Hawkstone Alcohol-Free Beers

Hawkstone is the beer brand, launched in 2021, of The Cotswold Brewing Company in Bourton-on-the-Water, Gloucestershire. Its alcohol-free beer in the main shop is Hawkstone Zero, a 0.5% lager launched in January 2026; it also lists a 0.3% Spa Lager for the trade.

Who are Hawkstone?

Rick and Emma Keene set up The Cotswold Brewing Company. Companies House dates the company to 6 October 2004, and Beer Today also gave 2004 in 2024; Punchline Gloucester gave 2005 in 2021.

Hawkstone Lager went on sale on Black Friday, 26 November 2021, at the Diddly Squat farm shop and on Hawkstone’s website, SoGlos reported (a 2022 Craft Drink article says it launched “in March”). On 3 May 2022 Craft Drink reported that the move from the Cotswold Brew Co name to Hawkstone would complete “during the first two weeks of May”, with the Keenes staying “at the helm of the brewery”.

In 2021 Clarkson and Johnny Hornby bought “a significant stake”, Beer Today reported in 2024, adding that Richard Keene remains a shareholder and that Emma Keene has left the business. Companies House now lists Jeremy Clarkson and Jonathan Hornby as the people with significant control, each with between a quarter and a half of the shares and votes. The Keenes resigned as directors in May 2024, though Hawkstone’s homepage still names Rick Keene as its Master Brewer. No drinks group is listed as an owner at Companies House, so we list Hawkstone as independent.

The farm, the barley and the brewing

“We plant the barley, cajole it, and protect it from too much rain and sun,” Hawkstone says. City AM reported in 2024 that the lager uses ingredients grown at Diddly Squat Farm, Chipping Norton, and Punchline Gloucester reported the same of its barley in 2021. The name comes from the Hawkstone, a Neolithic standing stone near the farm, Punchline reported.

Of its lager, Hawkstone says: “We call this lagering – like laying down a fine wine – it matures the flavours and produces a smoother, more rounded lager.” Punchline described a 4-week maturing stage and “around 6 weeks to create Hawkstone Lager versus an industry average of only nine days”, and SoGlos reported that the lager is naturally carbonated, for “a softer mouth feel”.

The Zero label gives the maker’s address as Hawkstone Brewery, College Farm, Stow Road, Bourton-on-the-Water, which is also the registered office. But Hawkstone’s own video page about its lager says “we’ve teamed up with our mates at C&C (also master craftsmen) to help us make even more for you”. It doesn’t say who C&C is, where that beer is made or which beers are involved, and we found no press report of it, so we can’t say all Hawkstone beer is brewed at College Farm.

In March 2026 Hawkstone set out a plan: “We have made a £2.7m commitment to use 100% British hops by 2028 in all our brews”, which it says “will mean a 15% increase in the entire British hop farming acreage”. Retail Times reported a target of March 2028 and a limited pale ale, Nectar, made with British hops only (5.6%, the brand says). It’s a pledge, not yet met.

What Hawkstone brews

Its beer range is Premium Lager, 4.8% (“The original Hawkstone Lager”), Session Lager, 4.0%, IPA, 4.8%, 3.8 Pils, Black, 4.2%, the limited Wildthing, 4.6%, St.Rawberry, 4.3%, and Zero, 0.5%. It also sells cider, gin and vodka, and its trade site says limited editions come out quarterly.

Hawkstone says it won World Beer Awards golds for Premium and IPA in 2024, and in 2025 a gold for IPA, silvers for Session Lager and Black and a bronze for Premium, plus World Cider Awards golds for two ciders. Beer Today repeated the Premium Lager claim, but we couldn’t check the organisers’ results, so these are Hawkstone’s claims, not independently confirmed. We found no awards for Zero or Spa Lager.

How big is Hawkstone?

In 2024 it ranked 24th in the Sunday Times list of the 100 fastest-growing British companies, with sales of £7.8m, up 143%, City AM and Beer Today reported. In June 2026 Punchline Gloucester put it 24th on the 2026 list, with revenue of £44.9m against £21.3m the year before, “a 128% average annual sales growth over the last three years”, and 11 staff added in a year.

Waitrose was its first national supermarket, in more than 300 stores, in 2024, Beer Today reported, and Hawkstone says it’s now also in Central Co-op, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons. Marston’s put Premium Lager on tap in 105 pubs, The Drinks Business reported in December 2024.

Hawkstone’s alcohol-free beers

Hawkstone Zero went on sale on 1 January 2026, online and at The Farmer’s Dog pub, at £25 for 12 bottles, What’s The Jam reported. Hawkstone says Zero takes after its Premium: “a smooth golden lager with well-balanced bitterness and sweetness, a pronounced hop character, and aromas of citrus and grain”. It’s 0.5%, in 330ml bottles.

Hawkstone doesn’t publish the ingredients, but the label, as printed by Waitrose and Morrisons, lists water, malted barley, sucrose, hops, hop extract and natural flavouring, and gives 13 kcal and 0.4g of sugars per 100ml: about 43 kcal a bottle (our sum). The Alcohol Free Co, Dry Drinker and Laithwaites list it as vegan; Hawkstone doesn’t say. Nobody we found says how the alcohol is kept to 0.5%, and we found no launch statement from Hawkstone. Wise Bartender lists it as 0.0%, but Hawkstone, the label, The Alcohol Free Co, Dry Drinker, Waitrose and Morrisons say 0.5%, and Laithwaites gives 0.5% in its product details though its description calls it a “0.0% lager”.

Hawkstone’s trade range lists one low-alcohol beer, Spa Lager, 0.3%, in 330ml cans, which the wholesaler LWC and the Burford Garden Company also list. It wasn’t in Hawkstone’s consumer beer range on 29 October, we didn’t find when it launched, and it isn’t in our directory.

How Hawkstone Zero compares

Alcohol-free lagers from UK brewers in our directory. Calories as published; checked 31 October 2026. Scores are Unhopped ratings out of 10.

The Hawkstone beer in our directory

Checked October 2026. Calories are from the label. Scores are Unhopped ratings out of 10.

Where to buy Hawkstone Zero

On 29 October 2026 Wise Bartender had single bottles at £3.70, The Alcohol Free Co six for £25.60 and Dry Drinker six for £26.11; those are affiliate links. Waitrose and Morrisons were cheaper, at £7.25 and £7 for four bottles, and Hawkstone’s own shop sells cases of 12 for £25. Hawkstone says its beers are in Sainsbury’s and Central Co-op too, but we didn’t find Zero at Sainsbury’s. More in our guide to alcohol-free beer in UK supermarkets.

Facts checked against Hawkstone’s own and trade websites, Companies House, City AM, Beer Today, Punchline Gloucester, SoGlos, Craft Drink, Retail Times, The Drinks Business, What’s The Jam, LWC, the Burford Garden Company, Laithwaites, Waitrose, Morrisons, The Alcohol Free Co, Dry Drinker and Wise Bartender, 31 October 2026.