Scratch Beer 37 - 2010 (IPA #1 Of 4)
Tröegs Brewing Company

 

 

Review from tasting notes. Tasted August 2011.

A: Clear, light amber in color. Forms a bubbly off-white head. Some light lacing.

S: Smells grainy and alcoholic with a blend of grassy and earthy hops.

T: Pale malts, woody and earthy with a balsa-pine wood bitterness. Grainy. Finishes with an chemically bitterness.

M: On the lighter side of medium. Dry and chalky with good carbonation.

O: Simply note a very good IPA. I don't know when this one was originally released or how it tasted on the front end, but by August of 2011 it just was not a very good beer.

 

 

 

 

Served in a flared pokal.

Thanks to the Central PA group from the Gang Bang BIF for this bottle!

The Scratch Beer Dash hits its penultimate leg. The aforementioned pours a cloudy pale straw topped by a finger of off-white foam. The nose comprises wheat, lemon zest, coriander, and very light caramel. The taste holds notes of pine, caramel, light grapefruit rind, and a few slivers of balsa. The body is a light medium, with a light moderate carbonation and a sorta grainy feel. Overall, an okay IPA, one that doesn't really show off the hops as well as it probably could have once. Not really bad, though...

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 #37 uses Warrior, Cluster and Columbus (CTZ) 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 one has a disposition that takes on a sweeter characteristic at the end of the taste, earthier, not like the citrus in others.

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

Comparison to #37-#40: To start off with, all of the beers looked relatively similar with a golden caramel color and nice white lace left by a small head. Scratch #37 was just a touch lighter but featured similar clarity and active carbonation. Of all the four IPA’s, this was the least reminiscent of citrus, as the bitterness of the Warrior and particularly Cluster come off as more grassy and herbal. The slight difference in malt bill made this a bit lighter, with a kiss of sweetness but less caramel. This was my least favorite of the bunch, but was still a great beer for those who prefer more intricate and earthy tastes in their IPA’s.

Poured into a snifter. When I first had this, it was super fresh and incredibly dank, so much so that it was unrefined.

3.0 A: Hazed orange brownish color. Just a little over one finger of creamy off-white head that fell fairly quickly and left sparse touches of lacing.

3.5 S: Interesting. It's not hop forward anymore. It's not malt forward either though. Tropical fruits from the hops - pineapple, orange, some mango. Caramel malt is fairly intense and lightly bready.

3.5 T: Taste follows the nose, for the most part. Low to moderate bitterness, caramel malt, some breadiness, but otherwise clean yeast. Pineapple and orange of the strongest hop components along with some grassiness.

4.0 M: Medium body. Good moderate carbonation. Reasonably creamy and smooth.

3.5 D: I like what has happened to this beer since it was fresh. The hoppiness has decreased quite a bit, but the beer is much more refined now. I think a few of these scores could have easily been a half point higher.

Thanks to Chaney for sending this, as well as another Scratch beer

Pours a semi-foggy deep straw yellow. Excellent fluffy head with decent lacing. Smells a little phenolic with some non-ripe fruitiness to it (oranges and lemons). Taste is good, mainly with bitter orange peel dominating, very minor sugar malts, almost unnoticeable. Medium mouth and kinda juicy. A good and bitter beer, hard to get off of the bitter fruit peel flavour, that's how strong it was.

12 oz bottle poured into a Sierra Nevada imperial pint. # code on the bottom but no clear date or info listed on the bottle.

Thanks to Thorpe429 for another Scratch brew!

A - I watch helplessly as the floating sediment in the beer clouds up the pint. Somewhat foggy golden yellow in color with a short-lived, two-finger white head. Some good lace hangs onto the glass.

S - A solid malt base of pale, CaraPils, and pilsner malt seem to be the building blocks. A hint of boiled noodles, or something close to it, pokes in the background with a mineral scent too. The hops seem far too mild in this IPA, only offering light notes of grapefruit citrus zest and juicy pineapple. Slightly off-putting.

T - Instant malty sweetness on the tongue is gently washed away by hoppy bitterness. Pils malt is dominant again, flavor-wise, with slight hints of citrus hops but...

M - ...the hops really only show through their bitter finish, not actual taste. Smooth and soft but almost as if it's already lacking something, this medium-bodied IPA is gently carbonated.

D - Once again, it's a good thing this is only a scratch beer. While thankful to try something I've not had before, I wouldn't want this again. It's far too bland all around.

Strong head retention over a orange straw body with a good amount of haze and yeast floaties.
Oranges dominate the nose and pallette and make this a bit one dimensional. There are some burnt toast notes in here too.
When the sediment hits my mouth it's not pleasent, i love a good yeast pour but this stuff isn't apealing, shouldn't have poured it in but honestly didn't expect this much in an ipa.

Thanks to Decadance for providing this bottle.

IPA 1/4 Warrior, Cluster, Colombus Hops

Pours a hazy yellow orange. One finger fizzy white head fades rather quickly. A modest amount of lacing left clinging to the glass.

Grapefruit and orange juice aromas are quite dominant. Slight pine and citrus zest. With this being the first in the Scratch IPA subseries I would imagine the aroma is slightly more subdued than at its release. The aroma is pleasant but a bit dull.

Assertive hop flavor pierces the tongue. Thick layers of resinous pine and citrus pith lay heavy on the tongue. Sweet orange and hints of pineapple attempt to counter the heavy hop flavors but are simply not up to the task. Light bready malt, though the hops absolutely overshadow. The flavor is just very heavy on the characteristics I do not appreciate.

Medium bodied IPA with a decent amount of carbonation. The finish is fairly dry though a slight resinous flavor does dig in and linger.

This IPA is just not for me The overwhelming thick resinous hop flavor really killed it for me. Outside of that the beer was on the right track. I could drink this provided it was the best option but I would prefer to move on. I appreciate the opportunity to try this one, here's to hoping the next in the series is an improvement.

Enjoyable IPA, thanks to M.P. Pours medium golden, with a lasting foamy head. Smooth mouthfeel, this was very drinkable and with a well balanced bitterness derived from Warrior, Cluster, Colombus. IBU 85 is not so apparent, just an enoyable though high a.b.v. example of what can be done with an IPA.

Poured into a 16 oz. snifter.

A: Pours a hazy golden amber color with a thin, quickly dissipating head. Limited lacing.

S: Smelled a bit like cat urine with a bit of citrus/grapefruit mixed in.

T: Prominent spicy bitterness with a bit of lemongrass, almost no malt sweetness.

M: Fairly thin with spicy carbonation.

D: Pretty drinkable to be honest, I could drink a few.

Thanks to sonicwaveofbees for the opportunity to try this.

A: Cloudy orange color. Thin white head. Not a lot of lacing.

S: Different. Apricot and pear. Kind of sweet. Not bad, just different.

T: Follows the nose. Bready to me. Not really used to IPAs having a pear/apple type flavors. Residual sweetness in the aftertaste. Again, not bad..just different.

M: A little on the thin side.

D: I could drink a couple of these. The sweetness is a little turn off.

I really like the idea of the Scratch series of beers..Troegs going back to their roots. 37 was ok. Ticked.

Sean brought this one to our UFC 126 get together.

A - Boring straw colored beer with a flimsy looking head. It looks like a beer, so at least that's good.

S - Smells like water that someone may have dropped a pinecone in. Quite weak.

T - This actually tastes pretty bad, like rotten pine water. No real hint of malts, basically just some pine that has been watered down. Don't like this at all.

M - Light bodied, moderate carbonation.

D - Kind of hard to drink because of the horrid taste, don't drink this one.

12oz bottle provided by Sean, drank from a perfect pint glass... Pours a super ugly light clear straw. The head is watery, not much there... The aroma is the weakest part of this beer, totally dead, nothing on at all... The taste is ok, light pine, nothing new or fulfilling. I realize this is a touch old but not going anything for me. At this point I'd recommend passing on this.

Another hoppy treat from stormking47. We're burning through a few 12 oz. bottles tonight, so once again divvied up with my wife.

Into the Darkness snifter it goes. Pale orange that has never seen the light of the sun. Very odd smelt on this for an IPA. Pale malts, wheaty grass, medicinal herbs. Really.

Scratch 37 isn't up to the rest of this series; it's wince-inducing. My stomach growled in complaint after the first sip; no joke. Lemon, orange, pear, are mixed together but give off an awful, burnt cough syrup mixed with herbal lip balm flavor. Malt sweetness is overbearing, overdressed, with the same twang of doctor's office. The aftertaste is more of the same, with a little metal thrown in for good measure.

I am sorry, Troegs, I've really enjoyed many of the beers you've made, but my tongue, nose, throat, & stomach are reporting abject failure. I've seldom wanted to pour a beer after so few sips. Away with it, servants!