The Drafting Room 11th Anniversary Ale
Tröegs Brewing Company

On tap at The Drafting Room in Springhouse. Nice hoppy aroma, reminded me of what first drew me to the IPA league (oh how I wish I could get Ballantine again to compare). This I could drink again, but it appears to be in short supply at this point. Tasty and enjoyable.

Sampled during the release of the Drafting Room 12th Anniversary Ale at TDR Exton. Clear, caramel amber coloured beer poured with a thin, light beige head. Good retention and nice lacing. Biscuity, caramel malt aroma with a strong hop componenet (piney, citrusy, floral). Balanced to bitterness, a mild caramel maltiness provided some counterpoint. There was also some pine and biscuity character. Medium bodied, not too dry, with moderate carbonation. Solid mouthfeel. This beer has held up really well - very tasty and still with a lot of hop flavour and aroma. A treat!

This was the first beer that I had on my recent visit to the Drafting Room in Springhouse, PA; and I was surprised that my girlfriend liked it so much that she ordered her own pint.

It was delivered with a decent head atop a clear orange-copper body but the head retention was only good, not great; and the lacing about the glass was minimal. Hops were perceptible in the nose, atop a caramel kissed maltiness. We both percieved it as being more of a "Denver-ish" beer (based on my suggestion) than a more highly hopped West coast ale. (And since she lived in Denver for several years, I have to give that some credit). It was smooth and crisp in the mouth with a standard carbonation and medium body. The flavor followed suit with the nose, and it's a very drinkable, superbly balanced beer that offers a nice caramel-tinged maltiness that's threaded with lightly citrusy and grassy/piney hops. Overall, it's a decent, hoppy brew that really has a good deal of drinkability to it despite it's alcohol content (the alcohol NEVER shows!).



Taste continues the muted ways of the nose. Gone is the apricot and tangerine, replaced with a far more herbal crack of hops on the palate. The fruit disappears due to a lack of malt depth and sweetness here -- it isn't supporting things as much as I'd like it. There certainly had to be a good amount of grain in the mash tun, however -- a noticeable warming of the chest occurs with each sip, and brief alcohol flashes are felt at times, lending a little sharpness to the hops. The finish is a little dank, dude, and nice hop burps occur minutes later.

Seems to be a beer that can't decide between being an IPA and a Double IPA, and, as Goethe said, "Indecision brings its own delays, and days are lost, lamenting over days."

On-Tap at TDR, Spring House. This one is pretty damn nice, but not as nice as I was expecting as a couple of guys I talked to in Harrisburg, REALLY, hyped this one up. It probably would have impressed me more, had I not sampled the excellent Dead Reckoning Porter on Draught and Cask just a few weeks earlier. Anyways. This is a nice looking brew. Dark reddish/orangey amber with a nice head of off-white foam that leaves sticky lace and has excellent retention. Aromas are some 'C' hops and nice malts in a good biscuity unison. The aroma is a little one-sided for my liking, but the 7% is pretty much un noticeable. The taste is nice, good hopping all around and a good malt balance, that is doughy and french-bread like with a bit of added complexity as well. The hops are forceful but round out in the middle and come back for the finish, which is juciy and than dry, but the hops are still kept in check to some point and hop burps are pretty weak. Burp. Mouthfeel is medium bodied, drinkability is nice as well. Losing an edge already? Perhaps, similar to a toned down nugget nectar, this was probably much better the day it was released, and it's probably better on cask too. I never had the 10th anniv brew from the two brothers in Harrisburg, but that seemed a bit more raw, and high octane from reviews I have read and people I have talked to. As it is this is a nice, pretty hoppy, but extremely well-balanced IPA or double pale ale that is extremely quaffable and small session worhy. A nice job, indeed.

I had REALLY high hopes for this beer after last years 10th turned into one of my favorite beers of the year.

At first I had a 10 oz of this beer side by side with a 10oz of the 10th...both from the cask. The 10th has aged really well, was a bit softer than I remembered, but really was in a class above the 11th.

So I went back and had the 11th off the tap and got a better appriciation for this year's brew. This beer has an amazing color right from the start, but the head dissapears quickly.

It is highly drinkable and has a slight fruity unertone to it that reminded me of something in the peaches/nectarine ballpark. A solid IPA that has nice mouthfeel despite the quikly dissapating head and lack of significant lattice.

Recommended, just realize it may not be able to live up to the glory of the 10th anny.

Ah, the first cask pull of Anniversary Ale.

Pours an absolutely beeeautiful crystal-clear sunset orange. This baby literally glows. Can't give it a 5 though, as the small head falls as fast as it rose, and there isn't very much lacing at all.

Aroma is muted, but noticeably hoppy, with deep dried apricot and candied tangerine peels. I'm guessing it's American malt as the backbone...doesn't have that MO touch. Very clean, but at the same time, nothing jumps out at you.

Taste continues the muted ways of the nose. Gone is the apricot and tangerine, replaced with a far more herbal crack of hops on the palate. The fruit disappears due to a lack of malt depth and sweetness here -- it isn't supporting things as much as I'd like it. There certainly had to be a good amount of grain in the mash tun, however -- a noticeable warming of the chest occurs with each sip, and brief alcohol flashes are felt at times, lending a little sharpness to the hops. The finish is a little dank, dude, and nice hop burps occur minutes later.

Mouthfeel was the big disappointment here. Yes, it's cask-conditioned, but even for a beer with low carbonation, the mouthfeel is thin. There's a noted difference between low carbonation, and a beer that has a thin body to begin with, regardless of dissolved CO2. This has a very very thin body to begin with, almost to the point of making some elements astringent, and it detracts from the other parts of the brew.

Drinkability is hurt by a few misteps here and there, but I'll certainly try this again, and next time, on pressurized draft, as opposed to from the cask. I don't think that will change my opinion too much, though.

All in all, a very young brew (tasted on its first day out of the gate), and perhaps it needs some more time. Seems to be a beer that can't decide between being an IPA and a Double IPA, and, as Goethe said, "Indecision brings its own delays, and days are lost, lamenting over days."

I'm lamenting over the state of this year's brew, but I'm not giving up on it yet.