Mountain Brewed Stout
Written: Jan 12 '04
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Easy to drink; Nice roasty nose and flavor
Cons: Not enough character to make it a beer worth seeking out; Hard to find
The Bottom Line: An average American stout that will please most drinkers, but won't excite them enough to want a second round
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| Bryan_Carey's Full Review: Saranac Stout |
Saranac beer products are produced by the Matt Brewing Company, a regional brewery located in Utica, New York, that was founded by German born immigrant, F.X. Matt I. This brewery produces a handful of year- round products and a few seasonal and limited release beer products each year. One of the limited release products is the subject of this review. It’s Saranac Stout, a medium- bodied stout that is brewed with the goal of widespread appeal.
Basic Characteristics of This Product:
Poured into a clear glass, Saranac Stout is very dark in color with what looks like a heavy body that doesn’t allow any light to pass through. The nose is roasty and the beer produces a nice amount of foam that leaves lace along the sides of the glass as it subsides.
The taste of this beer strongly emphasizes the roasted malt. It’s mostly sweet, but there is a touch of sourness in the finish, the result, I believe, of the sweetness of the malt combined with the acidity from the alcohol. Some hop notes are evident in the finish as well, with the taste of coffee throughout the drinking experience. It’s like drinking espresso with added hops and malt that has been roasted over an open flame.
Saranac Stout has a bit of a smoked flavor to accommodate the roastiness of the malt. The aftertaste of roasted malt lingers for a while after you finish. The strength of this product is 5.4 percent alcohol by volume.
Food Compatibility:
With a taste like this, the first things that come to mind are beef dishes, particularly anything with a roasted and/or barbecue or smoked flavor. This beer would make a nice companion to a slab of ribs, a piece of chuck roast with vegetables, or roasted pork. It could even be paired with certain sweet/bitter desserts, like dark chocolate cake.
Final Thoughts:
Saranac beer products are known for their ability to satisfy most beer connoisseurs while also satisfying most non- beer experts and casual beer drinkers alike. This is not an easy task, for as most people know, what tastes good to a beer critic is often viewed as horrendous by beer novices. With Saranac, however, the vast majority of beer consumers usually finish each glass of brew feeling pretty satisfied. Not ecstatic or overjoyed, mind you, but still feeling good.
Saranac Stout is one of the more full- bodied products in the Saranac line. But when compared to other brands of stout, Saranac is actually more medium bodied. This fact surprised me at first, given the dark color, the roasty nose, and the amount of foam in this beer. I expected the taste to be equally assertive, but it wasn’t quite that impressive.
Saranac Stout tends to be on the sweeter side, but it’s not as sweet as oatmeal stout. It’s also not as dry as some other popular stout products. It’s a distinctly American version of the style, fairly easy to drink but not as full- bodied and rich as I would like it to be.
One thing about Saranac Stout that will disappoint those who would like to give it a try is the fact that Saranac brews this as a limited release product. Not only is it not a regular, year- round product, it’s also not a seasonal product that you count on buying for a few months every year. It’s brewed in limited release, which means that it may be brewed and sold to the public again in the future, and it may not be. It was brewed in 2003 as part of the Saranac special edition 12 pack (a 12- pack of one bottle each of 12 different Saranac products), but there is no guarantee that Saranac will continue to brew it again.
Overall, this is an average stout product. I wasn’t overly impressed by the taste, although the powerful appearance did manage to get me in an optimistic frame of mind. It would be better with a little more body, but it’s still decent enough to give a slim recommendation. It’s not the greatest stout I’ve ever tried, but it’s an acceptable, agreeable beer that most anyone, beer lover or rookie, would welcome without too much hesitation.
Recommended:
Yes
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