Jeremy Clarkson Warns Some of His Hawkstone Cider Bottles Are ‘Explosive’

If you bought Clarkson’s Hawkstone cider with batch L3160 printed on the bottlecap, get rid of it immediately.

Share

For once, Jeremy Clarkson isn’t joking. Certain bottles of his Hawkstone Cider have a risk of being “explosive” due to a batch error that is causing them to start refermenting, making the cider over-carbonate inside of its glass bottle. The issue is deadly serious, yet Clarkson’s reputation has led to difficulties with the bottle recall. Everybody thinks it’s a joke.

When Clarkson posted about the ailment befalling his cider on social media, commenters took to the replies with nothing but jokes. One even said that they “unfortunately never know if [Clarkson] is serious or not.” Clarkson’s grave reply impressed the severity of the situation: “I am serious this time. We have had some success in finding the affected bottles but some are still out there. And we need to find them.”

Twitter

Hawkstone issued an official recall for the bottles on July 20, urging customers who bought its cider to check the bottle cap for the batch number. If the bottle cap has “L3160” printed on it, then it is part of the affected batch and will need to be taken care of. Clarkson posted a humorous video to the Hawkstone website showing customers how to defuse the bottles by wearing protective gear and opening the bottle underwater. It is important to handle the bottles with care and not shake them, as it could agitate them into exploding or breaking.

The issue lies with some of the active champagne yeast in the drink that is causing it to referment. People who have already drank the bottles are in the clear, though they may have tasted “a bit tangy.”

Clarkon’s post-Top Gear life has been a journey, with Hawkstone being a venture alongside his agricultural escapades shown on the Amazon Prime Original Clarkson’s Farm. As watchers of the show know, he has been continually learning that running a business, especially one where he creates the goods from scratch, is extremely hard. 

While the rest of his career is built on his humor, this time he is serious. Folks who ordered the cider should check their bottles and discard them if they’re from the affected batch. 

Got a tip? Email tips@thedrive.com