Tuesday 28 October 2014

The Mysterious Powers of the Totem

Another blog from George (in a drunken haze) ...

I don’t like Totem! … or do I? As a co-founder and marketeer from Haresfoot brewery it's a dangerous thing to say perhaps?

I’ve always been on the sweeter side… from a beer perspective. When we launched Totem , a 4.5% ABV American IPA secretly I was highly cynical. I like dark beers, I like a dominant malty taste and don’t most other people?  Isn’t this a Marmite beer – you love it or hate it and how many people are going to love it? It’s too niche I thought!  However a strange thing happened to me. It started on Saturday. I was in the Boxing Hares bar running the shop. No fewer than 10 customers came in and asked for Totem – a significant allegiance given the beer has just been launched. I tried a sip from our stock back in the cold room- maybe I’m wrong?  Way too hoppy, almost sour to my taste buds… who in their right mind would like that?

As the day progressed, Totem devotes extolled the virtues of this bizarre concoction. Is this a case of the Emperors clothing I asked myself? I can accept that people like something on the hoppy side but really?

Well anyway. Sunday night in my local, the Valiant Trooper, pint of Totem - I have to be loyal don’t I? First reaction – it’s way too hoppy. But I press on. Half a pint down and the challenge of this pint is beginning to reside. The initial sourness is changing; I’m experiencing a complexity of flavours. The second half slips down rather easily. My friend offers me another pint. Strangely the idea of the other beers is far less appealing. To give you a parallel – I now love really hot spicy curries – you know that hot spice high? There was a time when a Korma would have been painful but now it has to be the full blown experience. Reminiscent of this – I’m tasting and experiencing sensations like never before from a beer. The second pint. OK it’s got a bit of poke and I’m starting to mellow. A relaxed feeling pervades me, however, here’s the revelation! The hoppy flavours are dancing around and I experience hints of almost sweetness. It’s like some Amazonian plant they eat. It takes you on a journey – it’s not just the effect of the alcohol, my taste buds are summersaulting!  One more I thought, one more…?? bizarre. I’m a convert, I love this stuff!

There are so many metaphors that say – if something is to be worthwhile you need to work at it. No gain without pain. And on the other hand – instant gratification can wear thin quickly. Well it’s certainly not pain, but for those of you who taste Totem and reject it out of hand – push through a pint or two – it will change your perception of beer.

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