Long Trail Hit the Trail Ale

Brewed by Long Trail Brewery
Style: Brown Ale
Bridgewater Corners, Vermont USA

Serve in Dimpled mug

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Heading up to camp deep in the Maine woods, i thought this would be a perfect beer to bring. The label showed a picture of a hiker standing on a trail in the dark next to a sign that said "Long Trail: 270 Miles". this kinda confused me, because it's kinda stupid to be hiking in the dark. i was thinking, "um, shouldn't that hiker have set up camp yet? is he lost?" i was concerned. maybe he was hiking all through the night to traverse the 270 miles to Long Trail to get some of this beer. then i tasted it and i realized that the hiker was trying to run far, far away from this beer. it was pretty watery and stunningly blandy in it's averageness. even though a friend had brought a 12-pack of this beer, i only had one and shied away from it for the rest of the night.

Nice amber colour with a slightly off-white head which starts nice, but fades with time. Smells of hops, malt and roasted barley dominate the smell...but there is some slight sugar and sweetness in the smell. The taste is a combination of all the flavours detected in the aroma, but at a more subtle level. The second tastes leaves even more to be desired, and shows the watery characteristics in the beer. The consistency of the beer is actually medium-bodied, but I would classify the taste as 'light-bodied' :-). I have two other beers by this brewery in my possession, but by the scores...they should be even worse than this beer...and i'm not really looking forward to that. Not a bad beer, but not a great one...I wouldn't reccomend buying this beer. I purchased this as a 12 ounce bottle from Beers of the World in Rochester, New York.

Clear orange/brown color with a thin head. Sweet malty aroma, starts a little sweet and ends a little bitter.

Clear medium brown, thinnish head leaves a bit of lacing. Nutty-sweet nose with hints of citrus. Flavor very sweet and mild, caramel and hints of hazelnuts, some light hoppiness at the end; I don't get what people are complaining about the "overpowering" hops, are all brown ales supposed to be insipid and taste like hazelnut soda or something? Didn't think so; the hop bite here helps this brew rise above mediocrity, though it is certainly not great and lacks a bit in body. Better than average for LT.
Earlier Rating: 12/28/2001 Total Score: 2
On tap (not available bottled, thank God). 17 varieties of hops and malts and you get this? I guess if you smear a bunch of paints together you get -- no color. Here -- no flavor, at least no good flavor. LOOKS promising enough -- translucent dark-wood appearance seemed unusual and interesting; nose does not beckon though.. there’s barely anything there. Flavor is like a stronger American macro; magnify what little flavor you have in Miller, and you get this. Not a good thing, is it? Finish is rather stale. Even Long Trail can do much better than this!

Light ruddy brown hue. Sweet all malt aroma with lightly floral hops back there somewhere. Nice lace from an off white head. Malty and lightly sweet....Kinda thin, but it is oh so very drinkable. Caramel in the backdrop, fruity malt, apples, light to medium bodied. Finishes with an healthy herbal hop dosage. Reminds me of newcastle, but a lil hopped up.

Brown like brew, with just enough hops to satisfy my craving. I am now just trying to hi 75 letters so my rating will be recorded. I like this brew, and I would definitely drink it again.

Crystal clear deep amber brown color with a thin head and good lace. Sweet malty aroma with a slight hoppy fruitiness. Sweet malty flavor with a slight fruitiness and a touch of hops. medium bodied and smooth.

Available only in the winter survival pack. While this is a decent beer, a faithful rendition of a brown it is not. Way too hoppy for a brown, even for an American Brown. Given the light body of the beer itself, its just not convincing. Malt base is lacking and hops are a bit overpowering, giving it a very odd flavor profile. Add a little more malt next year, guys, and cut back on the hops a little.

Got this in the Winter Survival Pack. If I had to survive all winter on this, my beer consumption would drop sharply. If this is a brown ale, they don’t know how to make one. According to the label, it’s supposed to be done in the northern english style. Pretty hoppy, way too much for the style, and way too rough. An english brown ale should be smooth and very mild. Very typical Long Trail taste. It’s sort of dirty and unrefined. Maybe it’s just me. The color is great. Rich clear brown with an even white head.

Sweet, fruity aroma. Very nice amber coloring, crystal clear. Quite malty with just a bit bit of hops to offset, quite enjoyable, considering I’m not really a fan of brown ales.