Cheers Jeremy Clarkson! Your beer is a hit

Although his personality might be an acquired taste for many, it appears Jeremy Clarkson’s beer certainly isn’t as it continues to fly off the shelves at a Driffield greengrocers.

Rafters recently started selling Hawkstone Lager, a beer brewed with barley grown on Clarkson’s Diddly Squat Farm and brewed by Cotswold Brew Co, based in the Cotswolds.

As seen on Amazon Prime Video documentary Clarkson’s Farm, the Doncaster-born television presenter decided to make a beer using the barley grown on his farm after government farm subsidies were lowered.

It was whilst watching the hit Amazon series that Andy Rafter saw Hawkstone Lager in production and decided it would be an ideal product to sell on the shelves of his shop on Middle Street South.

Having contacted Cotswold Brew Co, Andy agreed for a shipment of Hawkstone Lager and Cider to be delivered.

As a teaser for his customers, Andy told Rafters’ followers on social media that anyone who was a fan of former Top Gear presenter Clarkson were in for a treat.

Putting two and two together, several people, and even some of Andy’s staff, were anticipating a visit to the Capital of the Wolds from the owner of Diddly Squat Farm himself.

“I watched Clarkson’s Farm and really enjoyed it,” Andy told the Wolds Weekly. “I saw the work that went into the lager and thought, ‘why can’t we sell it?’

“Obviously it wasn’t going to be easy as the product that would be in demand because of Jeremy Clarkson’s involvement.

“I did some ringing around and I was pleasantly surprised when Hawkstone came back with an offer to supply us with some of the lager.

“I took a fairly modest delivery as I just didn’t know how many bottles we would sell.

“When the first delivery arrived, I made a bit of a fuss about it on Facebook. Although I never said that Jeremy Clarkson would be delivering the beer, I also didn’t say that he wasn’t.

“I teased the Jeremy Clarkson fans that they were in for a treat and let it run, so much so that we even had a member of staff turning up with a Jeremy Clarkson book for him to sign.

“A few customers contacted us asking what was happening, so I knew that there was going to be quite a lot of interest.

“On the day the order arrived, we had people coming into the shop before the beers were here.

“Then, I turned up in the shop with a Jeremy Clarkson mask on!”

Andy was right to think that the beer would be a popular product proved to be correct, with the first delivery selling out within a matter of hours.

With more bottles of lager and cider on the way, he posted some photos from the first day of sales on Twitter.

The tweet received a reply from Clarkson, who asked Andy to keep him updated.

And with customers travelling from far and wide to Driffield for their Hawkstone Lager and Cider, Andy is hopeful the new product will continue to be a boost for footfall on the town’s high street.

“Wearing the mask and everything else was all a bit of fun, but the demand and the interest has been phenomenal since,” said Andy.

“We sold all the bottles within a couple of hours. Immediately, I was back on the phone to the brewery and reordered.

“In the meantime, I posted on Twitter about the sales, which Jeremy Clarkson responded to, asking me to let him know how sales go in the future, and I will be doing so.

“Once he had replied, the views the tweet had just continued to rise and ended in the region of 330,000, whilst his tweet had 300,000 interactions too.

“So far, we have had nothing but positivity and a lot of fun. The second delivery sold out just as quickly as the first and this is now our third consignment, with another two on the way, with demand sky-high.

“As well as having Jeremy Clarkson’s name to it, it also happens to be a very good product.

“It’s a good lager and I’m also told the cider is very good too. With the bank holidays coming up, I’m hoping it continues to fly off the shelves.

“It’s been well received, and we certainly feel like we have got a bit of a coup. It’s been good for the town as we have had people coming into Driffield from places such as Bridlington and Goole asking if we had the beer in stock and long may it continue.”