Troegs Tap Takeover at the Khyber

While I wasn't actually planning on attending the Troegs night at the Khyber, my wife and decided we needed a night out and, well, happy coincidences. The Khyber had about 16-20 different Troegs beers, some from the regular lineup and a bunch from the scratch series.

It was pretty crowded when we first go there, but lucky for us some people got up from the bar a few minutes later and we got seats. To start with I ordered a glass of Scratch 46, named Naked Elf, because it's the base of their popular Mad Elf beer. I've been interested in trying it since I first heard about it. While Mad Elf is a Belgian Strong Dark Ale, this is more considered a Belgian Strong Pale Ale although it wasn't pale at all.

Not a great picture, apologies. Sort of a ruddy brown color, a little darker than I expected but still lighter than Mad Elf. Sweet banana nose, clearly a result of the Belgian yeast. Taste followed with banana as the major flavor and some sweetness following. Basically tasted like a generic Belgian Strong Ale. I'm glad I got to try it but it really wasn't anything special. Makes one realize how much the cherry, clove and honey all add to Mad Elf to make it as good as it is.

After that, I ordered Scratch 49, the Fresh Hop IPA, hopped with Citra.

Light citrus smell, not too strong but present. Thicker body for an IPA but tasty. At first, it reminded me almost of orange juice. The hops were present, but there wasn't any bitterness so they were just really citrusy and delicious. Well balanced and pretty tasty. Jo thought it was really hoppy though wheras I didn't so maybe I've just gotten more used to IPAs at this point.

There were quite a few more Troegs stuff I wanted to try including my favorite, Flying Mouflan, but unfortunately it was a Wednesday so I wasn't about to drink too much. There was also a dry hopped firkin of their Pale Ale I missed out on but oh well. Glad I got the Naked Elf though plus the food at the Khyber was awesome as usual. Seriously the Poboys there are freaking awesome. I've gotten the Fried Chicken with Gravy twice now and wow, so good. As I said last time, event or not, the Khyber is a destination.