Brewmaster Series Centennial Red

Pours a dark shade of garnet with a stingy off white head that makes up for its size with its staying power. Smells of sweet fruity malts with hints of chocolate, caramel and burnt sugar. Little hop presence in the nose. Taste is malty sweet, less of the burnt sugars and more of the sweet dark fruit. Sharp bitterness midway, finishes with a caramel sweetness mixed with a bit of alcohol and acridic bitterness. Smooth and rough on the mouthfeel. Really this one starts quite smooth on the palette then finishes alcohol hot almost resinous. Medium body and carb level. There are centennial hops in here I can taste the hop bite, but I wish there were more in the aroma department. I also shouldn’t taste this much alcohol from a 7.9% brew. Decent Imperial red, could use a bit of time to mellow, but nice beer for the price.

22oz bottle pours a transparent copper with some clumpy, off white head. Nose is nice, peaches, lightly musty, C-hops. Flavor is malty, sweet, caramel, crystal malt, oranges. Full bodied, sweet finish. Didn’t quite come together as a whole.

Bottle. Bright amber color. Nice pine aroma. Taste is bitter, bit not over the top. Not bad at all.

Ruby red coloured body with a copper glow and a nice dense tan head thats about a centimetre tall. Aroma of fresh hops, pine, alcohol, caramel, nice fresh malt, toffee and a hint of floral notes. Full-bodied; Deep pungent piney bitter hops with a good malt backbone some grapes and a grassy, earthy taste. Aftertaste is nice and bitter, complex and fresh. Overall, a nice beer - one of the best from this series and from the brewery! I sampled this 65 cL bottle purchased from Liquor Outlet in Boonton, New Jersey on 21-November-2010, sampled in New Paltz, New York on 25-December-2010, Christmas Day!

Bomber - hazy red pour - clingy, soapy lace - aroma of nutty yeast, bready malt, toasted grains, earthy hops - very soft carbonation in the mouth, giving the beer an almost cask-like mouthfeel - some bready and nutty character to the malt, tasting a little bit like an amped up esb at first - light sweetness - earthy hops through the middle as the beer dries out, leaving a more dry, cracker malt character behind - the bitterness gets a little astringent on the back end, and there is an odd, leafy/tobacco character in the finish - fairly solid despite this flaw on the tail end, but this is certainly not up to the caliber of the other brewmaster series beers I have had from Long Trail.

Pours deep copper-tinged amber into a Sam glass. Off-white head quickly recedes to skim surface leaving spot lacing. Resin, caramel and hot pine aromas. Sweet and slick with upfront dark caramel turning to pine and resin in the medium length finish.

Location: 22 oz bottle from Buy Rite - Jersey City, 12/6/10

Aroma: The nose starts off resiny, some caramel, some spice, grass, earth, and some fruity notes
Appearance: It pours a clear, dark ruby red color with a small head that dissipates quickly
Flavor: The flavor starts sweet and fruity, bitter earthy hops in the middle palate and finish
Palate: This one is fairly smooth on the mouth with a medium body, booze are pretty well-hidden
Overall Impression: I guess this is pretty fresh since I'm only the 7th person to rate this one... Anyway, this is solid stuff. A nice example of the Imperial Red style, and one of the better things I've tried from Long Trail. I'm a little surprised the early return scores aren't higher, this is a good beer. At a shade under 8%, the ABV seems to be just about right. Yup, this is a job well done.