Their Brewing Process
Cultivating barley for beer is a challenging and thankless task.
Only the highest quality malted barley can be used and only after it has passed a series of stringent quality tests. Yet, it is a notoriously delicate crop, extremely susceptible to disease and vulnerable to weather stresses.
The brewing process is no less laborious, including a 4 week maturing process. Lagering (as this is known) is like laying down a fine wine – it allows the flavours to mature and produces a smoother, more rounded lager. The carbonation in Hawkstone is naturally produced as part of the process yielding bubbles that are smaller with a softer mouth feel. In total, it takes around 6 weeks to create Hawkstone Lager vs. an industry average of only 9 days.
The result is a unique, quality tasting lager that vindicates the extra time and effort invested: a lager that’s hard to make but easy to drink.
Their Cider making process
Never from concentrate, never pasteurised
The best cider is made by blending traditional varieties like Dabinett, Kingston black, Brown Snout and Strawberry Normans. While they take more care, and yield less fruit than more commercial varieties, their high sugar and tannin levels create a cider that’s full of flavour and character.
Using the fresh juice from apples picked from Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire, they make cider from freshly pressed juice only (never concentrate which leads to a blander flavour and is often sourced from abroad) and ferment it in oak vats for up to 6 months using champagne yeast. Finally, they avoid pasteurisation, cold filtering the cider to remove apple and yeast particles.
The Hawkstone Arms
They have their bar open at the brewery Monday – Thursday 11am – 6pm, Friday – Saturday 12-8pm & Sunday 12-6pm each and every week. Come on down and say hello over a delicious pint of Hawkstone Lager & Cider.
Come and enjoy some delicious local food to pair with your pints.
They have independant food trucks serving at The Brewery every Friday & Saturday from 2pm onwards.
Tours
Their expert tour guides will teach you all about the history of Hawkstone, how their lager is brewed and show you around the brewhouse, all supported of course by generous sampling. Tickets are £24 Per Person, with the tour lasting around 2 hours.
If you cannot find a suitable date & time, please email us at hawkstone.co
