Tröegs Scratch 2

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 7

This is explosively carbonated; a reasonable pour yields me five-fingers of lightly browned, dark tan colored head in my 25cl tulip glass. The beer is a dark brown / concentrated amber color that shows a brilliantly clear, deep red-plum color when held up to the light. The aroma smells a touch musty, with the beginnings of a phenolic, almost Brettanomyces like influence. Touches of acetone, and an light note of artificial fruitiness are also found here in the nose. A touch of fruity, vegetal roast grain notes as well as some nutty toasted malt aromas and a smooth browned malt character. The fruitiness also reminds me of tart berries and perhaps even some pomegranate like notes. Definitely an interesting nose on this beer, I am not quite sure what to think of it.

Up front this beer is lightly sweet tasting with a touch of roastiness to balance things out. Browned bread crust flavors and a nice toasted grain character are also found before some fake fruitiness and acetone notes kick in. The finish has a bit of bitter, burnt vegetal notes as well as a hop bitterness. There is also a touch of lightly roasted coffee character in the finish. The “off” flavors are not nearly as noticeable in the flavor as they were in the nose, but still do influence the character of this brew. The body is light, though not quite watery, and has likely been reduced by the infection that has taken hold (the excess carbonation had to come from somewhere), but is still retains a nice quaffable quality.

This has definitely turned south and clearly some low grade infection has taken hold here. The beer is not undrinkable yet, but I would definitely recommend drinking all you have on hand at this point. If this had not been infected it would have easily been able to stand up to the two years of bottle age. I am ranking this one at the average, as it is clearly past its best by date, but if rated as is I would put it at a 5/6/6/6/6.