Sunday Night Suds - Saranac Stout

This week's Sunday Night Suds looks at Saranac Stout.

For my first post-Passover brew, I sat down and enjoyed a Saranac Stout. This beer was included with the 2012 Saranac "What Ales You" mix box. The 2012 Saranac Stout should not be confused with other Saranac stout beers, such as the Saranac Irish Stout (reviewed here http://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2010/01/sunday-night-suds-saranac-irish-stout.html), Saranac Imperial Stout (reviewed here http://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2008/04/sunday-night-suds-saranac-imperial.html) or Saranac Vanilla Stout (reviewed here http://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2010/11/sunday-night-suds-saranac-vanilla-stout.html) which have been rotated by Saranac over the last few years. In fact, the Saranac Stout has not been brewed since Winter 2008-2009.

When brewers reintroduce beers after having them out of production for a number of years, they often tweak the brew. Sometimes these changes are radical and other times they may be more subtle. I have wondered whether the changes might even be related to the beer being brewed in a different plant where the mineral quality of the water might have been part of the change in flavor, but I have no empirical evidence to support this hypothesis.

I mention the tweaking of the brew as a preface to my review of the Saranac Stout because the brew is significantly different than the brew I remember from back in 2008. The beer poured the same rich brown, near Guinness color that I remember. However, the current version is much richer than the 2008 version. When drinking this brew, you really need to sip it to enjoy the flavor, even if you were choose to drink it ice cold (which I don't recommend for the 2012 vintage). The beer has a generous amount of roasted malt and coffee and chocolate notes). I would pair this beer with deeply charred meat or stews, but it is equally enjoyable on its own after dinner.

Saranac Stout is under the Kosher Supervision of the Va'ad of Detroit, as is every other brew produced by Saranac. To see what the experts on Beer Advocate think about Saranac Stout, please follow this link http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/99/1465.

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).

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