Saranac Imperial Stout

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

Pours an extremely dark black with a thick, persistent dark tan head. Aroma has a lot of alcohol (bordering on fuselly) and dark roastiness. palate is thin for an impy. Taste is all spciy alcoholic cocoa. The beer lacks any real finesse - it’s not an absolute stinker but towards the end it actually takes some effort to finish, not exactly the sign of a great beer.

I was surprised how nice this looked and how true to form. Was expecting a pretender, but judging by looks this one starts out as a true IS. Not a lot of complexity in the nose, I smell mostly mocha, some graininess. Palate hits strong with flavor of dark chocolate, a bit of oiliness and a staying licorice and coffee taste. Not as smooth of a blending of tastes and textures overall as I’d like but a nice effort from Saranac nonetheless.

Bottle. Appearance: Dark chocolate brown with a thin brown head. Aroma: Bittersweet chocolate, coffee. Palate: Medium/full. Flavor: Roasted malt, bittersweet chocolate and coffee which is nicely complimented by some dark fruity tastes. Overall: Probably one of Saranac’s best.

12 oz. bottle: Dark brown, near black pour with a receding tan head. Soft nose of chocolate and coffee malts. The body is drinkable, with a nice balance of sweet chocolate and espresso notes, but nothing pushes this to the complexity I expect from an Impy. Seems dumbed down.

One bottle. Dark black body with a medium creamy light brown head. Sweet chocolate and coffee aroma. Roasted malt and chocolate flavor. It had some bitterness with the coffee flavor at the ending. .

Black, nice tan head, clinging lace. Classic although a bit mild imperial nose of charred malts, tar, raisons, fat chocolate malts, bit of dark fruit and others. Medium-full bodied, very smooth, roasty, coffee flavors, nice hops finishig it up. A bit subdued but nice nonetheless. Standard imperial.

Deep dark brown coloured body with a thinnish cola coloured head. Decent look! Aroma of candied sugars, metal, cardboard, nuts and more sugar - nothing too imperial about this one at all. Medium-bodied; Fizzy taste filled with some roasted malt, a light chocolate taste (light amount of chocolate) and a bright taste of milk - nothing good at all. Aftertaste is almost lactic, somewhat sweet and overly dry from the malt - nothing good flavourful-wise at all. Overall, probably the worst imperial stout i’ve had - definitely another loser from Saranac. This one should be tried by people who hate Saranac beers or people who want to know what NOT to taste in a imperial stout, rather what people should taste in a clone of a sweet stout and a milk stout with no complexity whatsoever. I sampled this twelve ounce bottle purchased from K&E Discount Beverage in New Paltz, New York on 05-January-2008.

Bottle. Pours a thick dark brown with a chocolatey head. A thick strong aroma of roasted chocolate and molasses. The taste is thick rich and sweet full of chocolate and coffee flavors. The palate was thick and hardy with just a bit too much carbonation.