Hopshackle Restoration

COMMERCIAL DESCRIPTION
Bottle; Brewed annually.
This beer was inspired by some of the strong ales of Belgium and contains five different malts and two hops. In early 2007, when the local church "St Guthlacs" needed to raise funds for repair work and improvements, it was agreed with the Reverend Philip Brent, the vicar of St. Guthlacs that a competition would be run to name a new beer from the brewery and for every bottle sold a donation of 25 pence would be given to the church funds. The winning name was of course, "Restoration". It is only made once a year and the Reverend Brent blesses the beer whilst it is still in the primary fermenter.
Once the initial fermentation is over the beer is transferred into a conditioning tank, placed in the brewery cellar and aged for a period of six months. This allows the complex flavours to develop before the next stage which is bottling. The beer is reprimed with sugar and a fresh dose of alcohol tolerant yeast, bottled and then placed in a conditioning room between 25-30oC. After 4-6 weeks the beer is checked for carbonation levels, taste and other quality parameters. If all is well, then it is ready to be sold which is usually around November or December. As the beer is only made once a year there is a limited supply each year which is usually around 1600 bottles. Every bottle is numbered and marked with the month and year of production and is therefore unique. It is deep copper in colour with an aroma of rich fruit and malt with a hint of apple. The taste fills the mouth with flavours of vinous fruit, cherries, plums and malt leading to a warming finish of alcohol. This beer tastes great straight away but will improve with aging over many years. A number of cases are kept back each year and the intention is to use these for vertical tasting sessions i.e. comparing different years with each other.

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