The name Superscriptᴵᴾᴬ was born from conversations with hop farmers about the role proprietary brands are playing in the market. One Michigan farmer who we originally connected with because of the quality of their Chinook once told me, “Citra® is killing my farm.” Without access to growing it, he’s missing a big flavorful hop that holds name recognition. Now, we love Citra® , its one of the most sought after hops in the world, but we also love our farmers. So when this farmer offered a new variety bred on his farm called Michigan Copper that he noted had a soft pineapple character, like an “American Galaxy™” it did not take long for us to place our first order and begin incorporating into beers like Hawaiian Brunch, Shoots, and others.

A year or two later, sometime around 2018 there was a new hop bred and being grown by IndieHops in Oregon that people were talking about but not readily available. After finally trying an open fermented lager with Strata in North Carolina, we were quickly sold on this hop and began testing it out in a few different beers, starting off with All Alone With Everywhere to Go, our single hop pale ale. As soon as we connected with IndieHops we hit it off and knew we wanted to commit to another farmer direct relationship. The first harvest had a big tangerine and strawberry note that we really liked, since we committed to using it consistently in Superscriptᴵᴾᴬ we have selected lots which also display some grapefruit, cannabis, and lemon notes to really accentuate a layered profile.

These two special hops, are tied together with one of the original hops of craft beer, the essence of stars like Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Cascade. Still one of the most widely grown hops in the country, we select lost of New York grown Cascade every year for Superscriptᴵᴾᴬ, Sweatpants, and other beers where we want to bring give classic hop profiles a little local tilt. Our friend Chris from Crooked Creek Hops in Addison NY is a major reason for this. His frequent trips to the farm with different varieties, lots from different farms, showed us again what it means to work directly with farmers. The Cascade we source from his farm has a distinct green mango ripeness that fits in beautifully with a mellow Northeast citrus and pine.

So when you read the side of the can of Superscriptᴵᴾᴬ, and you see it say “made with Northeastern grown grains because we love our farmers and it tastes better” you should know that sentiment extends well into the rest of its ingredients as well.

Kudos to anyone who picked up on where the name Superscriptᴵᴾᴬ came from after reading this blog 🙂