Vintage SW Action Figures and their beers - Tastes like Carbonite!

by Bill Cable
on 2013-05-02, 12:28:08

So here I am again, ripping off Beedo's schtick because I found a beer bottle that matched well with a Star Wars toy. This time it's "Hibernator" by Long Trail Brewing Company of Vermont (which always reminds me of my favorite old University of Virginia football heckle when playing our cross-state Tech rival: "Vermont SUCKS!"). The action figure pairing is all too obvious...

Now, this review is for a beer I purchased back in December sometime. So the bottle I'm reviewing has been aged a bit. I drank the other five long ago, and this last one sat in my fridge until such time as I mustered the effort to actually taste it carefully for my review. Last night was that night. And I took notes and everything. Look at me with the actual display of effort.

Unfortunately I'm not nearly so skilled with the prose as my buddy Beedo, especially when it comes to describing tastes. I invariably come to a conclusion along the lines of "it tastes kinda beer-like." But I'll do my best. Here's my play-by-play of the consumption of this beverage:

• First impression - Kinda strong
• It tastes metallic - coppery
• It reminds me of the cheap beers I drank as a kid young adult.
• Aftertaste is long-lasting and persistent... and not pleasant
• There's nothing about the beer I particularly like, other than that it's beer and that it only tastes about 50% skunky.
• It's not unpalatably bad...
• It tastes like I'm still wearing braces.
• It gets more bitter as the bottle gets emptier (and warmer)

My final conclusion: I'd never pay for another one, but I wouldn't turn down a free one.

As I noted earlier, I did wait a while to drink this one, so a "fresh" example (of this product invented to preserve grains long-term) might be less offensive. But then thinking back I wasn't particularly happy with the first five back when they were younger. So maybe it's just true in this particular instance, Vermont DOES suck.