WILK Friday BeerBuzz – 17 Sept 2010 (Troegs Scratch # 29)

Troegs Brewing company started brewing their scratch series many years ago, and without a doubt it has been one of the more successful series of limited-production brewed beers on the east coast.  Chris & John Treogner, along with their brewing staff have managed to incorporate some really interesting ingredients while still using many of their tradition production beer ingredients, and even moving some Scratch beers into future production beers.

Today we sampled Scratch # 29, and oak aged Belgian IPA…and therein lies the controversy I mentioned in the teaser post on Wed.  Scratch # 29 is barrel aged in virgin oak barrels from Keystone Coopers.  This unused oak imparts a really prominent character into the beer and while many beer lovers out there are proclaiming that it should be consumed extremely fresh, to my palate it is getting better with age as the oak mellows.  This is why I chose to bring it on the show now and not back in July when it was first released.

This beer is big in a lot of ways.  Big flavor, big yeasty bite and big carbonation (as you’ll see when you open one).  This beer also uses a proprietary yeast from Westmalle that really changes the character of the beer considerably.

I also want to thank Mayor Justin Taylor for coming on the show with us and helping us sample the Scratch # 29, AND for giving away some tickets to the Pioneer City Oktoberfest in Carbondale on October 2nd.

Another amazing show (even with our secret guest)  and a really interesting and rare beer. 
Thanks
to Justin, John, Nancy, Joe, Bosco (and Mrs. BeerBuzz) for yet another fun Friday. 

The Friday Beerbuzz…bringing good beers and good people together. 
As always you can check out the video on-line at the WILK Friday Beerbuzz page by clicking HERE