Hook Norton Brewery

Good traditional brewery in rural location. There's a large well stocked shop with beer and brewery related items and souvenirs. There's a restaurant. There's a museum. And there's guided tours of the brewery itself. Beers and other items can also be bought from the shop online.

I visited The Hook Norton Brewery Visitor Centre on Saturday 23rd January 2016. The visitor centre entrance is located in the ground floor of one of the old brewery buildings just beyond the car park and just before you reach the brewery itself, I’d been here before when on a brewery visit but that was many years ago. A plaque on the wall states that it opened in 1999 for the 150th anniversary of the brewery.

It is a large rectangular room with bottled beer and merchandise all at one end along with the cash desk and at the far end is a seating area with a bar off to the LH side. This front section (merchandise) was really busy when I arrived, it looked like a brewery tour had just finished and everyone was loading up on beer to take home.

I headed straight for the bar as I wanted to enquire about beer from the micro brewery for our beer festival. The staff were exceptionally friendly and really helpful and even though I wasn’t drinking as I was driving they still poured me a very large taster of Light Out a 9.5% stout brewed at the mini kit. There was a good selection of beers with most if not all core range available plus two from the micro brewery.

If you are in the area it is well worth popping by, in fact the brewery tour is a great trip and with this visitor centre to visit after plus The Pear Tree in the village it could turn into a beery trip.

2010-07-XX. We missed the actual tour of the brewery and had to settle for a self guided tour of the breweriana upstairs and a sampling at the bar. The bartender was a charming veteran of the brewery and had some great stories. Good selection of their own beers. Worth a visit.

Located in the most beautiful building among breweries that I have seen. About 7 beers are available on draft at tap-room/shop. Mostly very nice stuff.

Lovely brewery, set in beautiful countryside. The scent of malt fills the air of the wonderful museum and the visitor centre offers free samples of the excellent fresh beers. The Pear Tree is lovely too. Well worth a detour, provided you have a willing driver such the one what was (is) my brother in law Christopher.

The brewery tour is excellent, and when it finishes is possible to taste a good selection of their excellent beers.

2010-07. Visited early on a Thursday afternoon last July, the entire upstairs of the old side building is set as a museum of breweriana and other local historical artifacts. Our little group spent a good amount of time exploring the displays before venturing back downstairs for a tasting of all their casks. The server was wonderfully friendly and kindly opened a bottle of one or two of their brews that was not on tap so that we could enjoy it. Great selection of brews, all fresh and tasty. Would recommend stopping in if you have some time in the area. (We went for lunch around the corner at the Gate Hangs High, recommended by the bartender and quite a nice pub.) (5/10/11/NA/10/15) 82%

Visited 24/9/10. Interesting, well-organised brewery tour with our guide Nick being both affable and knowledgeable. Got to sample 5 beers on draught and 3 from bottles at the hospitality bar, all in good condition. After the tour, we enjoyed some tasty pies in the Pear tree, washed down with Hooky Bitter. A great day out.

Really enjoyed the Hook Norton Brewery and bought myself a box of Old Hooky to consume during my longboat journey over my 30th B-Day. Pear Tree Inn is a nice local. Nice seating outside. Did not have a meal there, so not sure how the food is.