SMaSH Project (Made With Single Malt Pilsner and Single Hop Galaxy)
Long Trail Brewing Co.

I am on a CANQuest (tm) for a little while to give myself a break from eradicating The Bottle Backlog here at Chez Woody. I've been away for so long that it's good to be back.

From the CAN: "Brewed with a single malt and a single hop to showcase the characteristics of each ingredient."; "Single Malt Pilsner [-] This strongly-flavored Pilsner malt delivers a pale color and distinct sweetness."; "Single Hop Galaxy [-] An Australian variety with clear-cut citrus and passion fruit notes."

I Crack!ed the CAN open & CANmenced a gentle Glug into the awaiting glass. Unbidden, I got a finger of foamy, rocky, bone-white head with good retention for my efforts. Color was an oh-so-hazy Yellow-Gold (SRM = 4 - 5). Nose was like the best of both worlds with a strong passion fruit presence underlain by the biscuitiness of the malt. Mouthfeel was big & creamy. The taste was passion fruit, underlain by a grapefruit-citrusy bitterness & shored up by the biscuitiness of the malt. There was NO way that this was an AIPA! I would rate it VERY low as such, but as a Czech Pils, it was quite tasty. Warming, it began to take on a familiar lemon biscotti citrusiness, clearly a good melding of the malt & hops. Finish was dry, but not bitingly dry. Again, I was reminded especially of Enrico's lemon biscotti from Pixburgh's Strip District, but with an added tropical fruitiness. Man, at 6.8%, it seemed dangerously crushable ... or should I say SMaSHable? YMMV.

From the can, pours very hazy reddish copper color with a 1-2 finger thick foamy beige colored head that dissipated very slowly, barely moving for a minute or two and then dropping slowly while leaving excellent foamy rings.

Smells of caramel, toffee, bready malts, melon, orange peel, light biscuit and sweet fruit. English IPA nose with the heavy malt and syrup-esque sweetness, almost smelling like a ESB or amber ale more than an IPA.

Tastes pretty similar to the nose with caramel, toffee, bready malts, maple syrup and bread crust leading the way, followed by slightly bitter grapefruit, orange peel and sour dark fruit which has some floral notes and grassy aspects. Sweeter than expected and less hoppy than it should be IMO, but still enjoyable overall.

 

I like this better than BAs. Try 6. Would get it again. My faith restored in Long Trail, i'm now going to try rather than avoid all their beers.

a) Perhaps they darkened the formula but my pour as darker golden bordering on brown with a 2 finger head that sticked and laced.

s) Toasty, biscuity, and sweet pilsner malts followed by melon, grass, and herbal hops.

T) Balanced and attractive taste. Great food beer. Love the simplicity, yet still has depth. Light melon, and herbal hop flavor with the traditional pilsner malt flavor. Lots of balance to this beer.

F) Smooth, medium bodied, crisp, refreshing, a bit chewy, and finishes with light bitterness.

O: I like this beer better than the BAs and would gladly have a 6 pack.

 

Pours a very pale straw yellow with a good amount of carbonation streaming up towards a thick white head. Didn't see a canning date so I was glad that it still had a relatively fresh, hoppy aroma. The pilsner malt is prevalent in the nose, offering a nice, clean crackery sweetness, light fruity notes of peach, tangerine, mango, grass, and melon. The mouth feel is light and drying but the aftertaste is clean and pleasant. The taste is not too crazy but I can't say anything bad about it. Sweet cereal grain, bitter grapefruit rind, peach, mango, strawberry, floral notes, and some resinous pine. Drinks more like a dry-hopped, low ABV pilsner. Very easy drinking for a 6.8% beer.

 

 

 

 

 

Found this in the fridge...not sure how I came about it.

A - Poured into my Duvel tulip a crystal clear golden hue with a big fat two finger white head that fades slowly to leave a dense, creamy half finger blanket.

S - Aromas of sweeter malts, super light grassy notes. Definitely old.

T - Taste is similar to the nose. Sweeter malt, bitter finish. Light grassy notes and faint citrus peel. Not super fresh.

M - Mouthfeel is lightly carbonated, bit on the thin side.

O - Overall, this was probably real solid fresh. I have absolutely no clue where this came from...very strange...

Serving Type: Can

 

 

The beer pours out into a Duvel glass a slightly hazed golden yellow color with a 1 1/2" fluffy white head that recedes slowly leaving lots of patches of lacing clinging in rings to the glass. Eventually some liquid begins to show but for quite a while there's foam as well. Sipping clears the side and creates lots of small speckles of lacing. Even toward the end of the beer there's a thin layer of foam over almost all of the surface.

The aromas fit with what I'd expected from knowing the only malt was Pilsner and the only hops were Galaxy. Up front there's the citric, almost herbal from the hops and in the background there's some nice bready aroma from the malt.

The flavors are much as expected from the nose with the citric, herbal hops right up front and the bready malt backbone keeping itself in the supporting role. There are other fruity flavors here but the only one I recognize is a touch of peach.

The mouthfeel on the light side and just a bit prickly from the light ongoing carbonation. The finish begins when the fruit and bready flavors start to fade leaving some citric bitterness that slowly turns into dryness in the back of the mouth and throat.

This seems a well made beer and I can see having it again sometime. Well worth a try but that said it hasn't bumped anything off my regular rotation.

 

 

 

 

(This one had been sitting in my fridge for going on three weeks so it may effect the score) It went down easy. VERY easy I started drinking and before I knew it the can was empty. It's very clean tasting with almost no crisp bite. I enjoyed it but was hoping for a tad bit more.