Matchbook Distilling Co., "Mad King Hopped Brandy" (750mL)

From the producer:

"New York apples & Nugget Hops from Indian Ladder farms, Altamont, NY. Double pot distilled, the second distillation with hops.

We know this farm well, yet still there is not restraining wonderment.  At an orchard time is nearly physical, an object and a place.  Fall here means ripe fruit, ciders pressing, peepers leaving their truck scraggly parked on the shoulder, just to jaunt into a pumpkin field.  To make a spirit from apple is to covet and save this visceral impermanence.  We do this by the year with our Sweet Triumph, but this year took the wondering even farther.  Indian Ladder also grows hops.  Like adding crimson to red, we added more fleeting fall to our brew.  Tinkering away we threw them in the pot still, and out burst a citrus aroma orbiting the rich apple hearts."