Tröegs Scratch 18

Formerly brewed at Tröegs Brewing Company
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania USA

Scratch 18-2009 thanks to JP174. Pours with a small, barely off-white head. Hazed golden to orange body below. Aroma isn’t to hoppy, slightly herbal and orange citrusy, but mainly malty with dry pear, and dough. Orange blossoms. Taste has some hoppy and orangy bitterness. Slightly spicy and doughy malt bill. Good stuff. Medium carbonation. Not as hoppy as I would have hoped, but makes for a good, strong pale ale.

Bottle. Pours clear orange with a large, fizzy, white head, lasting with excellent lacing. Aroma is heavy malt (bread, straw, cereal), heavy hop (flowers, citrus, pine), average yeast (dough, sweat) with notes of apple, pear, and pineapple. Medium bodied, sticky texture, lively carbonation, and a bitter finish. Long duration, light sweetness, moderate acidity and bitterness.

12oz bottle from Capone’s, Norristown, PA. Cloudy pour, nicely frothy body and some visible sediment. Seems earthy, real. Nose is very nice, with sharp and grassy hops playing around nicely with the rye, graced by a light citrus. Love the fact that they downplay the rye a bit, as it’s still very much a refreshing IPA, simply with a different bitterness profile. Solid mouthfeel, very drinkable.

Cloudy straw yellow color with some visible carbonation and floaties. Nice frothy white head that lasts for some time. Very good lacing. Aroma of hops, earthy, some pine. Flavor is unique-some hoppy bitterness up front with citrus undertones. Some dry rye on the backend. Decent beer.

Bottle. Thanks to Daknole for this one! Pours a hazy golden orange color with minimal head. Flavor threw me off for a second, definite IPA notes but with something else slightly earthy and dry. After looking at the description, yes, now it makes sense: RYE. This is an interesting take on the style and I think the rye adds a nice dry roasted rye chip flavor to the IPA experience. Not bad at all.

Bottle, thanks to WeeHeavySD for sharing! Pours a clear amber with a small bubbly white head. Hoppy aroma, of citrus, pine, and sugar. Taste of mild hops, malt, sugar, pine, and rye. Lingering light bitterness. Nice.

Bottle, served in a Duvel tulip. Light amber with very little head. Faint citrus smell and a hint of grain. The taste makes up for the lack of aroma though. It is medium sweet with a spicy component, some citrus and grass come through as well. Full bodied with low carbonation, very smooth. Finishes balanced, leaning ever so slightly to the dry side. Not quite what I was expecting but still good.

12oz bottle courtest of sholland119 poured into a snifter. Side-by-side with the Weyerbacher Echo in a Rye PA face-off. Pours a lighter golden amber with a huge fluffy white head that lasts for a long time and leave good sticky lacing on the side. The aroma definitely features some rye with a spiciness in the nostrils in addition to plenty of citrus hops and bready malts. The taste has a sweet citrus fruitiness up front with some caramel malts in the background. The rye doesn’t really feature a lot except for a bit of spiciness in the finish. The mouthfeel is smooth and medium bodied for the style. This is a slightly lighter version of a rye beer in comparison to the Weyerbacher. It leans more toward the IPA realm with hints of rye as opposed to a full-on rye beer. Nonethesless, it’s very tasty.