Trail Magic: A walk through

Trail Magic is a beer that we've been brewing for a while now, both as home brewers and professionally. It was on tap at the Firefly in Lenox, and it's currently on tap at the Gypsy Joint in Great Barrington. Like all the beers that we brew, we strive to make it equal parts conceptual and delicious.

The concept comes from the AT tradition of planting a cooler of beer on a tucked-away spot along trail for weary through-hikers to find in an hour of need. This magically appearing cooler should lift their spirits and propel them on their journey from Georgia to Maine. Such encounters are known as “trail magic.” Well, we aspire to make Trail Magic happen. If you are hiking the AT next year expect to run into a cooler of this beer somewhere in the Berkshire stretch.

The beer is designed to mirror trail mix, the common trail snack. A mixture of nuts, dried fruits, and melt-in-your-mouth-not-in-your-hands M&M's is a pretty standard combination. We're trying to combine all of these flavors in a hoppy, refreshing American pale ale that you could drink in three thirsty gulps on the trail, or sit down for refined sips in order to enjoy all the intricate flavors.

To achieve this complex flavor profile we use a compliment of malts that mimic the desired flavors. We also use actual fruits, nuts, and chocolate. The nuttiness comes from British amber malt, as well as a sunflower seed extract that we made from real sunflower seeds. The fruitiness is derived from dark caramel malts that provide a dark fruit character, and ‘craisins’ added late in the boil (craisins are back-sweetened with refined sugar to make them taste more like naturally sweet raisins, and refined sugar is not something we want to introduce into secondary fermentation). We also add cocoa powder, which adds a unique bitterness, and oddly, more nuttiness.

Our website updates with current draft lines (http://glassbottombrewery.org/find), so if you keep checking in you’ll know when and where to find Trail Magic. Or stop by the brewery for a sample and a growler fill come 2014. Cheers.