Long Trail Hibernator

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

A winter ale flavored with honey. It is a perfect amber jewel with a creamy, rocky off-white head. The aroma is moderately malty with caramel, pine, and earth. The flavor is fresh pear that’s well bittered (30 IBU?) with pine trees. The texture is a bit oily and the finish is short and dry from the honey. This has been my default session beer since moving back to the Eastern US.

Great beer,slight sweet taste with a spicey aftertaste. Very good beer

I have been sampling a lot of winter ales recently and it seems that a winter ale can be anything a brewer wants it to be---I have had some that tasted like pumpkin beer to some that were over 10% ABV that were so black and liniment-like that putting down the first swallow was a monumental task without gagging. However, this beer is quite drinkable and pleasing to the palate. It has a pleasant malt aroma and taste with just the right amount of hop afterkick to clear the sweetness from the palate. This is one of the greatest winter ales I’ve tasted this year. Seems like the New Englanders really know how to brew the winter ale style beer since it gets so cold up there. Winterhook from Portsmouth, NH is also worth a try.

Enjoyed this one on draught at the brewery in Bridgewater Corners, VT. I have fond memories of this beer, as it is a beer I have drank since Long Trail introduced it. This is a rich, delicious, warming, winter ale brewed with brown sugar and honey. Based on a Scottish Ale, this beer has lots of great malt character, and some nice warming alcohol. Hibernator pours to a beautiful, bright, deep amber to mahogany color, with a tight white head, and a soft carbonation. The nose on this beer is very inviting, with lots of good aromas of caramel, butterscotch, fresh baked bread, and peppery alcohol. The palate is a touch slick and oily on the tongue, with really good malty flavors of caramel, butterscotch, fresh bread, and hints of brown sugar sweetness. This beer finishes with more of the sweet malty flavors up front, then finishes with some nice, peppery, alcohol heat that takes the cloying edge off, and warms. A really wonderful winter warmer, perfect for the Christmas season, and a wonderful beer to sip and savor in cold weather.

a very tastey dark brown malty mess. Looks great, the honey tasts is subtle yet potent at the same time. Highly recommended for a winter night.

One of my favorites for Winter. Poured from a bottle at 50F. Has a nice caramel/malt aroma. Poured Dark brown with a thick white head. Very nice flavor of malt and caramel with a slight hop finish. Very Smooth.

I enjoyed this beer a great deal. It has a nice sweet clean smell to it but not over powering. The taste as it gets in your mouth not to much special then all of a sudden there is a blast ofbitterness and that is trailed by sweet honey and spice after taste.

A nice, smooth easy drinking beer. Typically a stout/porter guy I generally don’t like lighter beers but dabble in the occasional doppelbock. This poured with really nice mahogany color and a big foamy head that stayed with it to the bottom. It had a deep flavor that was a perfect mix of malts and just the right amount of hoppiness. Flavor morphed nicely from start to finish with notes of caramel, vanilla, malt and went down very easy. I liked the fact that it didn’t have too much carbonation. A very good beer...