Tormit Heed is a special edition autumn beer.
“Tormit” is 19th century northern dialect and old Geordie for turnip. Tormit Heed or turnip head is meant to conjure up, images of autumn evenings, warm fires and the excitement of making turnip lanterns at Halloween. As turnip lanterns are written about from late 18th century onwards in Ireland, Scotland, England and the USA I’m sure the term Tormit Heed would have been used in Blaydon in the 1800s.
The artwork on the pump clip of Tormit Heed is the fantastic Turnip Keepers Lantern by Wylie Beckert who kindly gave me permission to use it on a limited basis for seasonal small cask batches. It tells the tale of Jack O’ Lantern, a sinner and trickster who in life tricked the devil out of claiming his soul. On his death he has sinned too much to go to heaven but hell is closed to him. Destined to wander the world forever in darkness, looking for somewhere to rest his soul; the devil mockingly gives him an everlasting ember of hell to light his way; which is set in a hollowed out turnip. Wylie has given jack a bike to speed him on his search – nice touch!
Tasting notes… toffee and warm maltiness give way to a well rounded clean bittering and spice in a strong dark amber ale.
Original artwork by Wylie Beckert – www.wyliebeckert.com