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Scratch Beer: Celebrating Our Tenth Anniversary and
Beyond While we’ve talked at length about our current brewery expansion in terms of new fermentation space, a larger tasting room and expanded warehouse space, the project also included relocating the brewery offices. Because of this, we went through a lot of boxes that had been untouched for years. Well, imagine our surprise when we came across some old scratch pads—notebooks where we would jot down tasting notes. (You have to do a lot of research when you’re planning on opening a brewery!) Along with those tasting notes, were detailed logs on pilot batches brewed on the back patio of our Colorado apartment several years before the brewery opened, along with numerous recipes that were never brewed. None of those pilot batches or early recipes ever became a Tröegs Brewery beer, but those tasting notes and early recipes served as inspiration and research for the beers we finally bottled. The Scratch Beer Series will revive these recipes in small, one-time batches. We will bottle approximately 200 cases of each batch and then keg the remainder for growler and (extremely-limited) keg sales. The Scratch Beer Series will only be available at the Tröegs Brewery Tasting Room. We will be producing four Scratch Beers in the next five months, culminating in a special 10th Anniversary Scratch beer that will be released in early August. We plan on making several Scratch Beers each year as tank space allows.
Scratch #11-2008: Bitter
Cases available Next up, we present Scratch Beer #11-2008, a Bitter. Back in the day, we used to brew a little number called Tröegs ESB. Even though this beer was retired almost six years ago, we still get numerous Tröegs old-schoolers (Martha) begging for its return. Well hang onto your boot straps because Scratch #11 is about as close as we can get to the original ESB without firing up the old brew kettle. The Scratch #11 recipe originates from Chris’ stint at England’s University of Sunderland brewing program. After returning to Colorado the brothers drew on Chris’ experience and brewed pilot batches tweaking that recipe. The ESB production recipe has direct bloodlines to these pilot batches. The Thames Valley ale yeast and the roasted barley create a biscuit flavor with nutty undertones. Combining these flavors with the earthiness of East Kent Golding hops creates one hell of a fine session beer. Take in the deep mahogany beauty of this beer and breathe in the full hoppy nose. It’s not the ESB, but it’s damn special.
Scratch #8-2008: On tap Revisiting Scratch #3, we take the same Tripel recipe, add beet and cane sugars to the kettle, and run the wort through our hopback brimming with juniper berries, coriander and yarrow flowers. Inspired by the herbaceous nose of gin, the berries and flowers give a slight pine/citrus aroma with floral undertones. Scratch #8 has a dry, yeasty finish and noticeable alcohol warming when consumed.
Scratch Beer 7-2008 Cases
Available Red and white wheat combined with darker malts add body to this hazy, unfiltered ale. Fermented with the same yeast as DreamWeaver Wheat replicating the pepper, clove and all-spice flavors found in our year-round beer.
Scratch Beer 6-2007 - Sold out Old world brewing techniques combine with Noble hops for Scratch #6-2007.
We’ve
added Magnum hops for bittering and Czech Saaz hops for aroma to create
a classic European Noble hop flavor Scratch #6-2007 is unfiltered, so there will be a slight haze to the beer.
Scratch Beer 5-2007 - Sold Out Enjoy this as a token of our appreciation. With the demise of Tröegs Oatmeal Stout, this long-forgotten recipe serves as an inspiration and a heartfelt thanks to our faithful stout fans. What’s special here? We start with a seductive malty sweetness, combine it with hints of chocolate and roasted flavors and round out the texture and taste with a healthy helping of oats. A three-hop blend brings perfect balance to the sweet malt adding a dry finish to this big beer.
Scratch Beer 4-2007 -
Sold Out Original
Gravity: 25 Plato Behold Scratch 4-2007, the latest offering from Tröegs Brewing Company’s Scratch Beer Series. Dubbed The Flying Mouflan (for reasons that become clearer toward the bottom of the glass) this strong, alluring ale is two beers in one. Cracking one open this fall season unleashes hops and heat with more than 100 IBU’s emanating from three hop varieties and the sweet burn of 9.2% ABV. The Tröegs Brothers classify this beast as “pushing Nugget Nectar off the side of a cliff”—think hops dipped in candied sugar and rolled in dark chocolate nibs.For virtuous traditionalists who cellar big beers to release their dark secrets, The Flying Mouflan’s palette transforms into lush raisin and chocolate overtones. Cellaring The Flying Mouflan in a cool, dark place at 50 degrees for a minimum of four months will mellow out the hops and wash away the heat. If you can resist temptation, you will be rewarded with two memorable beers in a single bottle.
Scratch Beer 3-2007 -
Sold Out "For the third scratch beer, we delved into our old Belgian notes and decided to go big for a nice warming feeling when you drink this beer,” says John Trogner. “This unfiltered golden ale is 10.1% abv. It is spicy and quite dry with a hint of noble hops. The yeast is the real flavor in this beer and we used a different yeast strain than we use for The Mad Elf. This yeast creates that drier taste.”
Scratch Beer 2-2007 - Sold Out
Scratch Beer 1-2007
- Sold Out
Ingredients: The simplest explanation of what makes a hybrid beer unique is the brewer is forcing a lager to do something it doesn’t want to do. Scratch 1-2007 uses lager yeast fermented at a warmer temperature. The fermented malt gives an exaggerated fruity undertone to the beer which combines nicely with the citrus flavors of Cascade hops. Balancing out the taste are spicy, earthy flavors derived from Brewer’s Gold hops. Slightly aggressive hops in the front of the mouth give way to a clean, subtle grape-like finish. This beer recipe was tweaked many times on the back patio during our years in Colorado. This marriage of up-front hops and a sweet finish are the inspiration for Tröegs Pale Ale. For World Beer Cup style guidelines visit:
http://www.beertown.org/events/wbc/competition/reg_info/style_descr.html
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