the UK malting industry, buying around 2 million tonnes of choice UK malting barley so as to make about 1.6 million tonnes of malt. |
About The Naval & Military Club
Summary of Beer Scores
| Total | |
|---|---|
 | - |
| 2 |
| 8 |
 | - |
 | - |
The pub is found in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, SS1 1DU.
The Naval and Military Club at 20 Royal Terrace was founded in 1920 to provide a respite environment for veterans of the First World War and is now open to all visitors. Albert George, then the Duke of York, opened the Regency building clubhouse, before becoming King George VI, father of the late Queen Elizabeth II. The wood-panelled club is the second oldest club in Southend. The oldest is Southend Rugby Football Club (RFC) dating back to 1870 and predating by a year the Rugby Football Union itself. The Naval and Military Club has a selection of military memorabilia adorning the walls. Upstairs in the Para room, are two trophies from the Falklands campaign: a captured Argentinean flag and the joystick from the Argentinian combat plane, Pucará. The club offers two bars, lunches, a large patio area and a veranda with views over the Thames Estuary. Three cask ales are available from a different local independent brewery each month. The idea of a club came about in 1918 to preserve the close camaraderie of combat, in the immediate aftermath of the First World War, and from a group of local veterans of the South African campaign, where the Essex Regiment had served. They wished to preserve the bond but over a bar rather than in a slit-trench - a narrow, relatively shallow defensive excavation in the ground designed to provide shelter for one or two soldiers from bomb and shell fragments and enemy fire. The club is rare among ex-service clubs in that it is completely self-governing and self-supporting and this dates back to the birth of the club. Among the regulars of the club over the years has been "John the Milkman", taken prisoner during the last engagement in 1942 at Tobruk, a port city located on the eastern Mediterranean coast of Libya near the border with Egypt; "Regimental Phil", one of the survivors of Colditz; and "Young Nobby" who, according to a fellow veteran, "spent the entire war in muddy ditches defusing bombs."
We have visited this pub once, seen 10 different beers and tried them all.
Postcode: SS1 1DU