Saranac Seasons Best Nut Brown Lager

Brewed by Matt Brewing Company
Style: American Dark Lager
Utica, New York USA

Bottle. Pours a copper body with an off white head. Some caramel and nut character with a nutty earth y finish and a hint of dried fruit. Not bad.

Pours a clear, dark, reddish brown with two fingers of creamy beige head (and sheeting lace) that diminishes with time. The nose is of sweet nutty and caramel malt notes with a pleasant supporting notes of floral and herbal hops. Light-bodied with soft carbonation and a tight, light, yet significantly bitter finish. The palate turns a touch astringent and drying at the finish. With food, this could be a plus. As a standalone beverage, however, I find that characteristic a tad off-putting. The flavor more-or-less follows the aroma with some Munich malt character thrown into the mix and the herbal hops cranked up beyond what is detected on the nose. Overall, this is a nice interpretation of the style and a pleasant surprise from Saranac.

Dark brown with some red. Decent sized head. Aroma of nuts, lightly roasted malts, chocolate, and a lot of aroma hops, probably cascade. A decent brown malt flavor, slightly nutty and chocolately, some caramel, not a lot of hop bitterness, but the aroma is there. A decent beer, not mind-blowing, but reliably well done.

She poured clear light brown with glints of deep garnet sparkling below a huge cream-hued head of tightly packed bubbles. As the head slowly sinks in cavernous dimples, eventually all that is left are floating tufts sticking to the side of my glass. Bread crust, crackers, and malts mingle with faint caramel and molasses while brown sugar, nutmeg, and cinnamon are sprinkled about. Each whiff of her nose finishes with a fresh lemon kiss. As enticing as her nose is, the proof is in the pudding or in her case, the brew. My first couple quaffs are clean yet thin, washing over like a wave of lightly flavored water. Granted she is a lager, not ale, but I was expecting more Nut Brown flavors like her nose promised me. A wicked tease, maybe? The longer we linger together, the more I am able to finally taste some sweet brown sugar notes with crunchy bitter nuts in the back with cinnamon and nutmeg lingering in each finishing breath. A burgeoning aura of crisp, refreshing lemon touched with a tinge of honey and apricot join her meager palate. As her last drop wets my tongue, memories of toasted bread, nuts, spices, lemon, and honey whisper sweet-nothings in my ear one more time.

Not great but not bad. Saranac’s Nut Brown Lager was highly drinkable with clean, easy flavor. The problem is she was a bit too clean and too easy in pretty much all departments. I love session beers, but they should have a full basket of flavors to balance their drinkability.

Nutty and slightly roasted, but as is my usual complaint with Saranac, its not ful bodied and lacks full flavor. Slight hop finish, but they could have pushed it further.

Bottle. Pours brown with a small, off-white head. Aroma is sweet and nutty, and malty as well. Flavor is a dark sweetness at first with a spicy hoppy finish. Overall pretty good.

12 oz bottle. Light roastyness, caramel, dark sugar. Clear amber brown with small white head. Brown sugar, caramel, spicy hop flavor. Not a lot of nuttiness. Medium body well carbonated. Finish is dry with moderate bitterness.

12oz bottle-pours a retaining tan head and brown/amber color. Aroma is light/medium malt-caramel/nutty, orange, husky. Taste is herbal hops press to the front through the medium malt-caramel/nutty/roasty, some orange/resin. Crisp, enjoy. thanks to Joe/jwc215.