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Community Collaborations
In 2021, we completed a series of upgrades to make our brewery more energy efficient. Partnering with Solar Renewable Energy in Mechanicsburg, we installed 1,628 solar panels to produce an estimated 15-20% of the brewery’s annual energy needs. We also added insulation and a new white roof membrane to reflect and maximize capture of the sun’s rays. And our two new HVAC units sterilize the air that circulates through the brewery, which helps keep Tröegs customers and co-workers healthy. “It all adds up,” says founding brother Chris Trogner. “We’re making these incremental changes to decrease our environmental impact and improve the experience people have when they visit Tröegs.”
This year, we partnered with the Pennsylvania Dairymen’s Association and the Dairy Excellence Foundation to offer ten $3,000 scholarships to undergraduate students who are pursuing an education in agriculture. Each year, these Student Leader Scholarships provide recognition, encouragement, and financial assistance to outstanding students enrolled in academic programs that support the dairy industry. “We use a lot of Pennsylvania grain, honey and produce in our beers and at our Snack Bar here at Tröegs,” says Tröegs co-founding brother Chris Trogner. “And our cheese collaborations with Caputo Brothers Creamery use 100% Pennsylvania cow’s milk, so our connection to Pennsylvania agriculture already runs deep. These scholarships are a great way to amplify that connection and support the future of the industry.”
If you’ve been to visit us within the last year, you most certainly have noticed the 120-foot-by-30-foot mural that now adorns the east wall of our Hershey brewery. Installed by PA-based artist Jacintha Kruc, the colorful mural celebrates our use of local ingredients in some of your favorite Tröegs beers. There’s the honey we add to legendary holiday ale Mad Elf. The Pennsylvania grain that forms the backbone of beers like Troegenator, Field Study and LolliHop. A bine of local hops that might end up in a Scratch beer. And Fruit Belt peaches and cherries that add a sweet-and-sour pop to some of our wood-aged Splinter beers. “I like things that are artfully made and utilitarian and inclusive,” says Jacintha. “The murals that I paint are not mine. They belong to the community. I want to bring art to places anyone can access art. Not everyone feels comfortable going into a gallery or museum, and murals are accessible to everyone.”
The Nature Conservancy and Tröegs Independent Brewing are working together to protect Pennsylvania’s Kittatinny Ridge, an ecologically important 185-mile chain of forested Appalachian mountains that runs through Pennsylvania. A portion of proceeds from the release of a new Trail Day beer go toward the Tröegs Trail Day Fund. The fund helps protect 15,000 acres of the most critical, connected lands on and next to the ridge – from the Mason-Dixon Line into New York state through the Delaware Water Gap. The goal is to ensure that songbirds, hawks, eagles, bears and even plants can travel as they must, and that nature will continue to provide clean streams, rich forests, recreational trails and biological diversity.
Tröegs is proud to donate to Cocoa Packs, a nonprofit founded right here in Hershey to make sure local children have access to proper nutrition and basic services and supplies like backpacks, haircuts and toiletries. Founded by Christine Drexler in 2015, Cocoa Packs is funded entirely through donations and serves more than 500 children every week through 10 sites in Derry Township, Harrisburg and the surrounding area.
Each spring, several co-workers join volunteers from the nonprofit Manada Conservancy to plant trees and shrubs. This crucial planting is part of Manada Conservancy’s efforts to create a greenway along the Swatara Creek to help assure healthy local waterways and a positive future for the Chesapeake Bay.
Following up the successful launch of Troegenator Beer Cheese, The GIANT Company, Caputo Brothers Creamery and Tröegs Independent Brewing have once again teamed up to bring beer and cheese lovers a new creation: Perpetual Beer Cheese. All of the milk used in this intersection of local dairies, local beer and local good comes from right here in Pennsylvania. “In a time when a lot of us are feeling helpless, we asked ourselves what we can do to make a difference,” says Rynn Caputo. “This partnership with GIANT and Tröegs has already helped keep two dairy farms running, and as it grows, we have the potential to save even more farms.” (And polish up your pairing skills with Hop Culture’s “5-Minute Guide to Beer and Cheese Pairing,” featuring our brewmaster John Trogner!)
Our Aletruism efforts are focused on the communities where our co-workers and fans live, work and play. For example, our annual HopDash 5K – part of Harvest Hopfest weekend at Tröegs – has raised more than $250,000 for the Harrisburg Area YMCA. “Our family has been a supporter of the YMCA for a long time, and we’ve developed a strong relationship with them over the years,” says Chris Trogner. “We’re excited to see the Hop Dash continue to grow and draw people from outside Central PA.”
Every year, hundreds of smiling riders gather at Tröegs for Bikes & Beers. Together we raise money for the Jonathan Eshenour Memorial Trail through Derry Township and show off our beautiful countryside to riders from all over the mid-Atlantic. There are three options for the ride, with fully supported pit stops and a fun afterparty in the sun.
We are a proud sponsor of the outrageously fun Kinetic Sculpture Race held each spring in Baltimore. Kinetic sculptures are amphibious, human-powered works of art custom built for the race, and our very own Nator racer has crossed the finish line for the past several years. The race is the largest fundraiser of the year for the American Visionary Art Museum, which specializes in the preservation and display of outsider art.
Grabbing a beer after a bike ride is a natural thing, which is why we partnered with the Susquehanna Area Mountain Bike Association (SAMBA) to brew a limited Scratch beer. Proceeds from this brewery-only can release have helped further SAMBA’s goal to transform a former coal town into a mountain biking mecca. All in all, we helped raise $8,000 for SAMBA’s Rattling Creek Trail Project to develop new trails in Lykens, PA, and throughout Central Pennsylvania.
Tröegs is a long-time supporter of the Ned Smith Center for Nature and Art for as long as we can remember. Our closest connection to this amazing non-profit organization is the Rugged Trail Run for Conservation, which they host on their beautiful 500 acres of forests, meadows and trails in Millersburg, PA. This one-of-a-kind 5k race helps the center raise funds to further its ongoing mission of merging the arts with the beauty of our natural world.
When December arrives, it’s time for the annual Ullr Fest at Roundtop Mountain Resort. Together, we welcome winter and light the biggest bonfire this side of the Appalachians. It’s good fun for a good cause, as money is raised for the Peyton Walker Foundation, which raises awareness and survival rates for Sudden Cardiac Arrest.
LOCAL INGREDIENTS
For our summer IPA Field Study, we use nearly 100,000 pounds of locally grown barley. And that’s just the beginning.
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