Hook Norton Brewery Tour

[Slate Miner]

Last Friday evening Mrs Slate Miner and myself joined the local CAMARA group for a tour 'round Hooky Brewery. :

Although I've lived in North/West Oxfordshire all my life this was the first time that I've done the tour.

I'd certainly recommend it, our guide was knowledgable and clearly enthusiastic about Hooky Beer. There's a lovely old steam engine on the ground floor which apparently is the only working steam engine still in use in an English brewery (currently having its 20 year service) Their water comes from a spring directly below the brewery. If you're tall (I'm 6ft 2") then be very careful as there are lots of low celings and bits of wood/metal to bang your head on! There are also a couple of shire horses which deliver the ale to the local pubs.

Afterwards we had a light hearted quiz to see who had paid attention to what our guide was saying! Followed by a very generous session of ale sampling, we tried, Hooky, Hooky Mild, Old Hooky, Cotswold Lion, Flagship, Double Stout, and Twelve Days. :drink: All of which as you would expect were well kept and rather moreish! :whistle:

I was brought up on Hooky Bitter and it's still a great pint, one of my favourite session beers, also impressed with the Hooky Mild (only 2.8%) on the night, however best of the evening was Cotswold Lion :thumb: which is apparently a blend of 4 malts and 4 hops.

The strange thing was that although I've not done the tour before, the steam engine looked very familiar, Just wondered if my dad took me there to have a look around when I was a small lad, highly possible! :hmm:

Edit: Here's a link if anyone's interested http://www.hooky.co.uk/

 

[fermentall]

Hi SM,this is 1 i would like to do in the future but i have a voucher for The Ringwood Brewery & also 1 for the West Berkshire brewery both of which i have still to use. Brewing my own seems to hamper my days out coupled with :drink: my brews.
Thanks for the info : ken.

 

[jimp2003]

I did this tour a few weeks ago followed by the Wychwood tour the day after. Hook Norton was the best by far.

There was a true sense of history at Hook Norton and the samples afterwards were generous and all cask ales - unlike the Wychwood tour were we got a little plastic thimble to sample bottled beers :nono:

 

[Toggenburggoatman]

I went on the Hook Norton tour last year and found it fantastic. I was the only person on the tour and the tour guide was great. The other workers in the brewery were very friendly and made me feel welcome.
The tour guide even gave me some stuff to take home, such as a few bar towells and pump clips.

 

[johnnyboy1965]

Been on this tour twice, very good, very interesting , very generous with the samples (in fact theyre not samples theyre 1/3 pt tasters). Some really nice old style brewing equipment. Dray horses delivery to the local pubs (check out the days). Souviner glass.
On a sidenote....if you do decide to visit make sure you visit the Rollright Stones nearby. Its a smaller version of Stonehenge but a lot older.

 

[abeyptfc]

got a bottle of old hooky to try tonight from waitrose after reading your review, might review it here later tonight!