Saranac Caramel Porter

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

Serve in English pint, Shaker

send corrections   |   shelftag   |   edit barcodes   |   update pic

A - Pours a deep brown color with a hint of red and a finger of brownish head. The head fades fairly quickly to a think layer and leaves behind a little bit of lacing. S - Aroma is mostly of carmel. Overall extremely sweet. Just a little touch of roasted smell mixed in. Not overly strong. T - Starts off with a building carmel taste. Fairly sweet. It eventually gets extremely sweet with just a touch chocolate and roasted malt mixed in. Finish is fairly sweet with a lot of carmel with just a hint of bitterness. Overall a bit too sweet, bordering on cloyingly sweet. M - Fairly light bodied and low carbonation. Feels a touch watery. The finish is a bit dry. Overall, feels like it is lacking something here. D - Fairly drinkable, but overall far too sweet. The mouthfeel and aroma both feel like they are they are too light and lacking something. Much more of a dessert beer than anything else, and still a too sweet.

Pretty good beer right here. Taste is pretty strong on the caramel and malts, a little bitter as well, and not as sweet as it probably could be. Pretty solid beer, very drinkable.

The aroma for this is great. Very strong caramel, toffee aroma. The taste was medium sweet of course with a caramel undertone. This wasn’t as sweet as I expected. There is a mild bitter finish to give it a bit of balance. Not a bad beer at all.

Hmmmm.... a beer made by a brewery notorious for ’watered down’ and ’lowly rated’ beers... guess I should just arbitrarily write this one off like many of my fellow ratebeerians. WELL SCREW THAT!!! I’m going against the grain on this one - This beer is GREAT! I’ll admit, I’d personally like a little more complexity in the flavor department, but the aroma is just something amazing. First off, this thing pours a gorgeous mahogany with garnet highlights and a dense dark khaki head. Great full and rich toffee and caramel notes walk the line that is reminiscent of Southern TIer’s Creme Brule (but nothing is quite THAT good...). The flavor follows through with the expected sweetness of the caramel, but is surprisingly balanced with the earthy hop character, and finishes with an almost burnt/toasted note. Maybe just a slight bit thin on the palate, but certainly not watery - in fact, I think any more full bodied, and it would detract from the quaffability of this fine beverage. Lastly, at a mere $7 per six-pack, this is an extremely affordable brew! And with fairly large distribution channels, this one can serve as a perfect ’gateway’ beer for many a non-craft drinker. But, while possibly lacking tons of nuances or complexity, it still has solid character that any self-professed beer ’snob’ should be able to appreciate. Thank you, Saranac, for providing us with an affordable, quality beverage, that we can share and enjoy with our less beer-educated neighbors. Thank you.

Appearance: transparent medium-to-dark brown with reddish shading; average tan head, light lace. Aroma: strong caramel, some roasty malts and brown bread. Taste: strong caramel, hint of chocolate, light-ish grains, a little sweet. Finish: surprisingly short, tasting of (what else) caramel. Notes: I see what they tried to do here. There is a ton of caramel flavor, but the sweetness isn’t cloying, so they definitely deserve some credit there. However, I didn’t find this true to the porter style. Definitely more of a caramel amber lager, based on the light (though a little oily) palate and appearance.

Pours a dark brown with a light cream head. Aroma is toasty and roasty, hint of nut. Flavor is robust, not as sweet as I expected. Not so much malt that it overpowers the hops, which is the case with a lot of porters. Not bad.

12oz. Bottle: Aroma of caramel, butterscotch, and light diacetyl. Poured brown/deep amber in color with a small, tan head that greatly diminished but lasted throughout as a film on top of the beer, as well as around the edges. Clear. Sparkling. Flavor is medium sweet. Tastes of slight roasted malt, synthetic caramel, synthetic butterscotch, and a hint of metal. Medium body. Slightly dry texture. Average carbonation. Fake caramel, fake butterscotch, light roasted malt, and diacetyl finish.

aroma is of strong caramel malts. dark reddish brown in color. taste is sweet caramel and chocolate. leaves a creamy malty taste in the mouth. pretty good beer for a good price.

12 ounce bottle from Harris Teeter - Barracks, Charlottesville, VA. Pours a clear dark brown color with a thin tan head. Decent head retention and lacing. Aroma of pretty damn strong caramel notes, sweet and almost cloying, some butter and faint hops. The taste is faintly roasted malts, caramel, faint hops and a bitter finish. Medium bodied.

Bottle. Pours dark brown with a medium tan head. Aroma of caramel, butterscotch and subtle chocolate. Malty flavor with sweet caramel and a bit of chocolate before a semi-bitter roasty finish.