It's a perfect five!

I had an exceedingly rare experience the other day, when I awarded a beer on Untappd, with a score of 5.0. Those of you that are familiar with this beer ticking app will know that a 5.0 is the highest score possible, and as with CAMRA’s beer scoring option (for members only), on its What Pub app, five is a score that is rarely given. The lucky beer was one that I’d been keeping in my stash for some time, and was a bottle-conditioned barley wine, called A Over T, brewed by Hog’s Back Brewery at their plant in Tongham, Surrey.

 I’m not quite sure how or where I acquired this bottle, but it was a 2021 vintage. Described as a multi award winning barley wine, the Best Before Date, on the bottle neck wasn’t really legible, but 3-4 years on from its brew-date, the beer was certainly very drinkable. Actually, that is an understatement, as that 330 ml bottle of A Over T was more than just drinkable, it was absolutely amazing and definitely worthy of an Untappd score of 5.0!

This beer represents only the third time I've ever given a score of five on Untappd, a fact I know to be true, as the app has feature where you can look back and search though all the scores you’ve given over the years (it’s easy with a score of 5.0, but something of a nightmare when there are umpteen 4.0’s, or 3.5’s). So before moving on to describe A Over T in more detail, what were those other two top-scoring beers?

Aecht Schlenkerla Eiche Dopplebock, brewed in Bamberg, Franconia, by the legendary Schlenkerla Brewery, is one of them, and it was on sale at Tonbridge Fuggle’s, over the Christmas and New Year period. I enjoyed a glass of this rich, and warming 8.0% abv, oak-smoked beer, on New Year’s Eve, and the reason for giving it top marks was its tremendous depth of flavour. A beer to savour, and one which brought back pleasant memories of drinking in Bamberg’s legendary Schlenkerla Tavern.

I stumbled cross the third top scoring beer in July 2019 when, at the end of a three-day walk along a stretch of the North Downs Way, I stopped off in Canterbury, for a well-earned pint. The pub I chose was the Old Buttermarket, an historic pub, right in the centre of the city, which overlooks a small pedestrianised square, right opposite the cathedral gate. The tables and chairs set outside always look inviting, especially in summer, and after a tiring 10 mile walk into the city that pint of Pilsner Urquell at the Old Buttermarket, was one of the finest pints of beer it has been my privilege to drink – and I don’t say that lightly!

Before taking my glass outside, I took another mouthful of the beer, just to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. I wasn’t, the beer was absolutely brilliant, and I couldn’t believe my good fortune. I sat down at one of the tables facing the cathedral gate, feeling totally relaxed and at one with the world. This wasn’t just down to the smugness of having completed my walk, but much more to the excellence of the beer.

The strange thing is that I’ve put away many glasses of Pilsner Urquell, including on two separate visits to the brewery in Plzeň itself. During a visit to what was then Czechoslovakia, back in 1984 when the country was still firmly behind the Iron Curtain, the Pilsner Urquell brewery was still pretty much low-tech. With fermentation in wooden vats, and maturation in large pitch-lined, oak casks, the beer should have tasted amazing, and quite possibly it did. Forty years on, and it’s impossible to remember, especially following a visit to a part of the world where everything was noticeably different.

Back to Hog’s Back plus that amazing bottle of A Over T, and this is what the brewery have to say about it. “Brewed in small batches and matured in the brewery cellar, like a fine wine. A Over T is made from high quality English malted barley Kent Golding hops are added for bitterness, plus aroma whilst Bramling Cross hops further enhance the character, resulting in deep rich and complex flavours of sultanas orange peel and plums.”

“Enjoy it like you would fortified wine in a wine glass or Brandy balloon, which will concentrate its wonderful aroma. It goes particularly well with full flavoured mature cheeses, rich cakes and puddings, and can also be savoured on its own at the end of an evening.”

If you ever come across a bottle, then buy it, or alternatively call in at the well-stocked shop, next to the brewery. Open seven days a week, it’s an obvious, beer lover’s paradise, but if you live outside a 30-mile radius of the brewery, then delivery by a local courier is another option. Whilst on the subject of Hog’s Back Brewery, back in the dim and distant past history of West Kent CAMRA, I organised a coach trip to the brewery, where our group was given a guided tour of the plant. There was also plenty of samples to try, and in a novel approach the samples were different, depending on which part of the brewery we were in.

To explain, at the start of the tour we were each given a clean, half-pint, badged Hog’s Back glass. The idea was, there were pre-poured jugs of beer at various key points of the brewery, and the beer dished out became progressively stronger as we made our way around the plant. So, to start off, we were given TEA (Traditional English Ale), then Hop Garden Gold, Rip Snorter and then OTT (Old Tongham Tasty). I don’t think A Over T featured on the lineup, but it was a good idea to start off on the weaker stuff, before ending up with one of the stronger brews.

Hog’s Back cask and bottled beers were regular stock items at the “Cask & Glass” off-licence, in Tonbridge, when it was under our ownership. Sadly, the business is no more, and whilst the building still stands, it now houses an osteopath. As for A Over T, it isn't the most subtle of abbreviations, but it stands for "Aromas Over Tongham."