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Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Tröegs Action

I dropped by Tröegs last weekend, September 1st, to try some Scratch Beer. The Trogners are celebrating their brewery's 10th anniversary by brewing a series of draft-only beers from recipes they thought up back in the pre-business days...mostly, and serving them only on draft at the brewery on Saturdays...mostly. The one I got on Saturday was Scratch #3, which is -- appropriately -- a Triple. It was big and flavorful at 9.5%, certainly no session beer. It was, however, quite drinkable thanks to good attenuation. The boys used a different Belgian yeast strain than the one used in Mad Elf, and it worked quite well.

Then I got some Dead Reckoning Porter, and it's quite a bit hoppier than I remember from the first time around. It's verging on dark IPA territory, but with a solid bedrock of dark malt character; at 5.8% and 53 IBUs, it's sniffing around the lower end of Baltic territory. (Geeks: I'm kidding. This is not a Baltic porter. Just messing around.) I liked it so much I had to have another.

Finally, John went back and tickled the zwickel for a preview of Scratch Beer #4: The Flying Mouflan...at least, I think that's what John was saying. It's a wild-assed American-style barleywine. John described it this way: "We took Nugget Nectar and pushed it off a cliff." I smelled hops from three feet away, and said to him, "There's so much hops oil in this, it's greasy." It's a whopping big mutha, too, over 10%. But the beauty of this beer is that the hops don't grab your tongue like a sandpaper mitten: they've got the 'honeyed hops' effect going, like eating hop candy. It's a big sweet malty barleywine, juiced up with silly amounts of hop flavor and aroma, and a bitterness that mostly comes in the finish. If you want a pint of this stuff, get a driver.

Good time at the brewery, my first time on a Saturday tour day. If you haven't made this stop, you should put it on your schedule.

7 comments:

Steve Logan said...

But I like sandpaper mittens!

DempseysArmy said...

Oddly enough, I was a the brewery that same day for a tour. Damn!

Didn't see you there Lew, would've liked to shake your hand.

Did you see the oak barrels full of New Elf? According to Chris they are infusing them with brett as an in-house experiment?

Lew Bryson said...

Yeah, I did see the barrels! Forgot to mention them (note to self: see what happens when you let things go for a week before blogging?), thanks.

DempseysArmy said...

Hey, I scooped Lew Bryson! ;-)

http://bottlesofbarley.blogspot.com/2007/09/beer-travel-troegs-brewery.html

Now if I could blog and consistently and as well...

Anonymous said...

They happen to say when # 4 might be released ?

Kathy said...

Tickled the zwickel... one hundred points, Lew. :-)

That hop candy beer sounds delicious. I'm jealous.

Lew Bryson said...

No idea when #4 will be out, Ron; couldn't even guess. John was being cagey about it.

Kathy, I must confess: I don't believe I came up with that phrase, not sure where I heard it first. Good one, though, ain't it?