non-identical twins

Today was an interesting day at the brewery as we got to meet two new beers for the very first time. Not only was there the inaugural brew of our new Hop Token variation, Hop Token:Summit which is a very pleasant, hoppy, golden brown ale with a mellow fruity aftertaste but also the first quality control test of the Very Merry Andrew (pictured above). Which is special.

Now you may be thinking at this point that I'm just saying that to try to justify the price tag that we're hanging on a bottle (£5 for 500ml) or that because I've had a hand in creating this 9.2% ABV beer that I'm a little biased but let me say this. I'm not a fan of strong dark beers; I much prefer light, hoppy, pale, summery ales.

This beer should be magnificent in 12 months time providing we can keep our hands off it. With a large dose of "you had to be there" the conversation today, as we progressed with bottling the Hop Token:Summit, swiftly moved from "we need to leave it as long as possible" to "the anticipation of it's taste will keep us excited" to "fuck it crack one open and see how it's doing". We hovered over the glass as it was poured and took turns with the ritual of testing the aroma before holding some on the palette to check the taste. It has less sweetness than the Merry Andrew and already the depth of flavour is astonishing. Hints of caramel, raisin, and a really discrete coffee tang, to name but a few are already showing after 4 days in the bottle. And you can *feel* the alcohol.

The Hop Token:Summit seems to have been ignored in this outpouring of beery love doesn't it? Please don't misunderstand. It's not that I don't like it because I do and I'll be drinking a fair few pints of it once it is conditioned and ready for sale. If we'd resisted the temptation to crack the VMA then this whole post would be waxing lyrical about the HT:S but we couldn't hold out any longer and this post has become what it is. The brewery had always intended that Hop Token would be a range of beers all flavoured with a different hop but the phenomenal success of the first, Hop Token: Amarillo, caught them by surprise. It's been a challenge to keep up with the constant demand through the summer but now that we're on top of the supply / demand cycle we have managed to brew, cask and bottle the HT:S. If it sells well then the next Hop Token in the series will be .. .. .. ..