Beer Bites

By: Chris Curran

Posted: 2/7/08

Beer Bites

Long Trail Ale

5 percent alc/vol

Long Trail Brewing Company, Bridgewater Corners, VT

$8 per 6-pack

3 of 4 mugs

Long Trail Ale was one of the better, less-known beers available at this past weekend's Central New York Brewfest at the State Fair Grounds. The faint floral hop aroma and amber color are gentle and do not give much away about Long Trial Ale. The first taste reveals a light, malty sweetness that does not over power and yet avoids tasting watered down. Long Trail Ale finishes with a crisp kick of hops that is as refreshing as it is delicious. On top of this great beer, Long Trail Brewery has pioneered the process of "EcoBrewing" - an environmentally-friendly type of brewing - that pleases even the most hardened ESF beer drinkers.

Dead Guy Ale

6.5 percent alc/vol

Rogue Ales Brewery, Newport, OR

$10 per 6-pack

3 and ? of 4 mugs

From the bottle to the smell and taste, Rogue's Dead Guy Ale is an all-around unique beer. The smell mixes faint hops with a fruity overtone that almost smells like a Sam Adams Cherry Wheat. The taste, however, is of burnt malts that has a sturdy dry hop fullness and finishes with a fruity tinge only adding to its delicious complexity. The full bodied blend of malts, hops, spices and fruitiness leaves a mouthful that has something for every type of beer drinker. I would highly recommend grabbing a skeleton-emblazoned 6-pack of Dead Guy Ale.

Harpoon Winter Warmer

5.5 percent alc/vol

Harpoon Brewery, Boston, MA

$9 per 6-pack

1 of 4 mugs

Harpoon's Winter Warmer has all the appearances and aromas of a great-tasting seasonal spiced ale, but the taste reveals it is nothing more than mountains of cinnamon and nutmeg masked as a beer. Winter Warmer lures you in with a deep red-brown color and the sweet smell of spices only to ignite your mouth with a burning cinnamon sensation. Winter Warmer lacks the staple tastes of hops and malts that make beer, well…beer. Instead its spiced up taste is more stiff eggnog than Harpoon's successful beers like the UFO Hefeweizens or IPA.

cjcurr01@syr.edu