Troegs Scratch 6

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

A bottle conditioned lager, or at least a very unfiltered one, certainly a rarity these days. The beer pours with a frothy, almost three-finger thick, pale, off-white colored head. The beer is a brilliantly clear light copper, gold color. Aromas of sweet grain and lightly herbal hops make up the lions share of the aroma at first. Aromas of light honey, soft lemon zest, fresh cut hay and herbal wildflower notes are noticeable and if you dig around for it dry grain / malt notes start to come into play. These last, contribute aromatics reminiscent of soda crackers, fresh crushed grain, and clean bread crumb (the portion of the bread that is not crust).

The beer has a nice biting character to it up front that is both a combination of the reasonable carbonation and noticeable hop bitterness. The hop bitterness is found throughout the flavor profile including through to a long, clean finish. A substantial, herbal hop note runs through the middle of each sip contributing a sort of mix of light menthol and perhaps a touch of resinous herb like character. Towards the start of the finish flavors of lemon zest (Saaz hops) and honey-like malt / sweet grain character are found and provide some counterpoint to the more dominant hop flavors. As the beer warms up a bit some chewy grain flavors start to be a bit more noticeable. This is of course fairly light, but it still has quite a bit more heft than your standard macro lager (more flavor too).

An easy drinking beer that perhaps would be better suited to the warmer months, but who am I to complain, I think it got to 80°F / 27°C here today. This is definitely beer that I was exited to drink though and it certainly has not disappointed. The Magnum hops seem to have contributed a bit of roughness / slight astringency to the flavor of this beer, but it is still quite enjoyable.