Coordinating Beer with a Cause

When The Nature Conservancy reached out to Tröegs Independent Brewing about participating in its annual Oktoberfest campaign, the team at Tröegs realized the organization’s values aligned with its own. That’s when the two began thinking about brewing a beer together to benefit the Kittatinny Ridge.

The Kittatinny Ridge is an ecologically important 185-mile chain of forested Appalachian Mountains that runs through Pennsylvania. The ridge provides migratory routes as wildlife leave their commercially developed habitats.

Tröegs released a limited run of a dry-hopped pale ale called Trail Day for the occasion, and they’re aiming to donate $15,000 of proceeds toward the Kittatinny Ridge.

“Depending on the success of the beer, we hope to grow our efforts next year,” said Chirs Trogner, founder of Tröegs Independent Brewing.

Trail Day has a bright hop combination.

“Citra takes center stage with notes of passionfruit and lychee,” Trogner said. “Lotus adds hints of orange rind and vanilla cream, and El Dorado works with a new-to-us yeast to pull in flavors of candied peach. The unmalted wheat comes from Lancaster County, about 15 miles from the brewery. We’ve been using it in a few Scratch Series beers to add backbone and haze that props up hop oils.”

The cause is important to Tröegs because the Ridge passes within 10 miles of the brewery.

“As kids, we used to hike and mountain bike on the ridge, and to this day, John [Trogner, Tröegs founder] lives at its base, so we know it well. And few things are more important to brewing beer than clean water, which the ridge provides. We’re proud to be working with The Nature Conservancy to help protect a place that does so much for Pennsylvania and beyond.”

To reach out to the public, The Nature Conservancy and Tröegs are sponsoring a mural in Harrisburg. The birds depicted in the mural are those that one would see living and migrating along the Kittatinny Ridge, serving to remind people of the importance and beauty of the wildlife there.

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