342 (Town Hall Brewery, Minneapolis, MN)

Town Hall 342

During my week of barrel aged beers, I picked up a growler of a Town Hall single hop beer simply called 342. This is an experimental high alpha aroma hop from Hop Union according to farmhouse brewing supply.

Creamy thick head of extremely tight bubbles on a shiny copper colored pale ale.  Singular hop is strong citrus, lemon, light spice and grassiness.  Aromatic and pleasant on top of a bready malt.  Significant bite lingers and floats above a solid malt backbone.  Sweetly bites for a finish.  

I remember the draft on site being brighter, but time and circumstances conspiring to delay the drinking of this growler for over a week may account for this difference.  Both versions were excellent beer drinking experiences and I expect HBC 342 will get a cool, marketable name that will inspire more hop laden beers in the future.