I had originally ran out to Harrisburg because I had to go to the DMV to renew my license, only to find out that I now have to go to Enola to renew my license and they are open Tuesday through Saturday (which… of course… today is a Monday). So I walked my dog along the Green Belt and the Riverfront, taking her over to City Island and back, and then decided I’d hit up ZeroDay Brewing. Well… I forgot they are doing the renovations and reconstruction on the old ZeroDay Brewery on Reily Street, and that their new current location doesn’t open til 4PM; so that was obviously a no – go. So I drove home, dropped off Leela, and met Drew and Andy at Troegs.

Sadly, they did not have a cranberry beer, so I only have a cranberry / lemon or lime or something gose I picked up from Urban Artifact for this year’s Thanksgiving. Typically, Troegs does a cranberry every year for Thanksgiving, usually a porter, sometimes something different, and I try to pick up a 4 pack or 6 pack or a crowler of it for the meal. Also, in recent months, it seems Troegs has also really slowed up on their scratch series. Pre-COVID they were doing a new scratch release every Thursday (or nearly every Thursday; and even sometimes doubling up and releasing two on a Thursday), but it seems now they have really slowed up their scratch series, and are releasing them intermittently.

So there was a bit of a dearth in ‘new’ beers for me to try at Troegs today. I was afraid I’d have to drink more when I got home just to hit my requirement of a new beer today, but, I am being a bit cheeky and calling my Mad Elf and Mad Elf Grand Cru picks as ‘new’ since they are technically the Mad Elf (2020) and Mad Elf Grand Cru (2020) vintages. Bit of a loophole… but I’m taking it.

Troegs has slacked a bit on their uptight mandates as well. No longer needing to check into the host and waiting for a text to be seated, and no longer having to “all be together” before seating, I was able to meet up with Drew and Andy who were already seated. Drew ordered a pork waffle thing (no clue), and Andy got fries, I just drank. I had a draft of the Grand Cacao, followed by the Coco-Nator, then the Mad Elf Grand Cru (2020) and the Mad Elf (2020). Funny thing – the very first beer review on the blog here was the scratch Coco-Nator released a year and a half ago – Scratch #375 – Coco-Nator. They then released it later last year as a new seasonal – Coco-Nator, and now its been re-released for the first time this year. And now, here I am, also enjoying a Grand Cacao that I will be doing as another review for Troegs on the blog. (And here I was just thinking to myself how it’s been a ‘hot minute’ since I’ve done a Troegs beer review.) Its almost like coming full circle….

The nice thing about doing the thirty blogs in thirty days thing, is that it gives me a chance to do a lot of reviews I might have skipped, and to really hit a lot of local breweries for the reviews. Getting to do a Tattered Flag one (The Pandalorian) as a recent local brewery beer review. You can see all of my November 2020 posts here: November 2020. Its fun to do a mix-up of local brewery reviews to get the name out and to help promote and because its obviously what I’m drinking, as well as doing some bigger name ones that are maybe from further away breweries or just bigger known beers or breweries, like the Yuengling Hershey Porter or Aslin’s Isolation Anniversary, or Elder Pine Brewing and Blending’s Villeinage.

Troegs Independent Brewing has always put out very strong beers, solid, hard to ignore, hard to hate beers. They are also the biggest local craft brewery in the Central PA area. One of the biggest producers in Pennsylvania, and the East Coast alone. They are often talked about, and one of the more well known breweries. So its great having them theoretically “right in our backyard”. When I was coming of age (of drinking…. legally) (at 21), they were the first real craft brewery that I got into (not counting Sam Adams) and was really the first brewery I visited and went to often. I don’t get to them as much as I used to, and there’s a ton more options now in the area, but they are still a solid brewery.

So let’s break down this latest seasonal beer from Troegs Brewing:

Beer: Grand Cacao
Brewery: Troegs Independent Brewing
Style: Stout – Milk / Sweet
ABV: 6.5%
IBU: None
Untappd Description:

Welcome to Grand Cacao. This deliciously decadent stout is built on a foundation of rich chocolate malt, caramel malt and roasted barley. Cold-steeping on Peruvian cacao nibs and natural vanilla doubles down on the smooth symphony of chocolate, and a splash of milk sugar delivers a velvety sweet and creamy finish.
We taste: milk chocolate, roasty grain, hints of sweet cream

As per usual with a stout, this is dark black, jet fuel black, Razor Ramon hair black. Stephen Hawking black hole black. Black as my….. (oh…. thats too easy….) ….anyway… moving on from the apt description of somebody’s heart and soul that I know….. This is a dark black beer. It had a nice creamy foam head to it, not big, but not small, nice carbonation, and nice lacing on the glass. Good bubbles that were diverse and varied in size.

The aroma is very chocolaty, very cacao, very baker’s chocolate. As me and Drew and Andy were discussing, like with the Yuengling Hershey’s Porter, which is a super sweet chocolate, we kind of (the three of us in consensus) agreed, that we prefer a more bitter baker’s chocolate to a chocolate stout. This smells just like that. This has more of the bitter, earthy, nib, roasted malt, chocolate smell to it.

Taste is surprisingly smooth, but its not the overly sweet Hershey’s syrupy / syrup taste that the above porter has. Despite this being smooth, silky, and creamy, its more of the bitter chocolate notes. The roasted malt and caramel also gives it a very deeper, darker tone and flavor, and brings out more of the bitter and earthy notes, rather than the sweet chocolate. That not to say that this isn’t sweet or creamy or smooth or silky, it is all of those things and more. I think there’s just more complexity to the flavor in that it provides a bitter chocolate taste, while being creamy and smooth and silk and sweet. A nice complexion and degree of difference between the vanilla and the bitter, between the sweet and the bitter, between the cacao nibs and the vanilla and milk sugar. This tastes more like the hot cocoa you get at a football game once the negative 10 degrees sets in fully and turns your hot cocoa into ….well… regular cocoa. Or the milk after a very chocolaty cereal and you ate all the cereal and are now draining the bowl of its chocolatey milk. This is also a pretty crushable drink too. I could easily down a six pack of the 12oz cans of these (thanks Deuane for the can by the way), or if they ever re-release it in four pack at 16oz cans, I could drink a few of them in that size as well. The 6.5% is pretty low (lower than Troegs own Perpetual IPA – their flagship and staple beer and IPA), so its enough to give you a good surprising buzz after a can or two, but not enough to send you hurting for a hangover the next day. (Jokes on my buddies too, telling me I’ll end up with a headache and hangover from the Mad Elf Grand Cru and Mad Elf I had after the Coco-Nator and Grand Cacao…. I don’t get hangovers anymore……..) A low ABV but high flavor stout is always perfect for the fall months and fall weather leading into the more wintry weather and months. This will go great for Thanksgiving and Christmas parties… I mean…. your own personal home get together’s of Thanksgiving and Christmas this year. Not sure if this will become a seasonal regular for Troegs or if this was a one-shot done deal, but if it does become a seasonal regular each year, I will certainly be looking forward to it. Make sure you stop out at the brewery for some of this, not sure if the cans are hitting the distributors or stores, but its at the brewery, and its also on draft at the brewery, so make sure you at least get a try of it before it disappears.

My Untappd Rating: ****
Global Untappd Rating: 3.87 (as of 11.23.20)

This turned into a rather longer winded beer review than I intended, but hopefully you stuck around for it, as its now dragged me from 11PM when I started this til just a wee bit after midnight – 12 – so I’m still counting this as upholding my ‘post’ for the day of the 23rd. (Especially since the time stamp and posting of this is based on when the article was started, so I fly by on a technicality there.)

Be sure to check out some of my other Troegs beer reviews:

• Beer Review: Haze Charmer (Troegs Independent Brewing)
• Beer Review: Scratch #417 – Orange – Lemon Peel IPA (Troegs Independent Brewing)
• Beer Review: Scratch #400 – Pre – Prohibition Lager (Troegs Independent Brewing)
• Multiple Beer Review: Scratch #394, Scratch #395, Scratch #396, and Mad Elf (Troegs Independent Brewing)
• Two Beer Review: Fresh Fest and Trail Day Pale Ale (Troegs Independent Brewing)
• Multiple Beer Review: Fest Lager, Scratch #385 Krausened Dunkel Lager, and Scratch #386 Tangerine – Passionfruit – Guava Tart Ale (Troegs Independent Brewing)
• Beer Review: Fuzzy Nudge (Troegs Independent Brewing)
• Multiple Beer Review: Scratch #382 Blackberry Lime Tart Ale, Scratch #383 Hazy IPA (Citra, Galaxy, and Simcoe), Dear Peter, and Naked Elf (Troegs Independent Brewing)
• Multiple Beer Review: Scratch #379 Krausened Keller Pilsner, Scratch #378 DIPA, Scratch #377 Oat IPA, and Scratch #376 Passionfruit and Guava Tart Ale (Troegs Independent Brewing)
• Beer Review: Scratch #375 Coco-Nator (Troegs Independent Brewing)

For those interested in the Trip to Indianapolis, you can read more through the following articles (some full length articles, some recap articles):

The Trip to Indianapolis – Full Articles:

• Day One: Thousand Steps Trail, Juniata Brewing Company, Ghost Town Trail, Levity Brewing
• Day Two:
• Day Three:
• Day Four:
• Day Five:
• Day Six:
• Day Seven:

The Trip to Indianapolis – Recap Articles:

• The Trip to Indy
• The Trip to Indy – Day One Recap
• The Trip to Indy – Day Two Recap
• The Trip to Indy – Day Three Recap
• The Trip to Indy – Day Four Recap
• The Trip to Indy – Day Five Recap
• The Trip to Indy – Day Six Recap
• The Trip to Indy – Day Seven Recap
• Recap and Stats

As always everyone, thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed the beer review and your time here at The Beer Thrillers. Be sure to like, follow, subscribe, and if you want, comment or ask any questions please feel free to do so. Love hearing from you all.

Also be sure to stay safe this Thanksgiving week, with COVID-19 and everything going on, this is going to be a tough week, and one where everyone needs to do their best to stay safe and healthy.

Cheers!

-B. Kline

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Today (Monday, 7.20.20) was the opening day for the brand new ‘The Englewood’ in Hershey / Hummelstown PA. So tonight after I got done at work (6PM) I made my way straight there to try it out.

The Englewood is a ‘craft brewery’, ‘restaurant’, ‘fine dining’, ‘live music venue’, and a ‘bar and tavern’ all kind of rolled up into one. Unfortunately, so far the ‘craft brewery’ portion isn’t “up and running yet”, but will be soon (I’ve been told, unofficially, that they should have their own beers on tap in about a month or so). In the meantime they have a relatively large cocktail and liquor (PA only) and a pretty limited beer menu. But, they have a very extensive and delicious food menu.

Before I go into the food and my little trip, I just want to note that this is just kind of a ‘brief trip’ view and not a full in-depth review of the restaurant (or brewery – for obvious reasons); something like that will be forthcoming in the future. I do just also want to note an interesting historical fact (for me personally anyway) – my Great Uncle lived and farmed on the land that is The Englewood and Cocoa Beanery while working for Hershey Dairy and Hershey Farms. I’m not 100% certain of how all the details of his work arrangement was; but he was the head farmer on the land and lived on property. My grandma took me to visit him (her brother) when I was very young and remember going in the barn and seeing the cows and the land. His name was Leroy Speck.

Ok…. moving forward.

I arrived sometime around 6:20-6:30PM. Masked up and walked in the main entrance. At the hostess desk she took my temperature and asked where I’d like to be seated, I said I had no preference and she asked if the deck was fine, I said certainly and off we went.

The back of the barn has a small width deck as well as a lower courtyard like area. Both had decent seating, though much more could be accommodated once we are through with COVID and capacity restrictions. The deck was slim in the area right behind the barn with larger areas on the ends.

Jen was my waitress and she did an absolutely wonderful job. I’m a pretty simple eater and knew pretty quickly from just looking at the menu what I wanted. I ordered the beef brisket. For beers; sadly with them not having their own on tap yet, their options were quite limited. They have a similar license as that of most craft breweries in PA where they can offer guest taps of other PA brewed beers. And similar to how Newfangled Brew Works opened without their beers on tap (due to the government shutdown), The Englewood did the same. Their beer menu consisted of Victory Golden Ale, Victory Dirtwolf IPA, New Trails Broken Heels IPA, Troegs Brewing Haze Charmer, and Troegs Brewing Perpetual IPA.

So not the biggest beer selection to start off with, and mostly ones that people in the area would have already have had numerous times; but on the flipside – ones that are also staples and well beloved so no bad picks to be found, just nothing new or out of the ordinary.

My food arrived promptly and was very delicious. The beef brisket was phenomenal and not very costly either at only 12$ it was enough to fill me up and give me some leftovers for later.

The Haze Charmer was good as always. It has quickly become one of my favorite Troegs offerings overall and its only been out since… February / March (2020).

From the deck you have a beautiful view of the area. You can see some of the research center in the background, as well as part of the walking path leading to Bullfrog Pond. To the corner, just out of view of my two pictures (there was a couple at a table in the way and didn’t want to be rude taking a picture) you can see the Life Lion helicopter pad – which actually took off while I was there.

It also looks like they have planted an orchard of some sorts just past the courtyard as well. So once they mature and bloom that will make an impressive and beautiful scenery. The courtyard area below the main deck also looks pretty and impressive with some interesting firepits and seating arrangements. The deck where I sat, possibly from being new or just how it was designed, was a bit …. ‘bouncy’, and not sure if that’s a good term, but I’m no architect or deck – planner. But when people would walk by on the deck, it was loud, and felt like the deck bounced underneath your seat.

I completely enjoyed my quick meal and quick time there. Got to read a bit, got to enjoy a delicious meal, and had a very tasty local beer while sitting out in the shade but with a gorgeous sunny view. Perfect for after 10 hours of work where I’m stuck inside the whole time. The music they played on the speakers had a nice ambience to the venue as well. The venue and restaurant, as well as the food, reminded me of The Mill in Hershey, so if you are a fan of The Mill as far as ascetics and food goes, you will certainly like The Englewood as well.

I definitely recommend giving them a try and checking them out. I’m sure you will love the food and its a beautiful venue. I can’t wait for when the brewery portion opens up and get to try their beers, and its nice that their local as well (just down the road from Bullfrog Pond, Cocoa Beanery, Hershey Medcenter, Lower Dauphin High School and Hummelstown Police Station), its great seeing more breweries and options opening up in the Hummelstown / Hershey area. This technically has a Hummelstown address but is located in Hershey / Derry Township. With Rubber Soul opening soon, as well as Howling Henry’s soon, and with stalwarts like Troegs Independent Craft Brewing and Iron Hill – Hershey, there is a fair amount of options just in the Hershey / Hummelstown area. And that’s not including the Rotunda Brew Pub on the edge of Hershey going into Campbelltown (Palmyra) or Boneshire Brew Works in Rutherford and Official BBQ and Burgers (Pizza Boy’s secondary location) in the back of Rutherford. There is also Newfangled Brew Works just off of Nyes Road as well. Of course there’s also the great breweries of Harrisburg like ZeroDay Brewing, The Millworks, The Vegetable Hunter, as well as Boneshire Brew Works’ Secondary Tap Room soon to open. So as you can see, there is definitely TONS of great options in the area.

All in all, as an “official” review from The Beer Thrillers, I enjoyed it, and definitely recommend it. As a brewery visit alone though, I have to say give it a month til they have their own beers on tap, but in the meantime, its a fantastic restaurant and venue.

Be sure to check out their website at: The Englewood – Hershey.

Cheers!

-B. Kline

Well this post was a bit of a long time in coming I suppose. This was meant to be worked on and written and finished many times throughout this week. Sunday night was the usual hang-out at Irgo’s Tavern with co-workers, so that night was definitely a no-go for writing this up. (Especially since then afterwards went back to a co-workers house and watched Elimination Chamber and left his house at 3AM.)

Monday night was a bit busy and hectic as well. A family member was taken to the hospital where she has been since. (Not coronavirus or COVID-19, so don’t worry, I’m not infected. Obviously, I mean no offense to anyone, I’m just using humor to keep things together and keep the stress at bay, much like I use this blog itself.) Tuesday night after work, was the annual co-worker fantasy draft. Typically what ends up happening at these drafts is – my co-workers get my pretty good and drunk and they let me draft for a person who can’t make it. Inevitably that team lands Top 3. Doesn’t matter the sport, baseball or basketball (the ones we do). I don’t even watch basketball, NBA, college, whatever, so I know next to nothing about it, yet the one year I drafted the team that ended up winning. (The guy only made 5 roster moves all season.) I even drafted a guy with the last name DUDLEY solely because I liked the Dudley Boyz; ECW / WWE / TNA / ROH / etc. tag team.

Yesterday (Wednesday) was spent at the hospital. With the daughters. And doing a host of other things; which also consisted of my oldest daughter’s first softball practice of the season. I had walked a combined total of 9 some miles. And this was on a day where I only got home at 4:15 from the festivities the night before. (The fantasy draft, then led to going to a bar doing Irish Car Bombs, then led to hanging out for a bit before getting home.) So needless to say, the week quickly went by and we find ourselves here at Thursday morning.

Not sure how we got here, but all I know is, we made it to this point, and its about time I do this review, and owe it to you guys. You’ve been patiently waiting, so its time I get around and get writing! (I’d say “get off my fat butt”, but I sit to write, so I literally have to sit ON my fat butt to write it.)

So where do we find ourselves at? Ahh yes, reviewing some New Trail beer. Friday night while waiting out my youngest’s ballet class, I was at Funck’s Restaurant in Palmyra. They have a pretty heft selection (56 taps). Found two good New Trail beers on tap, and enjoyed them both immensely. Now, sometimes in the past I’d do this as a double-beer review, and I’m even thinking of doing it now…. but I think I’m going to hold off and make this two separate beer reviews. (In the past I’ve done “Two Beer Review” and “Multiple Beer Review” posts; especially when its the same brewery, at the same location, drank at the same time.) I think going forward with the blog I’m going to restrain from doing that (except perhaps in particular circumstances). I’ll do multiple beer review posts for beer flights I have at breweries, and outside of that always keep it to single beer reviews.

Thus this will be a single beer review and I’ll first cover Icicle by New Trail Brewing; the next post will most likely be the Sticky Barrel Aged Porter I also had by New Trail Brewing there at Funck’s. (Unless I decide to split it up with another beer that I’ve had.)

Let’s get to this!

Beer: Icicle
Brewery: New Trail Brewing Co.
Style: IPA – New England
ABV: 7%
IBU: None Listed
Untappd Description: Icicle is a Hazy IPA brewed with a blend of oats, wheat, & spelt. Drippingly hopped with Simcoe, Amarillo, & Centennial. Expect luscious citrus flavor mixed with that earthy green. Enjoy the long thaw with us.

One thing that can be said for New Trail; they pretty much deliver spot on with their descriptions. If they say a beer tastes like 1930s bubble-gum wrapped in bacon with a hint of ranch dressing; then you better believe thats what it’ll taste like.

Appearance for this is typical straight up hazy New England IPA. (Which is pretty much typical for all New Trail beers; IPA at least; which is their bread and butter anyway.) Turbid, dank, murky, dark orange to orange juice in hue. My friend (D. Scott) ordered the same as his second beer, and his looked a bit more brighter and fluorescent than mine, but same similar appearance, and both very dank and hazy. Certainly no clarity with these beers. Slight bit of sediment, but nothing to extreme.

Aroma is hop… hop… hop bomb through and through. Citrus and strong tropical notes but all hop and all day and all throughout hop. Strong citrus, strong tropical fruit, some stone fruit, late notes of grass.

This is a New Trail IPA, through and through; meaning be prepared for a juicy, strong hoppy, New England hazy style IPA. There is no denying they know their style and ability to make these are great, but you know all this going in, and they confirm it with each new IPA they release. Your not going to get a bad IPA from them… but, overall you also probably are not getting a massive variety of IPA from them. Insofar as I mean that their substituting a few hops for a few different hops and you get a more X (say citrus) flavor and then in the next one you get more Y (say stone fruit) or something similar. They are all GREAT and AMAZING beers. I’ve yet to have had a West Coast IPA from them (not sure if they’ve even made one and released one). And like I’ve said, I’ve yet to have had a BAD beer from them. I do think with NE-IPAs that they all tend to flow together. Substitute Hop 1X for Hop Y, meanwhile keeping hops Hops 2X and 3X the same, and then in beer 2, you substitute Hop 2X for Hop Y2, etc. For just subtle, slight, nuanced variations. But they sell, and they sell good, and you can keep re-naming them all too, and super inflate your ultimate Untappd, Beer Advocate, and other beer rating platform totals. Its a great marketing idea. This isn’t a hounding on them or hating on them, just something I’ve noticed with them, and a few other breweries have done the same. Its not a horrible practice, in fact its downright smart. But enough of that, lets talk the flavor of THIS particular beer.

Like the description says, you are getting oats, wheat, and spelt; so you are getting a hazy, dank, juicy IPA. Haze. Craze. For hops they used simcoe, amarillo, and centennial, giving this a massive amount of tropic flavor. Immediately on sipping you get the tropical juice, up front, coming straight at you, then it leads itself into a bit of stone fruit, a bit dryer, a bit off the sweet side, nothing tangy, nothng off, nothing bitter, but then it ends in the earth, giving you a bit of a grassy, green, earthy finish. Like working through a weird and exotic forest; starting with tropical fruits then seguing into stone fruits before you finish on the forest floor getting the grass and earthyness. This is certainly a fun, full, luscious beer. Its nothing too dry, sweet, or cloying, its just right all over. A fun, tasty beer all around.

My Untappd Rating: ****
Global Untappd Rating: 4.07 (as of 3.12.20)

As I said at the start of this, sorry for the delay in getting this blog post out, as I’m sure you can all understand why. Depending on my night, I might do a second (I know I say this a lot and then it doesn’t happen), or I might fire one off before work tomorrow morning. Saturday, all fingers and toes and other appendages crossed, I will be attending the Kegs & Eggs at Rotunda Brewery / The Batdorf. J. Doncevic will also be there. You can find the event listing here: Kegs & Eggs 2020. Money goes towards Elliot’s CP Journey. So come on out and support a good cause.

In other blog news, I edited the Haze Charmer article to include the links and articles like I said I would at the end of it. Forgot to do that on initial release of the post.

Thanks for reading everyone!

Cheers, prost, and slainte!

-B. Kline