Saranac Nut Brown Ale

Brewed by Matt Brewing Company
Style: Brown Ale
Utica, New York USA

Rating entered here in error on November 22, 2009 (see Saranac "Brown Ale" for actual beer rated).

Rich, chocolate malty aroma with a subtle but noteable flowery hop balance. Very inviting. Dark amber in color (but still very clear) with an egg shell white head that poured two fingers thick. Pretty lasting lace. Rich, thick body with dark malt flavor (crystal and chocolate?). The bittering hops show up immediately and powerfully during the tasting. The hops used are obviously meant for bittering and flavor rather than aroma. The aftertaste starts with a caramel/buttery feel that quickly moves toward the bitter. The mouthfeel is almost a hybrid. It has the fullness and "roundness" of an ale, yet it is crisp like a lager. Carbonation is as expected. A very good beer that is much more hoppy than most dunkels. I lean toward hops. If I was grading against style, I’d probably dock this one. But with my preferences, I like this more than the usually dark lagers because it is so much more flavorful (to me).

Pours meduim brown Thin off white head. Tases hoppy slighly acidic all and all I have had better nut brown ale

12oz bottle. light cola colored, small fluffy head. nice nutty malt aroma light malt taste. nothing outstanding but a decent beer

Another one from the Saranac winter samper pack. Pours an amber brown body with a relatively thick tanish head. Not much to the aroma, slightly malty with a mild hop bite. A little more malt in the flavor as that was the dominating flavor but there was a sour, bitter hop bite in there as well. Slightly bitter aftertaste. A pretty good beer but not great. Again, I’ll say Saranac is a pretty good selection, especially when examining one’s budget

As with most Saranac beers, there is not much going on with this one. It has a light nutty flavor to it, but nothing really special about it. Pours a nice dark color, but is very thin in the mouth.

bottle poured an amber in color with light carbination and smells of malts and toasty nuts. taste is fairly smooth but has a metallic twang that so many of these do. have to imagine this is last years batch so will revisit over the holidays in the 12 days of Christmas.

Pours thick, lightly carbonated, foamy head, accompanied by delightful roasted nut aroma. Very rich and filling. This goes great with aged cheese or spicy meats.