In addition to local quality cask real ales, The Cricketer's Arms has a large range of local bottled ales available for consumption on and off the premises. As with our cask ales, all of our bottled ales are sourced directly from local breweries and stored in our cellar to keep them at the correct temperature and in premium condition.

If you are of a certain age, you'll possibly remember off licenses in pubs, especially in small villages. This tradition has largely died out, being replaced by dedicated off licenses, wine shops and supermarkets, which although providing a good price, favour mass produced and mass marketed brands and fail to support or represent local breweries. A raft of websites has sprung up to take advantage of this hole in the market, giving local micro-brewers a route to market, but with many you have to purchase a case of bottles - what it you want to taste some of the beer before you buy?

The Cricketer's Arms - the first pub in Oxford to receive CAMRA's LocAle accreditation for serving locally sourced cask ales - has renewed the tradition of the off license in the pub. By working closely with local micro-brewers we are able to offer you the largest selection of bottled ales local to Oxford at prices competitive to both supermarkets and websites, but which reflect the quality of the ales. Our Tuesday Ale Club has tasting sessions and you can come along and browse our local bottled ale menu as well as view our collection online

Real ale in a bottle is the bottled equivalent of the draught real ales you enjoy at the pub. The beer is unpasteurised and is not artificially carbonated. It is a live product which contains yeast for a secondary fermentation in the bottle. This provides wonderful fresh flavours and a pleasant, natural effervescence.

The technical term for "real ale in a bottle" is bottle conditioned beer. CAMRA started an initiative to label all bottle conditioned beers using the logo shown above. Whilst not all of the local bottled ales that we stock are bottled conditioned, many are, especially from the smaller breweries that we work with. Our bottled ale menu shows you at a glance, which ales are bottle conditioned, which are certified organic by the soil association and which are within Oxford's locAle area (The Cricketer's uses 36 miles from Littleworth as the distance for local ale, Oxford and District CAMRA uses 30 miles - but the SixSixes ale portfolio came first, hence the difference) as well as whether each ale is a seasonal or holiday special, or is a limited edition, brewed to celebrate something special for the brewery concerned.