A cornerstone of our sourcing standards is working with local suppliers that share our core principles around high quality, low impact food and drink.
While much of our focus is on our kitchens and their ever-fluctuating seasonal produce, we take great care in the selection of suppliers for our bars too. Here our Creative Bar Manager, Sam Brown, explains why we work with local breweries and how they complement our food offering.
WHICH LOCAL BREWERIES DO WE WORK WITH AND WHERE ARE THEY?
Our four principal beer suppliers are all within a 30-mile radius, each one specialising in a different brewing style. Closest to us is Hawkstone, based in Bourton-on-the-Water just 6 miles southwest, and we stock their premium lager and cider. 10 miles east from us is Hook Norton Brewery in Hook Norton who supply our cask bitter. DEYA, based 22 miles away to the west in Cheltenham, provide our craft IPA beers and 30 miles north is Purity who produce our house pour pilsner.
HOW DO WE SELECT OUR BREWERY PARTNERS?
Local is no guarantee of quality, however we are blessed to have an array of award-winning breweries on our doorstep. It is important to us that we are able to visit our suppliers and establish a two-way relationship, and we specifically look for engaging partners who want to share knowledge with our teams (through training and brewery tours) and are open to receiving feedback from our guests.
HOW DO YOU CHOOSE WHAT TO STOCK FROM EACH BREWERY?
We also select our suppliers based on expertise; each of our breweries offers something unique to the bar. DEYA started the trend for hazy, unfiltered, IPA beers. I love this style of craft beer; the lack of filtration retains a lot of its flavour, and we stock their ‘Steady Rolling Man’ pale ale (5.2%) at The Fox and their ‘Into the Haze’ IPA (6.2%) at The Bell. Hook Norton’s multi-award-winning ‘Best Bitter’ (3.4%) fills the need for a light amber ale, a guest favourite that we stock by the cask at all of our pubs (seasonally rotated at The Fox). Hawkstone provides our guests with a core lager (4.8%) and cider (5%) staple, and Purity have created our British house pilsner, ‘Ding Dong’ at The Bell and ‘For Fox Sake’ at The Fox (both 4%).
WHY DO YOU THINK IT IS IMPORTANT TO WORK WITH LOCAL SUPPLIERS?
It’s good to support local businesses and watch them grow – Hawkstone is one of the fastest growing beer brands in the world right now – but it’s also important to tell their stories and show guests that small breweries can produce great beer, often in a fun and sustainable way. Hook Norton Brewery, one of the last independent, family-owned breweries in the country, still deliver beer to local pubs on traditional horse-drawn drays and have continued to used shire horses for 175 years. Purity also has a great sustainability story; their circular economy principles mean that all spent yeast, grain and hops are upcycled into fertiliser and animal feed, and their wastewater is recycled through a natural wetland system.
HOW DOES THE LOCAL SOURCING CONTRIBUTE TO THE GUEST EXPERIENCE?
We welcome guests from all over the world, and most travel to experience things that they can’t try at home. Ale lovers will always try what’s on tap rather than defaulting to international brands, and in the same way that we champion local produce on the plate we think there is nothing better than enjoying a Cotswolds-brewed pint in a Cotswolds pub.
