Scratch Pad
Our brewing team wants to hear what Tröegs insiders think about our Scratch beers. They’ll be reviewing these surveys after a new Scratch beer is released, so make sure to submit your thoughts. Thanks!
scratch #387 hazy IPA
This hazy take on an IPA explores the intersection of Simcoe, Citra and the Australian hop Galaxy. But a subtle tweak to our technique – dry-hopping earlier in fermentation – takes the expected notes of creamsicle and citrus and transforms them into grapefruit, passionfruit and bubblegum. Oats in the malt bill add texture and body to prop up the hops, and a fruit-forward yeast adds hints of candied peach.
We taste: grapefruit rind, passionfruit, bubblegum
scratch #385 krausened Dunkel Lager
Our new Dunkel Lager walks the line between two of our favorites here at Tröegs: Sunshine Pils and Troegenator. On a recent trip to Germany, we fell in love all over again with this classic dark lager. Our take explores the additions of open fermentation, a technique we use for DreamWeaver Wheat, and krausening. Krausening is the process of adding wort and fresh yeast toward the end of fermentation. The combination of techniques adds subtle fruity esters and a soft, bready mouthfeel.
We taste: bread crust-like maltiness with subtle notes of caramel, nuttiness and chocolate
scratch #384 Tangerine Blackberry Guava Tart Ale
Scratch #384 pushes us deeper into the soft and rounded tart beers, this time with a bold combination of tangerine, blackberry and guava. The citrus, earthiness and tropical notes of the fruit are propped up by a rich backbone of oats and honey malt. A first fermentation with lactobacillus adds tartness, and a second pass with Hornindal Kveik yeast adds subtle notes of pineapple.
We taste: citrus zest, marmalade, earthy berries
SCRATCH #383 Hazy IPA w/ Citra, Galaxy & Simcoe
This hazy take on an IPA is the first time we’ve explored this hop combination. Of course, we know Simcoe’s creamsicle notes from Nugget Nectar and Citra’s citrusy profile from Perpetual IPA. Galaxy, an Australian hop variety we haven’t used a lot, brings in notes of juicy fruit. Dry-hopping earlier in fermentation transforms the expected hop profile and leads us toward grapefruit and passionfruit, and oats in the malt bill add texture and body to support the hops.
We taste: grapefruit rind, passionfruit, bubblegum
SCRATCH #382 Blackberry lime tart Ale
For Scratch #382, we’re doubling down on a combination of blackberries and lime. The tartness of the limes and a first fermentation with lactobacillus is supported by a rich backbone of oats and honey malt. A strong second fermentation with Hornindal Kveik yeast adds subtle notes of pineapple and pushes the ABV to 5%.
We taste: earthy berries, lime zest, tart citrus
SCRATCH #381 hazy ipa
The base of Scratch #381 is a pillowy blend of oats, pilsner malt and unmalted wheat. The residual haze props up the combination of El Dorado, Citra and Mosaic hops, capturing notes of passionfruit, resiny mango and grapefruit. A shortened fermentation with peachy yeast adds bright notes of juicy stone fruit.
We taste: passionfruit, stone fruit, peach and light pine
SCRATCH #380 Trail Day Dry Hopped Pale Ale
Step by step, our Scratch team has been walking toward a brand new pale ale, and our compass is pointing in this direction. A malt bill with more than 50 percent oats gives Scratch #380 a smooth mouthfeel, and unmalted wheat adds haze and props up the bright hop combination. Citra takes center stage with notes of passionfruit and lychee, Lotus adds hints of orange rind and vanilla cream, and El Dorado works with a new-to-us yeast to pull in flavors of candied peach.
We taste: peach, passionfruit, lychee.
Scratch #379 – Krausened Keller Pilsner
The delicate profile of a good pilsner leaves nowhere to hide. For Scratch #379, hot-steep tests with four grains pointed us to a pilsen malt that struck the right balance between earthy straw notes and a clean finish. One pound per barrel of Saaz, the quintessential Noble Hop, adds a delicate herbal layer. Finally, we krausened this beer, adding wort and fresh yeast as it finished up fermentation to create a soft, bready mouthfeel. When every ingredient comes through just-so, it’s pilsner perfection.
We taste: flowering herbs, fruity esters, earthy straw
Scratch #378 – Double IPA w/ Peaches & Apricots
We’re hot on the heels of a new Double IPA. An oat-dominated malt bill gives this beer a super-soft mouthfeel, and it’s loaded with 25 pounds per barrel of fuzzy peaches and apricots. A hop combo of Lotus, El Dorado and Azacca complements the stone fruit with notes of orange rind and pear, and a fruit-forward yeast pulls in flavors reminiscent of gummy peach rings.
We taste: juicy peach, orange rind, brown sugar
Scratch #376 – Passionfruit & Guava Tart Ale
This week’s small-batch Scratch release was born at the crossroads of a few styles and ingredients we’ve been diving into lately. Hornindal Kviek yeast (you might remember it from our recent Brut IPAs) ferments hot and lays down a base of dank pineapple and fruity esters. On top of that, we took a page from our Tart & Fruit Series and loaded this beer up with fruit – in this case passionfruit and guava.
We taste: a tart cross between strawberries and pears, pineapple, passionfruit
Scratch #375 – Coco-Nator
Early this year, we gave dozens of PA homebrewers a corny keg of Troegenator wort and challenged them to come up with a creative take on our iconic Double Bock. At our first Homebrew Hang a few weeks later, we chose our favorite: Coco-Nator Imperial Brown Ale from Kristen Richards of Harrisburg. We dug her beer so much that we worked with her to scale up the recipe, brewing and canning a Scratch batch of Troegenator conditioned on cocoa nibs, vanilla beans and toasted coconut. Here’s to Kristen!
We taste: caramel, coconut, sweet mash and vanilla
Scratch #377 – Oat IPA
With a malt bill dominated by oats and unmalted wheat, Scratch #377 has a soft, rich mouthfeel, laying a canvas that lets the hops shine. A combination of El Dorado, Citra and Mosaic gives us resiny mango, grapefruit and passionfruit notes, and a new-to-us yeast adds juicy notes of peach.
Scratch #375 – Coco-Nator
Early this year, we gave dozens of PA homebrewers a corny keg of Troegenator wort and challenged them to come up with a creative take on our iconic Double Bock. At our first Homebrew Hang a few weeks later, we chose our favorite: Coco-Nator Imperial Brown Ale from Kristen Richards of Harrisburg. We dug her beer so much that we worked with her to scale up the recipe, brewing and canning a Scratch batch of Troegenator conditioned on cocoa nibs, vanilla beans and toasted coconut. Here’s to Kristen!
We taste: caramel, coconut, sweet mash and vanilla
Scratch #374 – Oat Pale Ale
With Scratch #374, we’re doubling down on oats. To brew a beer with a soft, rich mouthfeel without caramel sweetness, we drew up a grain bill with more than 50% malted and naked oats. We have some new hop combinations in mind, and we’re starting with Azacca, Citra and Denali. Fermenting with Liberty Ale yeast contributes delicate fruity esters.
We taste: passionfruit, stone fruit, pineapple, pine
Scratch #373 – Lo-cal Session ipa
Scratch #373 represents take 2 on our low-cal challenge. This time around, we’ve tweaked the malt bill. The chit malt is out, and we’ve added pale and honey malts to push the color to a more golden hue while adding subtle sweet, toasty notes. The hops stay the same — Cascade, Chinook and Comet – and we’ve brewed this one with Liberty Ale yeast for its delicate fruity esters.
We taste: orange, grassiness, hint of toasted bread
Scratch #371 – BRUT ipa
Followers of our Scratch Series know we’ve been fine-tuning a super-dry yet soft and pillowy Brut IPA. It all starts with a malt bill of Bohemian pils, wheat, and flaked corn and rice. Hornindal Kveik yeast lays down a canvas of passionfruit and dank pineapple, and we double down on those overripe tropical notes with a dry-hop combination of Azacca, Comet and Galaxy.
We taste: overripe pineapple, bright tropical notes, passionfruit
Scratch #372 – Session ipa
The latest challenge our Scratch team has taken on is a low-calorie IPA that doesn’t compromise on flavor. The malt path that helps keep the calories down is a blend of Idaho pilsner malt, oats and chit malt. On top of that, we layered in the “C” hops: Cascade, Chinook and Comet, and we boosted the classic fruity notes of the hops with the pineapple-forward Hornindal Kveik yeast. In the end, we nailed 97 calories with fresh notes of grapefruit, pine and subtle spice.
We taste: grapefruit, pine, subtle spice
Scratch #370
In pursuit of a super-dry yet pillowy Brut IPA, we’re once again working on a canvas of Hornindal Kveik yeast, pitched at a higher-than-typical temperature to bring out overripe pineapple notes. This time around, we’re returning to the hop combination of Hallertau Blanc, Galaxy and Mosaic, but in different proportions. Hallertau contributes a subtle white grape character that amplifies the tropical-forward yeast, while Galaxy and Mosaic combine to add layers of citrus, passionfruit and mango.
We taste: ripe pineapple, bright citrus, subtle white grape
Scratch #367
Scratch #367 is a second take on krausening, a traditional yet not-often-used method to brew a pilsner. Krausening is the process of adding wort and fresh yeast to chilled tanks that are finishing up fermentation. This time around, we krausened a little quicker and at a slightly warmer temperature. Fermenting under pressure stresses the yeast a little and contains just enough of its subtle esters. It also adds a very fine carbonation.
We taste: a delicately complex balance of herbs, fruity esters and straw
Scratch #369
For our first beer aged in rum barrels, we brewed a big Belgian dark strong ale with candi syrup and Double Eagle malting’s caramel rye and rustic pale malt. Think big notes of caramel corn and bread crust. We fermented Scratch #369 with real mango, then put it in rum barrels for about eight months. Wow. To top it off, our baker whipped up a perfect pairing: Troegenator Popcorn Brittle. We don’t have much of the beer or the brittle, so make haste! Draft only, and only here at the brewery.
We taste: caramel, dark stone fruit, rum, sweet mango
Scratch #368
This is Blizzard of Hops… turned up to 11. For our third version of “Double Blizz,” we used a cooler temperature for the kettle hop additions, softening the character of the Centennial, Chinook and El Dorado. On the cold side, we dry-hopped with four pounds per barrel of Chinook and Galaxy. At 8.5% ABV, we’re into semi-hazy Double IPA territory, and we like it here.
We taste: huge citrus and pineapple notes, soft pine
Scratch #366
Somewhere between a Helles and a Maibock sits the Export Lager. Brewed with German malts including Bohemian Pils and Durst Vienna, Scratch #366 fermented super-dry and has a deliciously subtle straw aroma. We pulled in the renowned Augustiner Bräu yeast, a strain we haven’t used since our Harrisburg days. The yeast lets the malts shine and adds subtle ester notes. It’s a perfect counterpoint to all the big IPAs out there.
We taste: honey, graham cracker, soft winter barley
Scratch #364
The big, juicy, unfiltered IPA we brewed with Scott and Brendan from East End brewing in Pittsburgh is ready to go. This is a second take on our collab from April 2018, and we’re calling it PA Native. This time around we dialed back the whirlpool hops to soften the texture, and all of the pale malt, wheat and oats were malted right here in Pennsylvania by Double Eagle malting and Deer Creek malt.
We taste: in-your-face notes of pineapple and mango.
Scratch #363
With a few tweaks to our dry-hopping, we’re oh-so-close to a new IPA recipe. Dry-hopping with Citra and Mosaic delivers fresh notes of ripe grapefruit and mango, and El Dorado follows through with hints of pear and melon. A backbone of local rustic pale malt, oats and wheat adds a silky texture and a slight haze.
We taste: ripe grapefruit, juicy pear, hint of melon
Scratch #365
The slightly hazy Scratch #365 – the first beer from our small-batch series to be canned – brings together three of our favorite hops. Dry-hopping with Citra and Mosaic layers in notes of orange, grapefruit and melon, while Azacca in the kettle adds papaya and pineapple. Locally harvested rustic pale malt provides the backbone, while Liberty Ale yeast accentuates the hop bill with a hint of fruity tartness.
We taste: melon, citrus, pear
Scratch #362
This Scratch beer took a traditional (yet not-often-used) path to our taps. On a recent trip to Germany, we got a taste of a krausened pils and loved the ester notes from the lager yeast and the subtle aroma of traditional European hops. Krausening is the process of adding wort and fresh yeast to chilled tanks that are finishing up fermentation. That’s what we did with Scratch #362 to capture the carbon dioxide and subtle yeast aromas.
We taste: a delicately complex balance of straw, herbs and fruity esters
