Scratch Beer 40 - 2010 (IPA #4 Of 4)
Tröegs Brewing Company

Scratch Beer 40 - 2010 (IPA #4 Of 4)Scratch Beer 40 - 2010 (IPA #4 Of 4)
Beer Geek Stats | Print Shelf Talker
From:
Tröegs Brewing Company
 
Pennsylvania, United States
Style:
American IPA
ABV:
8.1%
Score:
83
Avg:
3.62 | pDev: 14.36%
Reviews:
51
Ratings:
59
Status:
Retired
Rated:
Apr 28, 2016
Added:
Dec 30, 2010
Wants:
  0
Gots:
  0
For the end of this four-beer IPA series, we pulled out some hop warhorses—Cascade and Amarillo—and incorporated a new favorite—Citra—into the mix. Following a similar grain bill to Scratch #38 and #39, #40 is a hazy orange beer with an off-white head, and plenty of hops to spare. In fact, this could be a Troegs record as more than three pounds of hops were added to each barrel brewed! Bready Munich malts and ample dry-hopping with Citra and Cascade hops gives #40 a sweet and tropical citrus aroma, akin to a hoppy Orange Julius, while a huge Amarillo hop addition in the kettle provides a long, lingering bitterness. This cycle of uber-hoppy beers has been a blast for us to brew and drink, and gives us plenty of beer for thought as we devise future hoppy concoctions.
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Photo of rodbeermunch
Reviewed by rodbeermunch from Nevada

3.03/5  rDev -16.3%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3
Hits those mundane earthy dull orange spots, 1/5" white head. Aroma didn't drop the hops, especially Citra.

Taste was older, woody, almost had an English like presence despite the use of proprietary American hops. Bitter, earthy, hot 8% that is more like a double than a single ipa.

Drank in 2011.
Apr 28, 2016
 
Rated: 3.75 by DrBier from Pennsylvania

Jul 11, 2014
 
Rated: 3 by t0rin0 from California

Mar 04, 2013
 
Rated: 3 by AgentZero from Illinois

Dec 06, 2012
 
Rated: 3.5 by yergermeister from Pennsylvania

Apr 18, 2012
 
Rated: 4 by IdrinkGas from Pennsylvania

Jan 04, 2012
 
Rated: 5 by chcfan from California

Nov 16, 2011
 
Rated: 4 by Lawnboy33 from Massachusetts

Nov 14, 2011
Photo of corby112
Reviewed by corby112 from Pennsylvania

3.3/5  rDev -8.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
Draft at Johnny Brenda's.

Pours a slightly cloudy dark amber color with copper edges and a 1.5 finger frothy off-white head that quickly settles into a lasting ring. Minimal spots of lacing left behind.

Earthy hop aroma with lots of soily pine character along with very faint citrus and a prominent malt presence. Lots of resinous pine needle along with hints of grass, caramel and biscuit.

Medium bodied with a blast of dry, bitter hops up front that lingers over the malt backbone into a long dry finish. Hints if grass, soil and pine but the hop profile is a bit one dimensional. Little to no sweetness to balance out the resinous dry flavor. Malt backbone is a bit stronger than I prefer with lotsnod toffee and caramel. Overall not a bad beer but sort of one note and not too interesting.
Sep 03, 2011
Photo of FeDUBBELFIST
Reviewed by FeDUBBELFIST from Pennsylvania

3.65/5  rDev +0.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5
Released on 1/6/11 and sampled on 1/26/11. 12 oz bottle to tulip.

A: A 1 finger off-white head with decent retention on the pour. Medium-dark, somewhere between rustic orange and burnt sienna. The body goes completely cloudy when backlit, but is otherwise 90 opaque. Randomly slung lacing sticks in a minimal amount.

S: A bready malt backbone is mixed with a citrusy hop bill featuring a generic orange aroma and flavor. Dry hopped with Citra and Cascade.

T: The flavoring hops includes Cascade, Amarillo & Citra. Additional flavors of mango and persimmon come forth, presenting dominant tropical flavors who's sweetness competes with a substantial bitterness and unmistakable trace of alcohol.

M: Medium-full, the beer rolls gently over the tongue. Perhaps slightly undercarbonated, the texture is slick, alcoholic and slightly cloying. Lightly sweet and somehow a little acidic also (?).

D: Nothing particularly special.
Sep 02, 2011
Photo of Chaney
Reviewed by Chaney from District of Columbia

4.05/5  rDev +11.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4
I've had Scratch beers 37, 38, and 39 (the IPA experiment), but have not sampled this one (the last of the 4). Leave it to SamuelJackson45 to play the guessing game and guess right. Thanks Leon!

A: Pretty cloudy and dark... almost caramel-colored even, with a huge mildly off-white head that retained itself throughout the session. This definitely looked like an IPA.

S: More sugar than citrus, and I could almost make speculations about the glass lacing based on the nose... but I'll get to that in a moment. Unfiltered for sure, with tons of yeasties floating around.

T: Very unusual. It almost had a sort of nuttiness imbedded in the hop profile. Was this intentional? This was not the sugar bomb I was expecting based on the nose. While still very sweet, the hop bitterness was especially strong with this one. Citra, Cascade, and Amarillo... What could go wrong?

M: Very thick. By far the thickest of the IPA series so far, and if I were tasting this blind, I would have pegged this as a DIPA, with a much higher ABV. A bit boozy, but still not too offensive, and the lacing was fairly ridiculous.

O: As of this review, Scratch #40 only has a "B" overall average, yet it has been my favorite of the bunch.
Jun 13, 2011
Photo of mikesgroove
Reviewed by mikesgroove from South Carolina

4.17/5  rDev +15.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4
It was the scratch beer festival night! i had spent a good deal of time collecting these and finally tracked down the last of what i needed and put them all down in a massive tasting. Split with my brother in law and his buddy on 5/6, these were all split into 6 ounce samplers.

Poured cloudy amber with a frothy white/creamy head and some decent lacing. Smell was a citrus hops, mixed with a malty caramel thta makes this smell quite balanced. Taste was definatly hoppy, and again had that bit of caramel, and some spiceness about it. Very nice dry finish and not overpowering on the hops. This is a good session beer and will definatly have more
May 20, 2011
Photo of thagr81us
Reviewed by thagr81us from South Carolina

4.24/5  rDev +17.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4
Big thanks goes out to bs870621345 for multiple bottles of this one as extras in a past trade! Served from bottle into a Stone nonic. Poured a golden yellow-orange with a one finger bone white head that subsided to a half finger quickly. Maintained nice lacing throughout the glass. The aroma was comprised of sweet malt, orange zest, citrus, and citrus hop. The flavor was of sweet malt, citrus, orange zest, lemon zest, and citrus hop. It had a medium feel on the palate with mild carbonation. Overall this was an excellent brew. Great aroma and flavor going on here. The citrus in this one was very prominent and quite enjoyable. The zest was a really nice touch and made the beer for me. Nice job on this one guys! You need to try it, as you won't regret it.
May 04, 2011
Photo of JamnesCameron
Reviewed by JamnesCameron from Illinois

3.65/5  rDev +0.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
Poured into a MJ tasting glass. Pours a hazy copper with a huge light tan head that drops after a few minutes, leaving lots of lacing.

Aromas of juicy fruit, pineapple, green grapes, fresh mowed grass.

Flavors of fermented pineapple, tannic green grapes, grapefruit zest. Some alcohol heat.

Mouthfeel is medium, with a mouthcoating bitterness, astringent, drying. Good level of carbonation. Some warmth from the alcohol.

Overall a good IPA. Some interesting flavors.
Apr 28, 2011
Photo of jampics2
Reviewed by jampics2 from Ohio

4.03/5  rDev +11.3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
On tap @ the Winking Lizard. Mike Watters from Troegs was nice enough to bring us out a few kegs, namely the Scratch IPA series (37-40) for a nice little tasting event. Thanks for hooking this up, and thanks to John and Kev for hosting!

Scratch #40 uses Citra, Cascade and Amarillo Hops.

All of these beers look damn good, with excellent color, clarity and head retention. They are all a golden caramel color and have great white head and lace.

This batch adds to the hop experience with lemony Citra hops, making it bitter but almost with a touch of tart fruitiness.

The mouthfeel is great, with just enough malt to avoid wateriness and excellent carbonation levels.

Comparison to #37-#40: Scratch #40 reminded me a lot of a fruit bowl, with huge lemon and grapefruit notes from the Citra and Amarillo. Like all the beers, this featured a nice drinkability due to the moderately bitter but clean finish. This was clearly my second favorite of the group as the Citra hop made it brighter than all the others. It also has the highest ABV of any of the beers at 8.1% but that was barely detectable.
Apr 20, 2011
Photo of younger35
Reviewed by younger35 from Minnesota

3.88/5  rDev +7.2%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
I’ve had this brew sitting in the beer fridge for quite some time and for some reason never got around to it. Figured now was as good a time as any. Drank from my Stone India Pale Ale flute while watching the Masters.

Appearance- Pours a fairly clear orange yellow with a big beautifully frothy one finger off-white head. Surprisingly not much of a cap is left after a few minutes but a small collar is maintained that fails to leave lacing.
Smell- Fairly potent nose as a estery sort of warmth permeates out of the glass from the aggressive alcohol. Somewhat fruity, somewhat grassy the nose has a little something of everything. Grapefruit and pineapple (mostly) with hints of green grapes and freshly cut lawn. The touch of malt isn’t lost though as a bit of that crystal malt cuts through adding just the lightest touch of toasted caramel.
Taste- Starts with a bite of green crab apple and orange peel before being swept away by a fairly big malt backbone. Bitter but not overwhelming from the start with maybe a touch of grapefruit as well. The finish is toasted and lightly sweet with plenty of caramel. It even has this sort of barrel aspect with touches of vanilla. Very strange.
Mouthfeel- Usually when you can smell the booze as much as you can in this beer the mouthfeel is pretty thin. This has a nice creaminess to it though and a very light bit of carbonation.
Drinkability- Not too bad, especially for a Scratch brew. I haven’t been overly impressed with any of these beers (especially the Belgium’s and IPA’s) but this one is solid. I usually don’t like malt getting into my IPA’s either but it’s minimal in this beer and works out well. I can’t remember who sent me this beer but I appreciate it!
Apr 10, 2011
Photo of jsvt
Reviewed by jsvt from Vermont

2.38/5  rDev -34.3%
look: 3 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.5
12 oz bottle poured into snifter.

Amber, like the ancients.

Pineapple burnt candied orange peel. not much hops on the nose, candy apple.

Really sweet on the mid palate and not much hops to taste.

Slight, ever so sight bitterness on the palate.

Not sure if not too fresh, but not reminiscent of an IPA to me.

Sweetness led to not great drink ability.
Mar 19, 2011
Photo of kzoobrew
Reviewed by kzoobrew from Michigan

3.97/5  rDev +9.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
IPA series #4/4 Citra, Cascade, Amarillo

Heavily hazed orange with light sediment floating. Half finger white head that fades rather quickly. Scattered sticky lacing clings to the walls.

Very citrusy aroma. Strong tangerine and pineapple along side assorted citrus and tropical fruit. Slightly resinous hop aroma. Very subtle malt, very much in the background.

The flavor does not have the strong citrusy burst, it does have a pleasant punch though. Plenty of the tropical and citrus backed by a slight pine and pith hop profile. The grain bill is soft bready flavor providing a nice base but not interfering with the hops.

Medium bodied IPA with lively carbonation. The full hop flavor gives the impression of a slightly bigger body. The finish is fairly dry though the hop flavor lingers slightly.

I enjoy this beer, I could see this as an everyday drinker if it were available as such. Easy drinking, hop forward and pleasant flavor.
Mar 09, 2011
Photo of KickInTheChalice
Reviewed by KickInTheChalice from Illinois

3.53/5  rDev -2.5%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
Poured from a 12 oz. bottle into a tulip.

Appearance: Pours a dark and murky tangerine color with plenty of yeast floating throughout. A rocky eggshell head fades rather quickly to a ring.

Smell: Lot of citrusy hops, with some lightly toasted malt. Mostly orange, with tangerine, apricot, and a little grapefruit to support.

Taste: It starts with a lightly sweet and toasted malt and quickly moves toward the juicy citrus hops. Orange actually controls the hops, with some apricot and tangerine next. Grapefruit leads in a harsh ending bitterness that actually brings a grassy flavor as well. The ending is a little off, but the rest of the flavor is solid.

Mouthfeel: Starts juicy with the candied citrus fruits, but it dries out a little bit toward the end. Medium carbonation with a full-feeling body. Somewhat sticky.

Drinkability: Overall the Scratch IPA's have not blown me away.
Mar 08, 2011
Scratch Beer 40 - 2010 (IPA #4 Of 4) from Tröegs Brewing Company
Beer rating: 83 out of 100 with 59 ratings