I didn’t exactly try this one, but I wanted to write about it anyway. I had Saranac Imperial Stout at a tasting at Nikki’s a couple weeks ago. We bought a bottle because Susan really liked it and she had that bottle last night (and I helped). The reason I wanted to write about it is because Saranac is usually looked down upon by most beer geeks snobs (real beer geeks would understand that Saranac has a real place in the craft beer scene).
The beer pours a thick opaque black with a small tan head. It smells nice and roasty with a hint of sweetness. The flavor is great - mostly roasted malts with a hint of dark fruit/berries. There’s some bitter chocolate and coffee notes as well. This is one really tasty beer from Saranac. It’s full bodied but not to the point that it’s super heavy. This is one very drinkable beer.
If you’ve snubbed your nose at Saranac in the past, you need to try this. It’s not your average Saranac beer.
Being the hop head that I am, I tried Ballast Point’s Big Eye IPA the other night. The beer poured a deep amber with a moderate white head. It smelled immediately of piny hops and some sweet malts as well. The beer is a very balanced IPA. The hops were nicely balanced by the malt. However, the beer is a bit heavier and fuller bodied than most IPA’s. It was drinkable, but not as drinkable as most because it was heavier. I did like this one and it was a nice change from the IPA’s I usually drink. I don’t think there are too many IPA’s available in RI that I have yet to try now.
I tried Dogfish Head’s Burton Baton a couple nights ago. The beer is called an oak aged imperial IPA, and that’s exactly how it tasted. But there was one problem… the alcohol.
The beer poured a brown amber color with almost no head. I could smell the vanilla from the oak barrel and the hops. The flavor was good. Lots of vanilla and malty sweetness up front, followed by the bitter hops. Unfortunately, the hops were followed by a pretty hot alcoholic burn. At 10%, it’s not overly surprising, but I was hoping this would hide it more. Because of the heat, I wouldn’t call this overly drinkable.
It was worth trying, and I might buy another bottle to age a few months, but I don’t know about this one. IPA’s generally don’t age overly well because they lose their hops character. While the hops weren’t overly prominent in this one, they were a big part of the flavor profile. So I’m on the limb with this one. Maybe I’ll just try it next year or wait a month or 2 and see if I can still buy it and try it again.
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