I’ll be honest — I went into Hawkstone Lager expecting it to be more about Jeremy Clarkson than the beer itself.
Celebrity-backed drinks can go one of two ways. Either they are genuinely good, or they are just clever branding with an average pint hiding behind the name.
So, I opened a bottle of Hawkstone Lager to find out whether it deserves the attention.
First Impressions
Hawkstone Lager looks the part straight away. It pours a clear golden colour with a decent white head and a clean, fresh look in the glass.
It does not look thin or watery. There is a bit more body to it than your average supermarket lager, which gives it a more premium feel before you even taste it.
Hawkstone describes the beer as bold and balanced, with light citrus, crisp bitterness and a malty backbone. It is listed at 4.8% ABV.
The Taste
The first sip is crisp, smooth and refreshing.
You get a clean lager bite at the front, followed by a slight citrus note and then a gentle malt sweetness. It is not too hoppy, not too heavy, and not trying too hard to be a craft beer.
That is probably its biggest strength.
It still tastes like a proper lager, but with more character than the usual mass-produced bottles you find everywhere. There is a subtle bitterness on the finish, but it does not hang around too long.
Is It Easy to Drink?
Yes — very.
This is the sort of lager you could drink in a pub garden, with food, or while watching football. It has enough flavour to feel like a step up, but it is not so complicated that you need to sit there analysing every mouthful.
It is smooth, clean and very drinkable.
The Clarkson Factor
Of course, a lot of people will buy Hawkstone because of Jeremy Clarkson and Clarkson’s Farm.
Hawkstone says the brand was launched in 2021 by Jeremy Clarkson and the Cotswold Brew Co. The beer is strongly linked to British farming, and Hawkstone has also promoted it as being made with farm-grown ingredients.
That story gives the beer a bit more personality. It feels less like a faceless lager and more like something with a proper British farming connection behind it.
What Other Drinkers Think
Hawkstone Lager has built a strong following online. On Untappd, it is listed as a pale lager with a rating of 3.6 out of 5 from more than 18,000 ratings.
That feels about right to me. It is not a wild craft beer that will blow your head off, but it is a solid, reliable, good-quality lager.
Best Served With
I’d drink Hawkstone Lager with:
Fish and chips
A burger
A Sunday barbecue
Steak pie
A ploughman’s
Pub snacks
A curry
It is especially good with salty food because the crisp finish cuts through nicely.
Final Verdict
Hawkstone Lager is not just hype.
Yes, the Clarkson name helps sell it, but the beer itself stands up. It is clean, crisp, smooth and easy to drink, with just enough malt and citrus to make it interesting.
Would I drink it again? Yes.
Would I choose it over a standard mass-market lager? Definitely.
Pub Social Rating
4 out of 5 pints
