Troegs Trail Day Dry-Hopped Pilsner

Hadn’t seen this yet, looking forward to grabbing a four pack.

 

It’s literally Sunshine Pils minus the Hersbrucker? hop.

 

And an extra 0.5% alcohol by volume.

 

Oh I was coming here to say “ hope it’s slot different type of pilsner than Sunshine Pils” because I’ve never been a big fan of that particular beer. But if it’s virtual the same beer with a slight tweak, than I’m not really too excited.

 

It's pretty darn similar, at least from an ingredient standpoint. Even a similar process, though I don't know if they're decocting and what their ferm temps/lager times are for each. Not going to stop me from grabbing some, though. Good cause, plus I'm a fan of Sunshine already and them making more lagers.

Might be a fun side by side, or blind side by side... Hmm....

"Troegs should make some more lagers, they're really good at that."
"Not that one, though."

 

There are some differences in this beer vs. Sunshine Pils:

• More malt (to achieve 5% ABV)
• Solely hopped with Saaz hops
• An additional hop addition: dry hopping

There is also mention: "as fermentation slows, we reintroduce fresh lager yeast, conditioning the beer..." A sort of krausening step? I am not aware if they do this for Sunshine Pils.

Maybe @oneraindog can join us in discussing Trail Day.

Cheers!

@honkey

P.S. There is also this aspect: "When you buy a Trail Day, you’re helping protect the Kittatinny Ridge, a 185-mile Appalachian superhighway that provides clean water, rich forests and safe passage for migratory wildlife." My wife and I enjoy hiking Hawk Mountain and The Pinnacle so I will be happy to support this cause. Beautiful scenery there!!

 

Took the words right from my keyboard!

Dry hopping a pilsner (or any lager, really) adds a different level of complexity, especially on the finish to set the beer apart from a non DH'd pilsner.

 

Do too much more "tweaking" (of the innovative/US-craft type) and is it still a "pilsner"?

 

FWIW, I found I enjoyed the krausened pilsners they did in the Scratch series the last couple of years more than Sunshine, and I believe the recipes for the ones I had were even more similar to it than this one is.

 

It’s dry hopped it should be an “italian pilsner”

 

Based on the Sunshine page on their site, it seems they do...

"Secondary fermentation creates natural carbonation that delivers soft notes of fresh-cut straw and flowering herbs."

Can't say that it definitively is krausening, but also can't think of another secondary fermentation type for a Pilsner off the top of the head...

 

I knew I remembered them mentioning it recently, here’s their post...

 

So, it is basically a dry-hopped Sunshine Pils.

 

basically maybe “literally” no

 

But there are other differences as I detailed above:

• More malt (to achieve 5% ABV)
• Solely hopped with Saaz hops

It will taste different for my palate and likely yours as well.

Cheers!

 

At the risk of harvesting nits....

You don't have to add more malt to get to that 5.0% from 4.5%.

 

Krausening is when towards the end of primary fermentation you add "strongly fermenting young beer" as was detailed by @jonphisher 's post #14 above. In contrast for the Trail Day they just made mention of new yeast being added. I suspect this is a 'typo' and they are krausening in a similar manner as they do for Sunshine Pils (as already discussed).

Cheers!

 

Yeah, and in my skimming around this thread.... I just assumed that the "new yeast" was coming along as part of the krausening. Could be wrong on that, and as you said...maybe a lost in translation kind of thing.