Taste the Black Beer Forest
Written: Dec 01 '03
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Smooth drinkability; Pleasant aftertaste; Compatible with many foods
Cons: Finish is a little weak
The Bottom Line: Not a classic, but a very tasty representative of the black beer style
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| Bryan_Carey's Full Review: Saranac Black Forest |
Matt Brewing, Inc., is a craft brewery that produces a fairly popular line of microbrewed products under the Saranac label. This brewery, located in Utica, New York, produces about 8 year- round products and a large number of specialty or seasonal products. One of the beers that used to be available only on draft is Saranac Black Forest, a beer brewed in the German “Black Beer” tradition that is now offered year round and is now sold in bottles.
Basic Characteristics of This Beer:
Black Forest pours to a dark brown color with a hint of reddishness. You cannot see the red unless you hold the beer up to a light. Otherwise, its dark brown in color and it produces a nice- size head of foam> the aroma is very enticing with a nose that’s roasty and sweet.
The flavor of this beer emphasizes the sweet, roasted malt. I could also detect traces of caramel, molasses, and chocolate, but very little hop taste. This is good for those who prefer the sweet taste of malt over the flavor of bitter hops. The body of the beer is medium, and it finishes a little on the watery side, although not excessively so.
Saranac brews this product using caramel and two- row barley malts, Hallertauer and Mt, Hood hops, and lager yeast to produce a smooth, easy to drink dark beer. The alcohol level is 5.5 percent by volume and there are 173 calories in a 12 oz. serving.
Food Compatibility:
With its combination of sweet roasted malt flavor and caramelized sugar, this beer would go well with any type of roasted meat, like beef steak, pot roast, chuck roast, pork roast, etc. It would also make a nice addition to certain rich- tasting desserts, like pecan pie, rich chocolate cream pie, walnut pie, even coffee cake. Many other foods would go well with this product, too. It's one of the most food- compatible dark beers that I have ever tasted.
Final Thoughts:
Saranac products include a wide range of flavors and styles. This product, Black Forest, is a little more unique because it is brewed in the tradition of a German “Black Beer”, which is a style that you don’t see very much in the United States, even if you visit a craft brewing operation. This style, also known by its German name “Schwarzbier”, is brewed using dark malts, but it doesn’t have the bitter characteristics that are commonplace with its stout and porter cousins. Black beer is sweeter and less intense, which describes Saranac Black Forest very well.
The overall flavor profile of this beer is very good and it even manages to produce a pleasant aftertaste. The lingering aftertaste is a combination of roasted malt with a hint of vanilla. I found this very pleasant. Not only does it taste good, but it also whets the appetite for another sip. I don’t know if Saranac intentionally brewed it this way to encourage greater sales, but I can see how this would entice many drinkers to ask for another bottle.
If there is anything bad to be said about this beer, it would have to be the finish. For those of us who love hops (like me), the finish is a little too watery and too lacking in hop goodness. However, the wateriness is not that bad. It’s not bad enough to give the beer a negative rating, like it is with other beer. Actually, it’s fairly close to what I would expect in this style.
Saranac beer products are generally good overall, although most of them fail to produce that “knock your socks off” level of taste. Black Forest continues this tradition. This product is better than the average beer on the market, but it doesn’t have quite enough character to award it the coveted five star rating. Still, this is a pleasant- tasting beer, smooth and easy to drink with a good amount of complexity and sweet malt flavor. It’s definitely worth a try if you happen to come across a bottle or two.
Recommended:
Yes
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