Name: Imperial Stout

Brewer: Saranac/Matt Brewing Company

Style: Russian Imperial Stout

Vintage: 2006

Cellared On: November 23rd, 2007

Original Tasting: January 9th, 2008

A lot of us who’ve grown up here in upstate NY have fond memories of Saranac beers. Back in the day if my buddies and I decided to go for quality over quantity on any given evening, it was probably Saranac Pale Ale that we were picking up. I still find myself with a Saranac six-pack every now and then when I want a tasty beer at a decent price. I think now that this was my “Gateway” beer, or the beer that primed my tastes for even better ones down the road.

Saranac’s Imperial Stout is the second release in their “High Peaks” limited release line of special brews. The first beer released in this series was their Imperial IPA, which was decent enough, but nowhere near good enough to push me away from the other hoppy beers I love (although my friend Darren went absolutely nuts over it). It was going to be interesting to see how their Imperial Stout held up.

This Saranac sure looked like an Imperial Stout. It was as black as can be and produced a beautiful milk-chocolate colored head. A lot of different smells were coming off of the glass - dark roasted malts, floral hops, and a little bit of caramel. Everything was right on target for an Imperial Stout.

The taste was right on target too. My first impressions were roasted malt and dark chocolate flavor combined with a tiny bit of dark fruit. As the beer progressed some floral/grassy hoppiness came forward and dominated the flavor profile. The hops were also big on the finish, pairing up with a somewhat astringent espresso-like flavor.

If there was one thing I didn’t care for with this beer, it was the rather watery body that it had. Other then that, a very solid stout from a brewery close to my heart. I’ll be trying the other beers in this series.

Six-Month Tasting: June 1st, 2008

The dark roasted flavors are still shining through, but that’s about the best thing I can say about this brew after six months.

There’s a noticeable papery oxidation flavor that kicks in kind of mid-palette and dominates this brews flavor  to the end. It’s not very pleasant at all, to say the least. To make matters worse, there’s also a sourness on the finish that wasn’t there before. I’m pretty sure this bottle’s been contaminated.  Just a big disappointment.

Cellar Outlook: It’s a toss up whether or not we’ll see any improvements over time here. Saranac Imperial Stout has a 9% abv, but it’s almost certainly not bottle conditioned. The best hope is that maillard reactions over time will bring out some sweet caramel or toffee flavors that cold really give an extra dimension to this brew.

Six-Month Cellar Outlook: I’m just hoping that this bottle I just had isn’t going to representative of the whole bunch of ‘em. If it is, this whole batch is pretty much ruined. If it’s not, there’s still hope!

Next Tasting: November 2008

Jason

jason@brewbasement.com

www.brewbasement.com