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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Sadly, yesterday, was my first time getting to use the curbside to-go feature from Troegs Brewing in Hershey. I had been wanting to use it nearly daily since opening, but unable to actually do it. All of the food has looked amazing, and I have heard absolutely nothing but amazing things about their pizzas; from D. Scott, J. Miller, and A. Parys, all recommending the pizzas. In fact, you can read A. Parys’ article about their excellent curbside to-go and why it makes Troegs Brewing a fantastic quarantine brewery: “What Makes a Great Quarantine Brewery?“.

I have been wanting to stop in and get all of their various scratch beers, and sadly, this has been my first scratch beer since Scratch 404. So yea, needless to say, I’ve missed out on quite a few scratch beers, something that would not have happened pre-coronavirus / COVID-19. One of my favorite things was to stop in at the Troegs Brewery and get a flight of 3-4 different scratch offerings and sample them while reading and check them off. And they have been putting out some stellar scratch offerings during this lockdown / quarantine too. Scratch 406 looked great – a sweet coffee milk stout; a style I love, and then scratches 409, 410, 411, 412, 414, 414, and 416 were all various styles of hazy IPAs and DIPAs. New England IPAs or DIPAs and all sorts. Unfortunately, they all sold out super fast on their ordering website and I never got to try any of those. (Hint hint if anyone has any still in their fridge and would be willing to part with them…. hint… hint…..). The biggest reason for their quick sell-out was that most of these were done on their new, small, innovative 15-barrell system for R&D (research and development), and having to can them up into 4-packs quickly depleted the stash, especially since crowlers, and 4pack cans have been the only way to get new (scratch) beer releases from the brewery. So, sadly, it just wasn’t meant to be. BUT, I have remedied that now, and picked up a 4 pack of Scratch 417 and a 4 pack of Scratch 415 (the two available scratches yesterday).

Their curbside to go was extremely simple, straight forward and easy. Sign onto their website, order what you want, the amount, etc, and even place the tip in their ordering cart. Wait for your notification e-mails, and you would get follow up e-mails and / or texts alerting you when the stuff was ready (super quick for just four packs). They recommended waiting thirty minutes from the time you order, and let you pick that as a pickup time, but I got e-mails within five minutes saying my stuff was ready. From there its still super simple, drive to the location, park in front of the building (in the handicap spots right outside their doors). Each spot has a number, you bring up their website at Troegs – Pickup, put where you are (what spot number), and if you are getting beer, food, or a combination. Select if you want it put into your vehicle, or just left outside. And soon a delivery guy (or gal) will come out, drop off the product, you flash them your driver’s license or ID and once you’re clear, everything is good to go.

Its super simple, and I can’t recommend it enough. To be honest, I have had zero issues from any of the places I have stopped at for beer. I have mostly gotten beer from Tattered Flag, Boneshire Brew Works, Ever Grain Brewing, and Pizza Boy during this ordeal. I have had zero issues with any of them. I also stopped at Twisted Bine yesterday (had to go back out to Ming’s place in Mount Joy to pick up my wallet since I left it in his car after Wednesday’s excursion to Ephrata). They were simple and pleasant as well. Wednesday, we were at St. Boniface and that was also quick and easy. I have also been to Four Score Beerco and that has also been easy and pleasant. So, like I’ve said, the breweries and independent distilleries (like Tattered Flag) have all been wonderful and fantastic during this ordeal. And gladly, Troegs was no exception. My friend J. Miller even said he’s been doing curbside to-go from Troegs weekly / near weekly, and they seem to have been doing a steady business when I was there.

Now starting today, June 5th, many breweries are offering outdoor seating available. At midnight Pizza Boy re-opened for outdoor seating. Today at noon, Boneshire Brew Works is opening their outdoor seating as well. I would have loved to have stopped out at midnight at Pizza Boy to see how it went, but unfortunately with already having started drinking yesterday, and watching my friends D. Scott and Esty do their Knights of Nostalgia video, it got late enough and I was tired enough that it was just not gonna happen. Definitely check that page out, as Drew (D. Scott) has been doing some great live-streams of old video games, and I’m even featured on a few, as well as other friends like R. Dibeler, Esty, etc.

Speaking of those guys, we will be doing a new podcast soon (finally, I know), which will be about time travel. So make sure to be on the lookout for that, you can catch our podcasts at: So a Mexican and a Scot Walk Into a Bar… I always make sure to talk craft beer while we also discuss whatever pop culture we are doing on that video. Always a good time.

Getting back to beer, I had originally wanted to grab the Troegs Scratch beer that supported essential workers and hospitality and hospital staff. I believe it was Scratch 413. For some reason on Untappd none of the scratches say so in their descriptions, and a Google Search didn’t turn up any definitive answers. But I did get two news articles on it: Troegs Next Scratch Beer Will Benefit Hospitality Workers and Newsbreak – Troegs Next Beer To Help Out. I had originally tried to get this to do a review, and discuss how they are helping out their community, but sadly, it was not to be. But still, I wanted to point out how they did make a beer to benefit and help out their community. So let it be known, I have said it, and stated it, and pointed it out.

Now, with all this out of the way, lets get to the actual beer review!

Beer: Scratch 417 – Orange – Lemon Peel IPA
Brewery: Troegs Independent Brewing
Style: IPA – Imperial / Double
ABV: 8%
IBU: None Listed
Untappd Description: Our Scratch brewers are at it again, this time working toward a new beer for our lineup. Scratch #417 is built on a base of pilsner malt, Munich malt and oats and fermented with HotHead Kveik yeast. The honey, orange peel and lemon peel notes of the yeast are amplified by the Lotus, Simcoe and Mandarina Bavaria hops. Additions of lemon peel and orange peel complete the recipe and deliver a refreshingly soft and citrusy IPA with low bitterness. We taste: refreshing citrus, orange and lemon rind, hint of hone.

From appearance, to aroma, to taste, this is very orange. My Untappd check-in for this beer was simple, and direct, if not a bit dirty: “if hops, oranges, and lemons had a three way – this would be their baby”. (Now, once you get the image out of your head, and have a sip of this, you’ll probably agree). (…Ok, take another sip to try and get the image out of your head… oh crap, its stuck in there isn’t it? Oh well, sorry… Happy Friday!)

Lets start off with the appearance, this looks a bit hazy, but not truly fully hazy like some of those recent scratch offerings (that I didn’t get to try, but have only seen, cue crying). This is very bright and very orange. It had a wonderful light foamy head when poured from the can, and it left a little lacing, not much, but some. The bubbles on top were dispersed and random. It was not transparent or see through, and no sediment or floaters, just a bright orange beer, even glowing somewhat when the light hit it.

Once again, aroma is just like appearance, orange. Keyword – orange. Orange smell, orange appearance, orange hue, orange taste. Pretty much the word orange can just sum up this entire thing. But you do get notes of citrus forward hops, and a bit of a zest and lemon nose to this though much fainter with the orange taking precedence. If you are a fan of orange, especially citrusy orange, this is just a wonderful smelling beer.

Taste…. once again, can I lead off with saying… orange? Very heavy orange. Its also not just straight orange, but a varied and interesting orange taste. You have mandarin oranges, regular oranges, some zest to it all, and all kinds of other things kicking around at the same time. There is strong lemon on the back-end, that provides for a great zesty kick. The honey subdues things a bit and makes this soft and easy drinking. There is really zero IPA burn, no hop bitterness, just a juicy, flowing, smooth drink. Thats why this is probably closer to a NE-IPA / NE-DIPA than a regular IPA / DIPA; there is no real west coast style feel to this. Its juicy, its dank, its smooth, no bitterness, not overly sweet, just fruity and smooth and clean drinking. The 8% is super subtle and hidden (honestly didn’t even feel like I got buzzed on just one of these and I couldn’t have guessed what the ABV was until I looked it up now for the review, I would have probably said 5-6.5% if I had to have made a guess while drinking). The hops used in this are: Lotus, Simcoe, and Mandarina Bavaria; which all work wonderfully in conjunction with the other flavors (notably the orange and lemon peel). They are citrus forward hops, and fruity hops, so it really gives this just an outright zesty, citrusy, fruity taste all around with the orange (obviously) taking prominence. The Kveik yeast adds to this as well, and it all just seems to work so strongly together. Everything in conjunction with each other to sum up into a really well, tasty, delicious, and smooth beer. This would be wonderful as a regular. And it will be interesting to see with all of their recent variations of hazy IPAs and DIPAs, where they are going with these; especially with this year’s release of Haze Charmer, a hazy pale ale. Seems Troegs is finally getting on the bandwagon of hazy and juicy IPAs, pale ales, DIPAs, and possibly even TIPAs; moving themselves into the market of New England style IPAs (at last). Should be interesting to see where they go with all of these. The Scratch 413 (that I missed), is labelled as “Hazy IPA #5” on Untappd, and this being the next IPA they released, it is also juicy and New England styled and a bit hazy (albeit nothing like a true New England Hazy IPA). Either way, I’m looking forward to seeing what their future offerings have in store; especially as we start moving back to where we can enjoy beers again at the brewery. I personally can’t wait!

My Untappd Rating: ****
Global Untappd Rating: 3.85 (as of 6.5.20; interestingly, when I first opened the Untappd page for the beer review at 9AM, it didn’t have a global rating since there wasn’t enough data, but when I refreshed it at 10:10AM, it listed the global average, so the site / app must have updated itself sometime in that time frame).

Looking for other Troegs Brewing beer reviews here on The Beer Thrillers? Check these out:
* Fuzzy Nudge
* Coco-Nator: Scratch 375
* Haze Charmer
* Scratch 400
* Scratch 394
* Scratch 395
* Mad Elf
* Scratch 396
* Fresh Fest
* Trail Day Pale Ale
* Scratch 385
* Scratch 386
* Scratch 382
* Dear Peter
* Scratch 383
* Naked Elf
* Scratch 376
* Scratch 377
* Scratch 378
* Scratch 379

You can also check out our IPA list article: Hoppy Easter – IPAs from The Beer Thrillers.

Thank you all for reading. Please make sure to hit the follow and like buttons. Check us out on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram (buttons below with their respective logos). Follow us and like us, share if you like the content.

Soon we’ll all be in Green Phase, and soon after that we will be out of this and out drinking and hanging out, just like ‘the old times’. I do have a bit of sad news, that I saw this while just about finishing up this article – Lititz Brewfest has announced that they are cancelling the Lititz Brewfest for 2020; which is incredibly disheartening, as its one of my absolute favorite brewfests. So, this probably doesn’t bode well for the AC Brewfest which was looking at possibly happening in August, as well as the Prototype Invitational – also scheduled for August, and the Mount Hope RenFaire Brewfest which I believe was eyeing up September. But who knows, fingers crossed. Still also holding out hope for Ffej of July 2020, (Ffej of July 18), which is scheduled for July 11th. Fingers, toes, eyes and… nose… crossed.

Cheers everyone, be careful and safe out there. Don’t get lax just because we can drink outside together (somewhat) again. In due time we will all be able to go about like before. Just hang in there!

Cheers!

-B. Kline