Lake Effect Lager

Beer Name: Saranac Lake Effect Lager
Brewery: The Matt Brewing Company
ABV: 5.95%
Serving method: 12-oz bottle in a pint glass
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

And the dark beer streak is broken. Not that this beer is a light one, but it's not a porter or stout. Plus, with the recent weather, I figure something with the name "lake effect" is appropriate.

Lake Effect Lager is a dark amber color. It pours with a light head that starts fading quickly but doesn't completely disappear. This thin layer left behind leaves a light lacing on the glass. The aroma is very malty with a little bit of sweetness in the form of caramel.

I find that almost all the Saranac beers have a similar flavor in the background. Since there are so many varieties, I don't think that it's from them using the same malts, but I can't figure out what else it might be. I also don't know how to describe it. Other than that Saranac-ness, this beer has a little bit of caramel flavor and a little bit of creaminess. It has a slightly bitter finish, which also lingers for a little while. This beer has a medium to high level of carbonation.

Final thought - This is an ok beer, but it's not a favorite. I think that can be said for almost all the Saranac beers I've had. They're good, but they're not the best.

-Jon

Vanilla Stout

Beer Name: Saranac Vanilla Stout
Brewery: The Matt Brewing Company
ABV: 4.8%
Serving method: 12-oz bottle in a pint glass
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

Alright, it's time to get back on track with the beer tasting. November wasn't a major dropoff from the first 2 months, but it wasn't where it should have been. December is time to turn things around. Obviously I'm not spending my time eating burgers, so I should have plenty of opportunities to go buy new beers.

Or maybe Kathryn will have time to buy beers, like her Saranac Winter Pack. There were a few different beers that I was excited to try, but #1 on the list was the Vanilla Stout. It's a stout AND vanilla! That has to be delicious, right?

This beer, like most stouts, falls into the dark category. There wasn't really much head here, but that might be because it's been sitting in the bottom of the fridge for a bit. It still left a little lacing despite this. The aroma here is like a vanilla coffee.

Blah. This beer does not do justice to what I'm expecting for a vanilla stout. It doesn't taste like a typical stout, and that's not a good thing. There's a little bit of the vanilla here, but, as Kathryn put it, it tastes like a "soda beer." It's got a healthy amount of carbonation, and not much of an aftertaste.

Final thought - There were 2 Vanilla Stouts in the variety pack, and I won't be drinking the second one. That's pretty much all that needs to be said here.

-Jon

Black & Tan

Beer Name: Saranac Black & Tan
Brewery: The Matt Brewing Company
ABV: 5.1%
Serving method: 12-oz bottle
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

This beer has not one but two mysteries! The first is when it was brewed, and the second is why does the beer's webpage and the Beer Advocate page about this beer have two different ABVs? Someone has to be wrong there.

Before we get into this specific beer, I think a little beer education is in order. If you already know all there is to know about black and tans, you can skip this paragraph. For the rest of you, a black and tan is a hybrid beer mix of a dark beer (like a stout) and a light beer (like a pale ale) to make a new Frankenbeer. Those beer types aren't fixed though, since I've read that you can also use a porter for the dark one and a lager for the light. Hey, if you're the one that's drinking, you can do whatever you want. You can get a black & tan premixed, like the beer I'm about to drink, or you can make a cool layer effect by pouring the light beer in first, and then carefully pouring the stout on top of it. If you do this, use Guinness as your stout, which is actually very light in stark contrast to both its reputation and appearance. Don't let people fool you; Guinness is less than 5% ABV, which means you can have a bunch before you get silly. It also means that it's a good choice for black & tans, because if you're going to be making fancy drinks (where "fancy" means "requiring any sort of effort"), you might as well make a bunch of them.

The Saranac Black & Tan is a mix of stout and lager. Specifically a German lager if the bottle can be believed. The aroma of this beer is dominated by sweet malt from the stout contribution. I am not picking up anything from the lager, and I'm guessing that is because the maltiness is dominating everything else.

This beer's taste comes in two parts. First you taste the malt and sweetness of the stout, and then you get the bitter finish of the lager. This beer feels very heavy while you're drinking it, and the aftertaste sticks around for a while. There's a lot more carbonation in there than I would expect from something containing stout beer, so that has to be from the lager. Drink this beer fast; letting it warm up a little kills the flavor.

Final thought - Saranac Black & Tan is not a beer for a situation with a lot of drinking. This is a beer to be paired with a meal or to drink on a cold winter night when there's nothing good on television so you might as well clear out the beer fridge. Even though I have been told it isn't possible, this beer feels like it warms me up. It's not a beer I'd drink regularly, but I will keep it in mind from time to time. Think of it like Julian Tavares: the Sox never really wanted to put him in the game, but it wasn't the end of the world if they had to. Unlike Rudy Seanez.

-Jon