Sunday Night Suds - Saranac Brown Ale

This week's Sunday Night Suds looks at another of the Saranac brews - Saranac Brown Ale.

Regular beer drinkers who venture beyond macrobrews may have observed that traditional breweries lack some imagination with the naming of their beer styles. Many of the styles revolve around color such as White Ale, Irish Red, Black Lager and yes, Brown Ale. As noted by the experts at BA in their description of English Brown Ale (the forerunner of American Brown):

Spawned from the Mild Ale, Brown Ales tend to be maltier and sweeter on the palate, with a fuller body. Color can range from reddish brown to dark brown. Some versions will lean towards fruity esters, while others tend to be drier with nutty characters. All seem to have a low hop aroma and bitterness.

As mentioned above, the traditional brewers stay close to home with their beer classifications. As such, it should not be shocking to note that BA states the following about American Brown Ales:

Spawned from the English Brown Ale, the American version can simply use American ingredients. Many other versions may have additions of coffee or nuts. This style also encompasses "Dark Ales". The bitterness and hop flavor has a wide range and the alcohol is not limited to the average either.

With this in mind, let's take a quick look at Saranac Brown Ale. The beer itself pours dark brown with an inch of white foam. The beer is not nutty, certainly not as nutty as Saranac Nut Brown Ale (more recently reborn as Saranac Season's Best). There is a generous amount of malt in the brew, almost pushing it towards a stout. The beer also has a higher than average alcohol content (6% abv).

I enjoyed my Saranac Brown Ale with shwarma and falafel and the flavors melded together quite nicely. I could easily see having one or more of these with a steak or full flavored meat dish.

Saranac Brown Ale is under the Kosher Supervision of the Va'ad of Detroit as is every other beer produced at the Matt Brewery plant in Utica, NY. To see what the experts on Beer Advocate think about the Brown Ale, please follow this link - http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/99/33399.

As always, please remember to drink responsibly and to never waste good beer unless there is no designated driver.

If you've tried this beer or any others which have been reviewed on the kosher beers site, please feel free to post your comments (anonymous comments are acceptable).

Finally, please accept my appreciation for sending Kosher Beers over the 10,000 hit mark. I'm so glad that my beer musings on sports, talmud, law and torah have amused so many readers. Here's to the next 10,000!

If you have seen this post being carried on another site such as JBlog, please feel free to click here to find other articles on the kosherbeers blogsite. Hey its free and you can push my counter numbers up!