Hook Norton Brewery

Why it matters

The most complete surviving example of a nineteenth-century gravity-fed tower brewery in Britain, where the building itself is the process: grain goes in at the top and beer comes out at the bottom.

Details

Reference beers

• Hook Norton Old Hooky4.6% ABV

  A strong Oxfordshire bitter from a Victorian tower brewery still partly driven by its original steam engine.

BeerHQ carries only the products that anchor something. This is not the brewery’s full range.

Styles it is associated with

• Best bitter — A step up from ordinary bitter in strength and depth, with more malt body while staying firmly sessionable.
• Ordinary bitter — The everyday British cask ale: low in strength, gently bitter, and built to be drunk in pints over a whole evening.

Traditions

• British cask ale — Beer that completes its fermentation in the container it is served from and is dispensed without added gas, at cellar rather than fridge temperature.