Brewery- Braxton
Beer- Trophy
ABV- 5%
IBU- 40

It was just a trophy. A bit of gold colored plastic set atop a small wooden base. You probably got yours as a Cub Scout or maybe in Knothole baseball. And you gave it a place of honor on a shelf, where it would be joined by others as the years advanced. But now, when you remember that trophy you feel a rush of emotion, as you recall your moment of greatness. Or maybe the “get ‘em next year” response if greatness fell short. And now, we’re proud of the unseen things that trophy represents – the work, the sweat, the hours of practice under a hot sun. That’s how we feel as we salute our home, Northern Kentucky. We call this special pale ale Trophy. It’s brewed in honor of the people of this great region. Because they’re the genuine gold at the top of the trophy. May it never tarnish.

There isn’t a better way to learn about a particular hop, then to just take the hop and throw it in a low ABV, hop forward pale ale and see how it plays with everything else.  Trophy is a way to learn about hops, it’s a way to showcase some of the Braxton Brewing team’s favorite hops, and it’s a way for the brewery to give back to the community that they call home.  I respect every part of this fantastic part of Braxton’s “Beer Portfolio” more than I could explain here in this small paragraph – you can, of course read a little more about my take on Trophy and what it means for Braxton in the post I wrote when they first released this beer, back in 2015.

So… how to explain Trophy?  This is a beer that constantly changes with each quarter, different hops create very different flavors all placed on top of a consistent malt backbone of a beer… Because of this, I’ll come back to this tasting note and update it with each release, letting you know what the hops featured are, and what some of the flavor notes of the hop featured is.

2015/1 – Trophy: Hull Melon

• Release Date: 6/13/2015
• Flavor Notes:
  • Honey Dew Melon
  • Apricot
  • Strawberry

2015/2 – Trophy: Galaxy

• Release Date: 11/14/2015
• Flavor Notes:
  • Citrus
  • Peach
  • Passion Fruit

2016/1 – Trophy: Amarillo

• Release Date: 2/5/2016
• Flavor Notes:
  • Grapefruit
  • Earthiness
  • Floral Flavors

2016/2 – Trophy: Palisade

• Release Date: 3/26/2016
• This was the first Trophy released in bottles
• Flavor Notes:
  • Apricot
  • Floral
  • Citrus

2015/2 – Trophy: Dr. Rudi

• Release Date: 7/15/2016
• This was the first Trophy released in Ohio
• Flavor Notes:
  • Citrus Peel
  • Lemongrass Notes