Quantock Brewery Alcohol-Free Beers

Quantock Brewery has brewed in Somerset since 2007, and now has a brewery and taproom at Bishops Lydeard, beneath the Quantock Hills. Its alcohol-free beer is QuAF, a 0.5% pale ale with Nelson Sauvin hops, sold through online shops rather than its own.

Who are Quantock?

Quantock Brewery is “nestled at the base of the hills after which it is named”, the Quantock Hills, as the Slice Somerset podcast put it in 2023. Rob Rainey, a former nuclear engineer, and Cheryl Ford started it in Wellington, Somerset, in December 2007, Visit Somerset and the Wellington Weekly News reported; Rainey began with a home-brew kit “from Boots” and then built his own, Visit Somerset says.

In 2013 it raised £120,000 on Crowdcube against a £100,000 target, from 129 investors, Startups.co.uk reported; “This will help us to expand the brewing capacity and our sales and marketing territory,” Rainey said. It moved to Bishops Lydeard in June 2015, opened a shop that August and a taproom in May 2016, according to Visit Somerset.

It has been through administration twice. Quantock Brewery Ltd went into administration in 2017, Wellington Today reported, and Somerset Ales bought it, The Grocer says; it was later rescued from administration again by the newly formed Quantock Ales Ltd, The Grocer reported. Companies House shows that company was set up on 31 January 2022.

Who owns Quantock?

Companies House lists Urquhart Brothers Ltd, a holding company in Buckie, as holding 75% or more of Quantock Ales Ltd’s shares and votes; Stuart and Richard Urquhart are the people with significant control of Urquhart Brothers. On 28 July 2026 three directors resigned and two new directors, Patrick Daly and Marc Griffiths, were appointed; they are now its only directors. A floating charge in favour of Urquhart Brothers Ltd was registered the same day. Companies House still lists Urquhart Brothers Ltd as the owner, and we found no report of a sale (checked 31 October 2026). No drinks group is involved, so we list it as independent.

Quantock’s website says the company is registered in England and Wales, with its registered office at the brewery; Companies House has it as a Scottish company with its registered office in Buckie.

What Quantock brews

Its current range is QPA, a 4% pale ale with Citra and Mosaic hops, Radicle, a 4.5% hazy session IPA, Negative Space, a 4.5% coffee cold-brew sour, and Elsewhere, a 5.1% Australian pale. “QPA is now our most popular beer”, the brewery says, and “our most decorated beer”. Older beers such as Wills Neck, Titanium and Sunraker, named on the podcast in 2023, aren’t in its shop now. Wills Neck, a 4.2% golden ale, is named after the highest point in the Quantock Hills, SIBA says.

SIBA, the Society of Independent Brewers, confirms several awards on its own site: Wills Neck was Overall Champion at its South West competition in 2014; Titanium, a 5.1% West Coast IPA, was Overall Champion cask beer at its national awards in 2020; and in 2022 We’re Gonna Need A Bigger Boat, a 6.3% IPA, was the South West’s Overall Champion keg beer, with bronzes for QPA, Titanium and Lager Than Life. Brewer James Higgins said that name “comes from the fact we really needed a bigger brewery to keep up with demand”. Quantock also says QPA and Titanium both won gold at SIBA’s national awards in 2019, and lists medals from the International Beer Challenge and the World Beer Awards; we haven’t matched those to the results. Quantock isn’t among SIBA’s South West winners for 2024 or 2025, and we found no awards for its alcohol-free beer.

Visiting the taproom

“Our bar sits in the heart of the brewery, pouring up to 18 keg & cask lines metres from where they’re brewed,” Quantock says. It opens Tuesday to Sunday and is closed on Mondays, with street food from Thursday to Saturday, bookable brewery tours and private hire. Dogs are welcome on leads, children with adults, and it’s wheelchair accessible, it says. It sells to pubs, bars and bottle shops through Sellar, with local and nationwide delivery.

Quantock’s alcohol-free beer

QuAF is a 0.5% pale ale in 440ml cans with Nelson Sauvin Cryo hops, which bring “distinctive notes of white grape and gooseberry alongside fresh citrus”, The Alcohol Free Co says. Quantock has no page for it, and it isn’t in the brewery’s own shop or on its trade page, so what we know comes from the shops. The Alcohol Free Co says it’s “Brewed on a light pale ale base using a specialist low alcohol yeast”; Wise Bartender says “a unique low-alcohol yeast strain”. Untappd files it as an IPA, at 25 IBU. No brewer or shop publishes its ingredients, allergens or calories that we could find, and we found no launch date. The Alcohol Free Co and Wise Bartender call it vegan-friendly; Quantock doesn’t say.

How QuAF compares

Alcohol-free pale ales from UK breweries in our directory. Calories per 100ml, as on each beer’s page (some are our sums from a per-can figure); checked 31 October 2026. Scores are Unhopped ratings out of 10.

The Quantock beer in our directory

Checked 31 October 2026. Quantock doesn’t publish calories for QuAF. Scores are Unhopped ratings out of 10.

Where to buy QuAF

On 29 October 2026 The Alcohol Free Co and Dry Drinker each had six for £22.04, and Wise Bartender single cans at £3.50; those are affiliate links. For more, see our guide to the best alcohol-free pale ales.

Facts checked against Quantock’s own website, Companies House, SIBA, Visit Somerset, the Wellington Weekly News, Wellington Today, The Grocer, Startups.co.uk, The Slice Somerset, Untappd, The Alcohol Free Co, Dry Drinker and Wise Bartender, 31 October 2026.