Utica

I haven't had much luck finding a Saranac beer that I like... They all sound pretty good as first, look appetizing and smell like they've done everything write. It's only when I take a drink that it all goes south. I went into Saranac's India Pale Ale with fairly low expectations... Being an IPA from Saranac doesn't exactly strike me as a beer I'd be likely to enjoy. I tried to keep an open mind however, pouring this beer into tall glass to develop a nice head and bring out the aroma. What I found in this glass of Saranac was pretty intriguing.

Saranac and I don't have the best history... I've had a couple Saranac beers and they didn't come anywhere near my expectations. I don't think I have outlandish expectations or anything, I just think their beers were... well, bad. That hasn't stopped me from picking up another Saranac beer though. This time around I've got their Season's Best, a Nut Brown Lager with a picture of a lone snowbound log cabin in the foothills of the Appalachians. It's a nice setting, but if I were holed up in that cabin with nothing but sixers of Saranac, it probably wouldn't be long before I started reenacting scenes from The Shining...

If there weren't a big Jack-o-Lantern on the label of this beer you probably wouldn't be able to tell it was Pumpkin Ale. Saranac's "Pumpkin" Ale doesn't have that spiced oomph that other Pumpkin Ales pack. There isn't any gingerbread spice or nutmeg in this beer either, it's odd... but I kinda like it. To be clear, as a Pumpkin Ale this beer fails completely. There are really very few similarities between this beer and pretty much every other Pumpkin Beer I've had. As an autumn seasonal beer, this Saranac is pretty good. It has an earthy, nutty flavor that feels warm and is really quite nice.

There aren't many beers that have a better sounding name. Caramel Porter... it conjures memories of sticky caramel candies and creamy dark Porter beers. Mmmm it just sounds delicious. Perhaps I had unreal expectations of this beer, because all of my hopes were dashes as soon as I took my first sip. Saranac's Caramel Porter was probably doomed long before I picked this beer up from the store. You see, these flavors don't really work all that well together. The creamy and chalky Porter might just be too bitter to play nicely with the caramel. It sounds like it'd be a match made in craft beer heaven, and maybe it could still work... but Saranac wasn't able to pull it off.