Long Trail Brewmaster Series Coffee Stout

Formerly brewed at Long Trail Brewery
Style: Imperial Stout
Bridgewater Corners, Vermont USA

Graciously shared by sflpunk. Black pour with a nice sized brown head- looks really nice. Aroma is heavy with coffee and also laced with cream and chocolate notes. Flavor is very tasty- lots of coffee, cream, and a bit of vanilla. Palate is soft and not as thick as many imp. stouts, but beautifully drinkable. Easily Long Trail’s best offering to date, quite a nice brew.

22 oz bottle, via Zathrus13. Pours a pitch black body, zero light passing thru, with a one inch fizzy dark brown head. The nose is very roasty with some heavy coffee and cream. Very earthy and sweet smelling at the same time. Lots of dark chocolate, reminds me of dark chocolate M&Ms. Really nice flavor, not overly roasted and without any astringency at all. There’s a nice citrusy quality to the coffee that works really well with the roasted malt. Zero alcohol flavor, incredibly smooth and drinkable. Smooth, not overly thick or cloying in the slightest, with perfect soft gentle carbonation. This was just awesome. Maybe one of the easiest drinking Imperial Stouts I’ve ever had.

THOUGHTS: Great, low-priced imperial stout, but it wasn’t really the best impy stout, so let’s just say it was a nice price for a good beer. It was a little thin for the style and the flavor and aroma was a little weak for an impy, but still very nice. Not much hops. All the bitterness seemed to come from the coffee. TECHNICAL: Bottle. Poured a dark brown that was opaque black in the glass with a small to average, light brown head that mostly diminished, but lft good to fair lacing. The aroma was moderate to heavy milk chocolate and coffee with lighter caramel and cocoa along with some smoke and tar. The initial flavor was sweet and bitter; while the finish was sweet and more bitter and slightly sour with a fairly long duration. There was coffee (but not great coffee), chocolate syrup, a little smoke, slight caramel malt, slight cherry and light yeast. The medium to full body that leaned more toward the full side, was oily and slightly syrupy, a little sticky on the lips) with fizzy carbonation and a very light astringent and light alcoholic finish.

22oz bomber, no date--though in a jumble of numbers stamped on the bottle I see 011909 (possibly a bottled on?)--thanks to daknole for the bottle! Deep reddish brown with a 1/2 finger tan head, fading to a thick ring before long. Roasted malts and cold coffee up front with toasted malts, baker’s chocolate and light brown sugar behind. The flavor adds a bit of a salty soy element, and the roasted malts turn burnt (too much black patent? I didn’t notice it in the aroma. . .) halfway through to the finish. Coffee doesn’t seem very noticeable--mainly just a bunch of roast and burnt malts. The finish is semi-dry with bitterness around a 3, alcohol masked well. Medium body with low prickly carbonation. OK.

Bottle and Liquid Sunshine VI. Expressive aromatics, could smell it as I poured it. Once to my nose, it’s not as rich or intense but still rich. Jet black small head. Medium roast, nice coffee notes, doesn’t try to get too big or crazy. Gritty finish.

Courtesy notalush. Pours a pitch black color with a small, foamy tan head leaving sticky lacing to the glass. THe aroma shows hints of dark chocolate, mild coffee roast, and a lactic sour twang. The flavor shows more of the bittersweet chocolate, some mild coffee roast, and more of the weird sour twang. Some earthy hops add bitterness, but its hard to get past the lactic sourness. I think I may have gotten a bad bottle, which is a shame because this could have been a tasty brew.

Bottle. Pretty good offering from long trail. Was surprised a little that long trail made this good of a brew, which is very reasonable price wise. Try this beer if you enjoy coffee flavored stouts/porters.

22oz Bomber – Trade – Yobdoog
Aroma: Big coffee and dark malt aroma. Chocolate was also very present.
Appearance: Dark Brown in color, clear with a thin head.
Flavor: Big stout flavor with huge coffee and chocolate flavors.
Palate: Dry finish, with a Good Stout Mouthfeel.
Overall: This was a great beer. I loved the flavors this was perfect for a last beer of the long night.