Saranac India Copper Ale

 And so it is that I come to the end of my Saranac winter beer marathon.  It's been a varied journey - there have been some beers I'd definitely try again, and a couple which didn't wow me at all.  Such is the way with any variety pack, I guess.

One thing I found out in the course of my explorations is that Fred Matt, of Matt Brewing Co (who make Saranac), was in Rochester a few days ago at the Tap and Mallet.  This is one of the cool features of the Upstate brewing scene - there's a lot of small, family-run breweries who spread the word about their products the old fashioned way.  Not through flashy TV ads but simple word of mouth, going around the pubs and explaining their craft to the drinkers who'll appreciate it.  This has produced some up-and-coming breweries which I'll write about in a few days - they couldn't exist without this culture of openness and the can-do attitude which gives them confidence to compete with the Big Companies. 

Here's what I picked up about this brew:-

Aroma - Toasty, with barley undertones.


Appearance - As the name suggests, copper coloured.  A good head developed, but (and this is probably my own fault) when I opened the bottle it was clearly pretty active and spilled all over my counter.  This I'll attribute to my own clumsiness.  I had a great time cursing under my breath and cleaning the kitchen floor.  Carbonation is evident, though not as strongly as in the Rye IPA I tried recently.


Taste - Strong malty flavour with a lot of hoppy backing - I'm guessing this is what they mean by 'India Copper Ale', an IPA with something extra.  Pleasantly hoppy but it takes a backseat to the malty goodness.


Mouthfeel is thicker than a lager, a typical ale texture with a little carbonation.   


Aftertaste - very malty, slightly toasty.  In fact there are notes reminiscent of Marmite, the great British love-it-or-hate-it spread.  If you've tried it, you'll know what I mean.  If not, get straight to your nearest Wegmans and head for the British imports section!

Overall, a great, malty Brown Ale which makes a strong impression and stays with you through the evening.  A real beer-drinker's beer.

I'm giving this beer a 4 out of 5.

Saranac Big Moose Ale

I have 2 more Saranac brews to sample from their '12 Beers of Winter' collection - Big Moose Ale and India Copper Ale.  Shooting unsuspecting wildlife sounds like a fine way to prepare for travelling to the far east, so let's go with the Big Moose today.


The brew is an American Pale Ale, with less of a hoppy hit than the IPAs I've recently been trying.  It's milder and has some fruity hints. 

This was probably my favourite of the Saranacs so far -it's exactly the kind of ale I was hoping to get from a brewery in the Adirondacks; for me it really conjured up images of hiking in the woods and communing with nature.  While drinking beer.  Which probably isn't a great idea if you're hiking, but as long as you don't run across the eponymous Big Moose, you'll probably be safe.

Here's the lowdown:

Aroma - Malty, less hoppy than some other winter beers from Saranac.   Faint whiff of pine, appropriate for a beer from the Adirondacks.

Appearance - reddish gold with a moderate head.  Some mild carbonation.

Taste - malty, subtle, with citrus notes becoming more prominent as the beers warms to room temperature. 

Aftertaste - slight bitter finish, but pleasant nonetheless.  Pine and grass notes work their way in too, making for a subtle and enjoyable palate.

I'm giving this 4.5 out of 5 - a really thoroughly enjoyable brew which I can't wait to try again.

Saranac Rye IPA

Today I'm continuing my journey through Saranac's collection of beers and ales.  By the way, all of the beers I've featured by them are in their '12 Beers of Winter' pack, and it's a good collection if you fancy trying some of these for yourself.  You get 2 bottles of each, so you can share with a friend (or enemy, or passing stranger - whatever floats your boat).

Saranac's Rye IPA is a beer for drinking around a log fire with the lads, soaking in the rich flavours as you swap big-fish stories; or for sharing with a loved one in the warm while the NY snows pile up outside.  It's probably my favourite of the Saranac brews I've tried so far.  Here's the lowdown:-

Aroma: hoppy.

Appearance: dark golden, head develops slowly on top.  Carbonation noticeable.

Taste: As one would expect, rye.  Hoppy with a malty finish.  Sometimes a slight soapy note creeps in as you swallow, but it's not overly prominent.  Like any good IPA, the hops are prominent, but the rye adds something to the taste.

Rye at top of mouth, after you swallow before you get the barley.   Barley is the lasting aftertaste.

Mouthfeel: carbonated, sharp, head is foamy and provides a nice contrast to the carbonation.

Aftertaste: barley, rye notes.

This beer I could definitely drink on its own - it's a strong IPA which can be enjoyed on its own merits.  I've had a mixed reaction to Saranac's brews so far, but I really liked this.

4 out of 5.

Saranac Bohemian Pilsener

Whenever two beer-drinkers meet, there is a social formality which has to be observed.  It's not the usual conversation about the weather, or pleasantries about their respective jobs or families.  It's something far more fundamental and intimate:

The two beer-drinkers must bond on the basis of their mutual hatred of mass-produced lagers like Budweiser and Heineken.

This activity should preferably include frequent reference to such beers as tasting like 'cardboard' or 'piss-water'.  This is always contrasted with the quality of beers such as Sam Adams, which are characterised as 'real beer' (for Brits, there is even the Campaign for Real Ale, which supports drinkers' rights and sponsors several beer festivals across the country).  If either interlocutor should express even the vaguest tendency to liking a mass-produced lager, s/he is immediately deemed an ignorant plebeian who requires education in the finer points of Real Beer Drinking.

I don't totally subscribe to this view - much as I hate mass-produced lager, I don't think that ale is the only brew worth drinking and I do occasionally enjoy a glass of straightforward, no-nonsense lager.  Sometimes that's the kind of beer that goes best with the food you're eating - if you're at a summer barbecue, for instance, there's nothing nicer than a refreshing ice-cold lager.

I recognise that in admitting that, I'm probably painting a big target on my back.  However, I do think you can have the best of both worlds: a locally-brewed beer from a small family-owned company which delivers a crisp bite to rival any of the major breweries. I think Saranac have proven this with the latest brew I've sampled, their Bohemian Pilsener.

Pilsener (also spelled Pilsner) is essentially an eastern European style of premium lager - it's been extremely influential on a lot of modern lagers and you can taste this in beers like Heineken and Stella Artois.  A good Pilsener will be stronger than Bud Light, but will taste distinctively light and wheaty, with a bright yellow/golden colour and a slightly hoppy finish.

Saranac's Pilsener makes no attempt at being a malty, hoppy ale, and I actually appreciate that - if you're going to do a Pilsener, do it right.  It pours beautifully, with a decent head, and tastes as good as, if not better than, any of your mass-produced lagers.  It has just the right golden colour (sorry, I did take photos but I've temporarily lost my camera - hopefully will have it back very soon!), and is a very easy drink.  The finish is slightly fruity, very subtle but it's there.

I liked drinking this - while it lacks the complicated, textured flavours of ale, it's a great one to drink as an alternative to Heineken or any of the other mass-produced lagers.  I thoroughly recommend it - it's a great way to introduce your friends to local beers, even if they've never touched anything other than Rolling Rock.  Plus, by drinking it you're supporting local businesses here in NY State!

I'm giving this a 3.5, because while it's an excellent example of Pilsener from right here in New York, I wouldn't imagine myself drinking this just on its own merit.  This isn't the beer's fault, I just prefer ales, which have got a more hoppy or malty body.  As an accompaniment to your food, this beer is going to be just great.

3.5 out of 5.

Saranac Vanilla Stout

A few days ago I tried Saranac's Lake Effect Lager, and gave it a pretty favourable review.  I've got a few more beers in my collection from these guys and the review will be coming in over the next few days.

When you name a beer 'Vanilla Stout', it's different from a generic name like 'Lake Effect' or 'Highland' - the expected flavour is right there in the name.  And the name  is bound to raise a few eyebrows - Vanilla and Stout don't usually go together.

In case you were wondering, stout is the kind of beer that basically provides you with a meal in a glass - it's heavy, it's dark, it's thick and it fills your gut nicely.  Probably the most famous example is Guinness - the strong, toasty Irish beer which sells millions upon millions of units every year.

Combining that with vanilla seems like an odd move to me - I can see it being added to some ales or bitters, even porters, but stout seems like too strong a style to lend itself to vanilla flavours.  Upon trying Vanilla Stout, my suspicions were sadly confirmed.

My first impression, on a couple of mouthfuls, was that there was way too little vanilla in the aroma.  I could just about detect it - but it was so lost amid the hoppy aroma that I wondered for a moment if they'd mis-labelled the bottle.  The overall smell I got was the scent of a cold snowy day, with an undertone of hops.  It wasn't unpleasant, just unexpected.  It's got a suitably dark appearance, as one would expect from a stout, with a respectable head.

The taste is overpoweringly soapy, and rather bitter, with a very strong aftertaste of toasted barley.  I normally enjoy that, but add it to the bitter, malty, soapy taste and it's just a bit too much.  More than once I grimaced as I swallowed another mouthful - it became a bit of an endurance test to finish it.  Moreover, my drinking partner (who is also my biggest fan) couldn't face the whole glass and handed me hers to finish - this just added to the challenge.

One redeeming feature here was the brew's good, thick head - it had a creamy texture which was a pleasant surprise.  It contrasted nicely with the mouthfeel of the beer, which had some carbonation.

There's a problem I've routinely encountered with some craft beers - a pleasant malty flavour can become unpleasantly soapy if overdone.  Usually I've only encountered this problem with British ales, I think this is the first time I've had the problem this side of the pond.  It's a shame.

It's a stout, but may be too heavy to be enjoyable by most drinkers.  The 'vanilla' aspect seemed mostly absent, suppressed by the stout's strong hop and malt flavours.  I didn't enjoy it, and it seems like a bit of a wasted opportunity.

2 out of 5.

Saranac Lake Effect Lager

I absolutely love this time of year, especially here in Upstate.  I grew up in Britain, and while I do still love the place dearly, I've always slightly resented my home country for its utter inability to produce proper winter weather (well, until last year, and by then I'd left the country anyway).  Come to think of it, the UK climate was never that good at producing any kind of weather, apart from rain in the autumn and overcast skies in the summer. 

Contrast that with the weather you get in the region around Lake Ontario, where I'm now based: hot, humid summers where your rich neighbours can get some real honest use out of their outdoor swimming pool; crisp, dry autumn days that show off the striking colours of turning leaves; freezing winters where you can fully expect snowstorms, and where a White Christmas is pretty much a guarantee; and then the beautiful springtime, made all the more dramatic by the memory of the winter that the land is shaking off.  There's a saying I've heard a few times in the short time I've been here: if you don't like the weather, just wait five minutes; it'll change.

Only in Upstate NY could you name a beer after the local weather, and get away with it. Saranac's Lake Effect Lager does just that: it's named for the way in which the proximity of Lake Ontario exacerbates the high snowfall and winds in the areas around Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo during the mid-winter season.  The Lake Effect and I have a special relationship: it stopped me getting to my green-card interview, as we would have had to brave 40mph winds and heavy snowstorms to get there at the scheduled time.  (Yes, I did re-schedule, and no, I'm not an illegal immigrant.)  But I digress.

Saranac beer is brewed by the Matt Brewing Company, a family-run microbrewery based in Utica, NY.  They make a range of drinks, including Bohemian Pilsener, which is inspired by Czech brews - can't wait to try that one!

Lake Effect Lager, on the face of it, doesn't look, taste or smell like much of a lager - it's pretty dark, has an aroma of malty caramel, and tastes a little hoppy.  However, I'm not complaining - it's a pleasant surprise to see a self-professed lager that has some character.

The aftertaste of this brew deserves a special mention: toasted barley with a caramel undertone.  There's nothing I like more than a slightly burnt, toasty flavour working its magic on your palate after a sip of good beer, and this one had just the right hit for my liking.

The one criticism I have of this beer is the slight weakness of flavour as you're drinking it - this isn't an IPA or porter with a strong flavour, most of the interest comes in the aroma or the aftertaste.  This might be because it's a lager with a lighter body, but I expect a winter beer to have a touch more flavour in the drinking.  The toasty aftertaste more than makes up for this, though, and I can recommend this beer without reservation.

4 out of 5.