CulturAle Press

Sometimes We Just Stay Home and Drink #26: Tröegs Impending Descent  Barrel-Aged Flavored Imperial Stout.  Hershey, Pa.

Date:  June 25 , 2019  —

The Story—  We’ve featured so many Tröegs beers on this site that one would think we had stock in the company.   We wish.

But there’s a reason why Tröegs gets so much attention from us.  Anyone who tries to do a “Ten Best Breweries” list is either delusional– or being paid nicely.   But it’s easier to identify “top tier” breweries — those that consistently turn out a wide range of excellent beer and take chances that succeed– at least some of the time.  The Scratch Series beers at Tröegs are always interesting and often very good and there’s something new every few weeks.  They’re the reason we detour to Hershey whenever we’re anywhere near.

Tröegs’s extensive barrel aging program is evident from your first step into the brewery.  You’ve greeted by a huge (for a somewhat small brewery) foeder and ranks of barrels fill other parts of the brew house.   Some of them are designed to produce wild and sour beers which we’ll happily leave to those whose stomachs are half a century younger than ours.

Tröegs has chosen to guild this Russian Imperial lily with vanilla beans and cocoa.  We’re still not sure it wouldn’t be better without the additions, but there’s no doubt they’ve used those ingredients with skill and good taste.   This is a big boozy chocolaty sipper that made me glad we took the detour.

Tune in tomorrow for a no-additives just-as-big barrel aged dark nirvana from Rogue.

The Beer–   Chewy with a huge boozy Bourbon that’s quickly matched by a ton of very dark chocolate leading to a rich long-lasting aftertaste.   If you crush a big chunk of unsweetened bakers’ chocolate, and mix it with a good vanilla ice cream, you’ll get a flavor that’s somewhat similar.  The 11.1% booze adds to the hops’ herbal pine and helps drive the dark sugars to a tasty ash.  So big. So good.

Value — Good, if not cheap.  Tröegs wouldn’t do as much aging as they do if they didn’t get a good return on their investment.   Think of your purchase as supporting the craft rather than depleting your bank account.

Values:  “fair” is a good beer at an above market price, “good” is worth the money, “very good” is a bargain, and “excellent” is a steal.

Sometimes we just stay home and drink beer — hundreds of them over the course of the year as we hunt for a new favorite.  The searching for the beer of the day never stops, so for a while, there will be fewer travel-oriented posts and just some to-the-point descriptions of beers we’ve enjoyed.

We’re often asked to share our tasting notes on over 33,000 beers; this blog is in answer to those requests.   Not all our notes, though.  The great beer writer Michael Jackson admirably followed the Thumper Rule, and we’ll try to do the same.  (“If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nuthin’ at all.”)   All the beers we post are from the top half of our ratings and most are from the top quarter.   Of greater value, we think, are the stories behind the beers, and we try to give you enough about the brewery, the style and the places to find great beer to help you on your own beer journeys.   At CulturAle Press we try to write books and publish posts that will help you “Drink Well and Travel Safely.”