Saranac Imperial Stout

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

Jet black pour with 1/4in frothy head. Aroma is hops and malt. Flavors of roasted malt, hops, and some coffee. A little alcohol is present, but its not over the top. Body was a bit thin too. With 50ibu’s, I had to try it and boy was I surprised! Best saranac product i’ve had.

bottle poured a dark black in color with a nice looking creamy dark tan head with good retention. a nice looking beer from saranac. aroma has dark malt, raisin, baileys irish cream, cocoa, and coffee. mouth feel is unfortunately a little too thin but it has some lively carbination. flavor has plenty of malt, roasted coffee, chocolate, and some back ground hops lurking about. finished with dryness and some bitters and malt. does have some of the metallic flavors i find in most of there beers. definitely a step up for saranac but i liked the ipa. on the first release better.

Bottle in a blind tasting. This puppy actually held up rather well against some big boys. Pours extra black with a dense cascading layer beneath a small brown head. The appearance is oily. Aroma of raisins, molasses, brown sugar, soy sauce. A dense mouthfeel with molasses, espresso. A good transition of bitter roast to caramelized qualities was present along with mild hints at soy sauce and even a bit of meat. Hats off to Saranac on this one.

12 oz bottle. Pours amber black with reasonable tan head; a swirl leaves some tight legs on the glass. The aroma is brown sugar, light smoke, hints of bold coffee and dark chocolate. The flavor is rather nutty to begin, with a bit of bitter chocolate. Some coffee and smoke come out afterwards, with some alcohol and a very small tannic twang. Not too bad.

Bottle. I’d be interested to see how this one holds up in a blind tasting, b/c I think if you slap an AleSmith label on this one, people would be raving about it. Point being, it’s underrated and possibly this is beacuse Saranac doesn’t produce masny highly rated brews. By far the best beer I’ve sampled from this brewery. Very robust chocolate, malt, and coffee presence w/ hop bite in the finish. Very good.

Pours a dark cola black with a medium light brown head. Aroma of roasted malts, coffee beans, bitter chocolate and smoke. Taste of roasted malts with a coffee bean presence and hints of bitter chocolate and smoke flavor.

This one is an extremely dark mahogany color that shows almost black. A small but dense, foamy tan head leaves behind rocky ridges of lacing. The aroma is very strange, and unlike any other imperial stout I have encountered. Rich, dark chocolate malts and anise are accompanied by mild pine hops and a funky herbal element that comes off as spearmint. Coffee is present somewhere in the background, but it struggles to fight through the green foliage. The nose normalizes somewhat as it warms to room temperature, but I can’t shake the mint, which seems to be utterly out of place. Flavors are again unique, but off the mark. The chocolate and coffee components are nice enough, but the herbal components are haphazard and downright strange. I’m picking up all things green, from grass, to spruce, to pine needles and mint. I feel like a plant should be growing from this brew. Medium bodied and overly carbonated, the mouthfeel doesn’t do anything to save it. This one is about as odd as they come, and not in a good way.

Bottle, thanks to Ken! Poured a clear, very deep brown with a well-formed cap of dark tan head. The aroma picked up heavily-roasted darker chocolates paired with some sweeter barley and lightly-ground coffee beans.. toasty overall with a sweet impression. The flavor had lightly-roasted sweeter chocolate, barley, and oats.. light sour coffee notes surround the sides along with a bit of herbal bitterness.. moderate-length, somewhat stale dark fruity finish. Medium-bodied on the palate with lower carbonation.. spicy and warm at the back-end.. OK feel, and an OK beer.