Tröegs Scratch 14

Formerly brewed at Tröegs Brewing Company
Style: Saison
Hershey, Pennsylvania USA

Serve in Tulip

12oz Bottle. Strong glowing banana, fresh pilsener malt and light persian spices. A bit of passionfruit, but mostly just solid Belgian yeast character and good pilsner malt. Maybe not as much of the traditional Saison yeast profile as I would have hoped for. Pours a swirling lightly clouded golden, with a rim in white. Speckle of yeast. Flavor runs with the yeast characters, finding lots of pale fruits and a good mix of esters and phenols. Body-wise, bordering on a too sweet. Maybe. It is really not a big deal. I like a little more crispness and this comes across as a touch flabby. There is a waning dead yeast touch that is very characteristic of Troegs Belgian beers. I am getting hauntings of Mad Elf here. Finally, a good kick of juicyfruit yeast kiss at the end. I am missing some spice, dryness and specific yeast character. This is a really solid, fresh, drinkable blond Belgian, but it falls short on a few of my necessary Saison metrics. I think the Lachouffe yeast really dominated here and the low levels of hops were disappointing.

Bottle courtesy of ClockworkOrange poured into a pint glass. Pours a hazy, fluorescent yellow with a small bubbly white head that dissipates to a ring quickly and leaves very little lacing. The aroma is dominated by the pepper and Belgian yeast. There is the banana and bubble-gum on top of a bready malt base as well. The taste starts with a bit of honey sweetness that flows into the Begian yeast and bready malts. It’s in the finish where the spices, especially pepper, comes back in. The mouthfeel is smooth with enough carbonation to enhance the pepper and tingle the tongue a bit. This is an interesting example of a saison and extremely drinkable. The spices are there but in enough moderation to make it very smooth. One of the better Scratch beers I’ve had.

Bottle shared by Robert at SL in a special, super duper, pre-holiday secret tasting. Pour was hazy yellow-straw colored, looked a lot like the standard Dream Weaver Wheat. The aroma was bananas and coriander, smelled a lot wit-like. The flavor was hefe-like with only slight pepper notes present. I normally dig Troegs’ creations, but this was hardly a saison nor original. Mouthfeel was moderate carbonation. Thanks, Robert!

Hazy yellow saison with a smooth small white head. A bit heavier on the body then I like in a saison, wheat and citrus up front. Floral nose of glove and maybe grains of paradise, something peppery to it. I liked this but it was a bit thick palated for a saison.

Immense amounts of sediment... Pour a somewhat cloudy golden color(the cloudiness probably came from my pour)... Complex flavors of fruits and bubblegum... Quite yeasty... I liked the complexity of the flavors in this, and generally i dislike saisons.... I’ve got to think the yeast is why i liked this over many saisons...

UPDATED: NOV 30, 2008 12oz bottle from Capone’s (Norristown, PA). Pours hazy golden, capped with a moderate sized white head. Appealing aroma of spice, citrus, banana, yeast, and white pepper. Flavor of wheat, honey, and yeast, with spice and cloves building towards the finish. Spice, herbs and earth linger for a long finish. A bit thin bodied, but a nice, refreshing beer overall.

not too bad, seems like a well malted pilsner to me, good body with a bit of a subtle spice to it.

Aroma is tart with some pepper and a funkiness. pours a cloudy yellow with 2 fingers of foam but they dissipate quickly. Flavor is spicy with pepper, clove, some vanilla malt with some earthiness, tart in the finish. chewy palate that could be more spritzy in my opinion. overall a pretty nice saison.