If you go down to the pub today you are sure of a tasty surprise, brewed up by a family of brewers from the Cotswolds. Andrea Calvesbert reports.

Hook Norton Brewery is serving up a special Christmas brew this year know as '12 Days', described by the brewery as 'A strong dark brown beer, offering a dominantly malty palate with nutty overtones, giving way to a lyrical sweetness that speaks for it's strength'.

This is just the latest in a catalogue of tasty beers which the brewery near Chipping Norton has been perfecting over the past 150 years.

Started by farmer and maltster John Harris, the brewery is now nationally rewnowned and is still run, five generations on, by Mr Harris' descendents, the Clarke family.

The brewery is one of only 32 indepdent, family-run breweries and is a fine example of a Victorian tower brewery.

It is also the only brewery driven by steam. It is this which makes Hook Norton beers special. As the company's website says: 'To make our real ale required the art, craft and skill of the brewer, the finest raw materials and water drawn from deep wells beneath our North Oxfordshire brewery.'

The beer is still delivered locally by a shire horse drawn dray but is also dispatched to pubs around the neighbouring counties and further afield so it is possible to taste a pint of 'Hooky' in many pubs around the area. The brewery welcomes people to its visitor centre to find out more and also runs prebooked tours lasting about two hours and including beer sampling.

The shop and museum are open Monday to Friday, plus Bank Holiday Mondays, between 8.30am and 5pm, plus Saturdays in December.

*Tours can be booked by phone on 01608 730384.