YORKSHIRE’S two newest beers were launched on Friday night at one of York’s finest bars - a good beery start to the last month of the year, you might say.

Descent Into Madness and Seed of Hope are both by Bad Seed Brewery in Malton and both weigh in at seven per cent ABV, and they were launched at The House of Trembling Madness in Stonegate.

Let’s start with Descent Into Madness. The name is a nod to the bar staff, who teamed up with the guys at Bad Seed in the production process, and it’s also a reference to the general pandemonium that ensues every year in the run up to Christmas.

Right now, in the midst of Brexit confusion, on the eve of a Trump Presidency, and with ‘post-truth’ having been named Oxford Dictionaries’ word of the year, Descent Into Madness seems a particularly apt and timely name for a beer. More than a few of us may have sought a stiff drink amid all that chaos, after all.

The beer is a winter stout, brewed with a veritable medley of additions: chocolate, orange, vanilla, Sichuan pepper and grains of paradise.

Alongside that is Seed of Hope. Chris Waplington, from Bad Seed, describes this one as “an ultra-hopped West Coast IPA”, and it’s brewed with Comet, Summit, Centennial, Citra, Azacca, El Dorado and Cascade hops.

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“The big American hops work together to give a tropical juice flavour,” Chris says. “This beer is the Seed of Hope - a beacon that illuminates the dark with its bright hoppy character.”

Both beers are on draught at The House of Trembling Madness this weekend, and casks and kegs will also be going to The Maltings in Tanner’s Moat, The Falcon Tap in Micklegate, and into Manchester and London. Both are also available in 750ml bottles.

“We hope these beers will provide a Seed of Hope from the Descent into Madness that happens at this time of year,” says Chris.