It sounds like Scratch # 26 didn’t come out quite the way it was planned and instead of becoming a regular Scratch beer, much of it was dumped and the barrel-aged portion will become a super-rare low volume brew house beer some time in the future.
From John:
So the point of our Scratch Beer series is to experiment with new styles, techniques, and ingredients, throw some stuff against the wall and see what sticks. Sometimes the beers turn out just like we hoped, like Scratch #4, which became Flying Mouflan (don’t worry, it will be seen again, sometime after we brew a whole lot more Nugget Nectar this year…). And sometimes, as in the case of Scratch #26, it doesn’t quite come out the way we wanted.
As we detailed in an earlier post, we wanted to brew a very caramelized Wee Heavy through an ultra-long wort reduction and kettle boil. Unfortunately, the beer didn’t have the caramel character we wanted, and so we have decided to dump the non barrel-aged portion of the beer. Trust me, even though the brewing team tasted the beer and decided it wasn’t quite up to snuff, it still hurts to dump a pretty good, and quite warming, beer. I feel bad for the billions of yeast cells whose work is now for naught.
On the bright side, we will do something with the barrel-aged beer, which got the thumbs-up from the crew. The wood character is nice, and it is becoming nicely rounded. Tentatively we’ve decided on racking the couple of barrels we have of it and kegging it off for our tasting room. We’ll let you know more about the super-duper-exclusive Scratch #26 as it develops. Till next time.
You announced this even before Troegs! Sorry about Scratch 26 but good job mybeerbuzz.
ReplyDeleteFigures, the one time Troegs brews something that (presumably) isn't a hops blast, it doesnt get released!
ReplyDeleteoh well, back to overhopping...
Tough assessment Anon. I guess I'd disagree that everything they produce is a hop bomb (not that there's anything wrong with hop bombs) and I'd have to give them props for not being happy with it and not releasing it. Don'tt forget brewing is an art and not completely a acience. Scan back thru the Scratch series and you'll find MANY non Hop-Blasts.
ReplyDeleteRight, I was exaggerating a bit but I do try most of Troegs beers and most of their releases are heavy on the hops-- even the porter, a style which doesnt really lend itself to overhopping. Only the rarely seen brown ale is hopped to style, imo. I would like to see more releases for those of us that enjoy a malty brew or more balance.
ReplyDeleteBut then again it's no secret that troegs beers tend towards the hop end of the scale. John is an avowed hop-head.
Yea I can agree with that Anon. I used to really enjoy their Oatmeal Stout and the coffee imperial stout Scratch was yummy too. Of course Troegenator is about as malty as they typically get, but a good scotch/wee heavy would have been interesting. Guess we'll see.
ReplyDeleteTroegenator isn't a hop blast! imho
ReplyDeleteYep taz...probably the malty-est non Scratch beer they've made recently.
ReplyDeleteTroegs doesn't even produce an IPA. Of all the breweries out there how can you accuse them of being hop-centric? That's a ridiculous assessment. Way to hide behind the anon to make it.
ReplyDeleteThere's been lots of chatter about Troegs actually producing an IPA...but so far i think that's all it is...chatter.
ReplyDelete