Jungle Jim’s (Fairfield, OH) had a Troegs Brewery (Harrisburg, PA) beer tasting last Friday. What can I say? All around good brewery with some innovative tastes.
For those who love wheat beer (Blue Moon a popular example) Troegs makes Dreamweaver Wheat. With an Abbey undertones I highly recommend this one. Although their ale was good, I would recommend the Hop Back Amber instead – a great ale with a nice hop to it with no hoppy aftertaste. For those who love a good lager, Troegs makes one of the better ones, Troegenator. If you are into hoppy beers their Nugget Nector fits the bill – if you don’t like hoppy you should definitely skip this one.
They brought along a couple of their small batch trials, all of which are named and numbered Scratch XX, and rarely available outside the brewery. Both were extremely well done and interesting, but too hoppy for my tastes. If you are into hoppy Rye beer you may want to hunt down a bottle of Scratch 18.
The best of the night, with an almost unanimous agreement, was the Mad Elf. Similar to the wonderful Bells Holiday Ale, but with a spice taste created without the use of any spices – all natural from the hops and malts. It’s going to be next to impossible to find, but if you can you will not be disappointed.