The Dedly Blog

Beer In Review: Two From Saranac

Updated 1/22/09 as Saranac's website has changed.

Rather than working up my blood pressure by ranting about FEMA's inept handling of Katrina relief funds or Karl Rove escaping indictment, I decided to post about beer.

The Matt Brewing Company is located in upstate New York. Despite the beautiful illustrations of the picturesque Adirondack Mountains, the brewery is located in Utica, a city whose glory days of manufacturing and textile mills rusted away years ago. But the breweries have survived! Matt Brewing makes the Saranac line of beers. Their crosstown rival, High Falls Brewery, makes Genesee, Michael Shea's, and J.W. Dundee's line of beers. But, today's post is about Saranac.

The Matt Brewing company is a small brewery. Dare I call it a microbrewery? But far from being a start up, the brewery has been in business since 1888. While unable to get distribution beyond the local scene for decades, they've slowly managed to gain access to larger markets, thanks to America's re-discovery that beer doesn't have to look like urine and taste like gym socks in seltzer. Saranac can be found throughout the Northeastern U.S. and has even made forays down the East coast into the south. It's the little brewery that could. They offer several beers year round and rotate their seasonal offerings from a host of recipes. But unlike most of the microbrew market, the Saranac line is not so expensive. I typically find it for a dollar or two cheaper than the more popular brands. We're not talking domestic swill cheap, but it is reasonable by comparison.

Saranac Black Forest looks deceiving. A self-described "Bavarian Black Beer", the dark brown bottle, coupled with the name, gives the impression that this is a heavy beer, perhaps even stout-like, but it isn't. It's a smooth, medium-bodied ale that, when poured into a glass and held up to a bright light, displays a rich dark brown color with red tones shining through. Not to be confused with Black Forest Chocolate Cake, it's malt is light on the chocolate and caramel.

It's a beer that I've enjoyed for years. I most recently had it with dinner: salmon with a parma rosa sauce with peas over ziti rigati. It's good for Fall, Winter, and Spring drinking. In the heat of summer, this beer becomes a little heavy, though your taste buds may differ. 5.3% ABV.

The other offering from Saranac that I'm reviewing in this space is their Caramel Porter. It's one of their limited releases that they rotate in from time to time.

Although it's listed as a "robust porter", this a beer whose bitterness can easily be overlooked. There just isn't enough bittering hops used here for me to consider this a robust porter. The website says that they use Fuggles and East Kent Goldings hops, the former is probably used for bittering while the latter for flavoring. This is a combination that I use regularly with my homebrews. Both of these varieties are mild on the alpha scale so you really have to add a lot for the hops bite to come through. This beer's mild hop character makes it easier for the caramel malts to grab your tongue's attention and proudly inform you of their presence. The beer is light and sweet enough to be considered a dessert beer, not what you might expect from an offering marketed as a "robust porter." 5.4% ABV.

I had the Caramel Porter with stuffed red peppers (sausage, Spanish Rice, mushrooms, colby & cheddar cheese) though I can't say that it was a match. Maybe I should've saved the beer for dessert.

posted by DED at 12:15 PM

 jnubel said...

I've had many varieties of Saranac. Black Forest for a while was a favorite. Mostly because it wasn't available in NJ so the case that I did enjoy was personlly imported from upstate NY one summer. My current personal favorite beer these days is Murphy's Irish Stout. I can recall the day of tasting the infamous "coffee beer" (probably guiness) on campus down at Faegans. You were there Dave, so you should remember. While I didn't care for it then, today that is all I seem to want when given a choice. Cheers!

6/15/2006 4:42 PM

 Mike said...

Mmmmm. Sounds good. Never had either, but Saranac's pretty easy to find in NYC, so I'll keep my eyes open.

Found a deli with a very nice beer selction in my neighborhood.

6/15/2006 5:24 PM

 DED said...

Jim: I agree. Murphy's is a good beer. And I remember the "coffee beer" incident quite well (it was indeed Guinness). It's funny how my taste in beer has changed over the years.

Mike: I promise to keep reviewing beer in this blog. I've got at least 5 that I can think of off the top of my head that are chilling in the fridge.

6/16/2006 10:16 AM