Long Trail Ale is, and always has been, the flagship beer of its namesake brewery. This was a beer that was brewed to be friendly, to be a popular choice, yet not really a compromise. It really hits the mark.
I first toured Long Trail in 1992, on a fast-moving tour of New England micros that got to 12 breweries in four days in February. At that time it was in the basement of a small shopping mall near Queechee, VT, and we ran through the "self-guided tour" to the tasting room and started drinking. At the time I was thrill-seeking, and went straight to the IPA and stout.
Now Long Trail has its own large (and beautiful) building, a bit further west on Rt. 4, one of my favorite roads in a state full of beautiful drives. The mountains and meadows and river are nice, and the Queechee Gorge is spectacular, but I probably like it so much because back in the days of Catamount, the lost and lamented Quechee Gin Mill, Long Trail, and the Inn at Long Trail, it was The Great Beer Road in Vermont.
Sorry, I'm reminiscing too much. Long Trail's brewery is big (35+K bbls./year), largely manual, and fronted by a great rustic pub with a really nice deck out back by the river. (Note I keep saying "river" because I've no idea how to spell the one that's there. Indian name, I reckon.) They serve their beers and pub food, and it's a very comfortable place to spend an afternoon.
The beer itself, Long Trail Ale, is supposed to be an altbier, a German style that is ale-fermented but lager conditioned, which gives it a character all its own... once you shovel in the requisite hops. Alt is a tiny style in Germany, under 3% of the beer sold in the country, but it is very popular in its hometown of Düsseldorf, an institution with quirkish accessory glasses and service habits.
Long Trail is very popular in Vermont (70% of the brewery's output, and the largest selling VT beer), but you can drink it anyway you want. I would suggest in copious quantities; it's that kind of beer. Too many microbreweries get carried away and build huge beers, heavy, malty, "you're not worthy" beers. They're screwing themselves -- how many of those can you drink... and therefore, how many will you buy?
Long Trail Ale is a pint-after-pint beer. It has a gorgeous bright "old-penny" color, and pours with a slightly parchment color head. The aroma is of pale malt and greenish hops, a pretty pure dose of it with just a bit of soft fruit (pear?). The flavors are mellow and broad, with clear shoals of malt flavor, a firm hoppy framework, and a bit of biscuit or pretzel in there, a pleasant dryness. The finish is mostly a light bitterness, with a little malt pull in there. This is quite pleasant stuff.
Long Trail Ale will never be any beer critic's pick for Best Beer Ever. I don't think the brewery cares. Long Trail is, however, many people's choice for the beer with food (flavorful fowl, like duck or goose or game hens, are fantastic with it), friends, and a deck... by "a river"... under the mountains.
Session beers have their place, a proud but sadly overlooked one. Don't overlook these good beers, for... I took the Trail more traveled by -- and that has made all the difference.
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