Troegs Brewing Company is teaming up with Churchkey to put out a vertical tasting of their Scratch series IPAs on January 25 at 6pm. Four different versions of Scratch (#37-40 for those of you playing at home) will be on draft. Troegs rep Pete Showvaker will be on-hand to chat up thirsty craft beer fans and reward them with glassware.
Here’s a little on the four beers from Troegs:
Scratch #37 India Pale Ale (Warrior, Cluster, Columbus hops)
Scratch #37 is the beginning of a journey into hops. After brewing Citra of Brotherly Love and Fresh Hop Ale, we decided to do a little hop market research and see what makes our collective tongue tingle.
Scratch #37 features Warrior and Cluster hops with a touch of Columbus. It pours a bright gold with a white cap and soft carbonation. Ripe fruits are present on the nose, and continue in the flavor giving a lush tropical, papaya-like flavor. This ample bitterness is offset by sweet Munich malt that lingers through each taste.
Scratch #38 India Pale Ale (Centennial, Chinook)
The hop “research” continues in the Scratch Series with #38, our second of four Imperial Pale Ales. Featuring Centennial and Chinook hops, #38 adds a heavier malt bill and pours a brilliant golden amber with a creamy off-white head that leaves abundant lacing down the side of the glass. Unfiltered like nearly all of our Scratch beers, #38 has stunning clarity: even our lab guy thought we filtered this one!
Due to some serious dry-hopping, #38 has a predominantly grassy citrus nose, and the flavor follows suit, overwhelming nearly all the bready Munich malt used in this brew. #38 leaves a lingering grassy bitterness on the tongue, making sure you know a lot of hops were sacrificed for this brew. Two down, two to go. Enjoy!
Scratch #39 India Pale Ale (Simcoe & Palisade)Scratch Series #39 is the third installment of our IPA mini-series, experimenting with yet another pair of hops—Simcoe and Palisade.
We’ve replicated the malt bill from #38, tweaking only the hops for this aggressive IPA. With an orange-amber body and off-white head, #39, drops brilliant in a glass. We have not filtered this beer to keep the hops as intense as possible. #39 screams a pine-citrus aroma courtesy of the intense Simcoe hops, and follows through with a blast of piney-flavor thanks to the Palisade hops. Just a touch of malt sweetness comes through.
Scratch #40 India Pale Ale (Cascade, Amarillo, Citra)
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.
Be sure to stop by Churchkey and get your hops on with Troegs. This sounds like a vertical you definitely won’t want to miss. Plus, you could always use more glassware right?
