Posted by benb
Long Trail Brewmaster Series Double IPA
8.6% ABV
Review on May 26th, 2009
Cracked the bottle open:
Smells wet and hoppy, not too strong.
Took the first swig:
Nice, flavorful... definitely a hoppy taste but no bitter burn. Also not an overwhelming malty
flavor which often accompanies super hoppy beers. This has more of that "slippery" taste which
Belgian Trippel's have.
Poured:
Into a small wine glass, direct into the middle. A little bit more than a 1 finger head
formed. Lots of continuous bubbling from the bottom of the glass. Foam is fading fairly
quickly, leaving some "lacing" on the edges.
Smell:
Milder version of the smell when I first cracked the bottle. No super strong hop smell, as
with some IPA's.
After a few sips:
Slightly yeasty taste is what I think I am referring to when talking about "slippery" feel
similar to Belgian Trippel's. Really this is a perfect IPA, to me. A lot of strong IPA's that
are heavy on the haps balance with a heavy dose of malt, but in the end what you taste is very
strong hops + very strong malt. With this one, it's really all about the hops, but not overly
so. Again no bitter, so I would guess this is wet hopped. I still don't know enough about the
Double IPA style to comment on the qualities of it, but it does have a full "body" due to the
high alcohol content, and to me this is perfectly complementary to the taste.
After discussion with Sarah:
Sarah is a super smeller. She says it smells super hoppy, but she doesn't have much
"experience" with IPA's so I take that with a grain of salt. She also says it tastes perfumey.
A few minutes later, she mentions flowery. I definitely agree, it has a nice touch of flowery
which I often don't like in IPA's, but in this one it is mild. That reminds me after having
tasted the new Victory Hop Wallop that this is also not a citrusy IPA. So in terms of these
qualities of IPA's - hoppy, malty, flowery, citrusy - I would say it still is mostly hoppy, as
an IPA should be, but does not need the large dose of malt to "balance" out the hop flavor
like many other IPA's. In terms of flowery, I've definitely had those bitter, watery, flowery
IPA's - this is not in that realm, but again I would say definitely wet hopped. And no citrus.
Final:
This 22oz'er pours 3 small wine glasses. I've had two, not sure about the third yet. Regardless, I
can say this beer is awesome. More than awesome in fact. Refined is the word that comes to
mind, just like their Chocolate Stout. Long Trail is no joke... I highly recommend this to any
fan of IPA's.
Click the album image below to see a Picasa photo gallery.