Our Beers

We currently make two beers designed to be perfect modern exemplars of their type: Shotover Prospect - a low gravity bitter designed to be full of hoppy character and flavour, and Shotover Scholar a classic mid-strength complex English bitter - strong, hoppy and bitter as one Oxford pub describes it on its beer menu. Click on the tabs to read more.

 

Both of our beers are made with large amounts of whole hops added at various stages in combination to create striking flavour profiles Prospect is grapey and dry but with a surprisingly big mouthfeel. Scholar is spicy and full. Prospect is made with three malts and four hop varieties, Scholar with five malts and five hop varieties.

The perfect session ale?

 

When the beer writer Tim Hampson (author of Great Beers, and London's Riverside Pubs) addressed the Oxford Brewgroup in July 2009, he said that in his view, the highest art form for a British brewer is to produce a low-gravity session ale that is big in body and flavour.

 

Prospect is our session bitter (we call the bottled version Pale Ale though it is exactly the same beer). Though comparatively low in alcohol this beer is made with more malted barley than many 4%+ABV beers and is packed with a combination of English and new world hops to give a surprisingly big mouthfeel and a striking dry hoppiness that is very moreish. A classic pale copper English bitter colour, Prospect is perfect for a few pints in the pub, watching sport or for parties and barbecues.

 

Available in 9 gall casks, 4.5gall pins, 20 litre polypins, 10 litre polypins and in 500ml bottles (bottle conditioned).

 

We had a bottle of Prospect independently taste profiled at Campden BRI (Brewing Research International). You can read what their experts said here

 

Our own description is simply this: very hoppy pale copper coloured ale with a mouthfeel and flavour balance that suggests a much stronger beer.

 

3.7% ABV

Scholar is a mid strength copper coloured classic English bitter with a remarkable complexity. It combines a silky malt base with mixture of oranges, grapefruit and spiciness across the palate and delivers a satisfying bitter finish at the back of the throat.

 

Made with five malts and five hop varieties this is a beer for sipping in front of a log fire, or enjoying with a beef and mustard sandwich.

 

4.5%ABV

2011 Shotover India Pale Ale 6% ABVA taste of the past in the present. Limited edition green hopped IPA brewed with all Oxfordshire hops to historic victorian hopping rates. Made in collaboration with Modern Art Oxford using fresh fuggles from the Rose Hill community art project (artists in residence Brook & Black). This beer is also sold as Plot 16 at the Modern Art Oxford Cafe. Total production 1800 bottles only. Information on the provenance of this beer here.