72: High Quality Water

 

H E R S H E Y,  P A


This beer just opened has been very long-anticipated.  Not just any beer though; a beer opened in Delaware marking the beginning of a vacation originally scheduled for June but kicked down the road three months by a pandemic.   Here now, with this beer, the adventures are about to commence.

 

The beer is doubly special.  In addition to kicking off a vacation, it serves a philanthropic good deed.  Much of the seventy bucks I paid for a case of Trail Day pilsner will be donated to protect 15,000 acres of connected lands on the Kittatinny Ridge.  The ridge runs 185 miles through Pennsylvania, and in part, serves to filter the water Tröegs Independent Brewing of Hershey uses to make Trail Day.  Both Tröegs and The Nature Conservancy appreciate clean, high-quality water so teaming up to build awareness of this critical resource was an ideal partnership. 

 

As I was passing through Hershey recently for business and still in need of libations for vacation, stopping at Tröegs was my way of showing support for clean, high-quality water.  When I stepped inside the brewery, it was a carb-lovers’ delight; the overwhelming smell of hops was olfactory nirvana adding a strong multi-sensory memory to my conservation-supportive purchase.

 

Trail Day is a traditional German-style pilsner but uniquely dry-hopped to render a very unique blend of “crisp and clean notes of biscuit, dried spice and a hint of citrus” according to Tröegs.  But according to me, in simple terms, it’s a damn fine blend of pilsner and IPA, and especially good while popped open in Delaware and kicking off a long anticipated vacation. 

Location: Hershey, PA 17033

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