Saranac Season’s Best (Alcohol Content: 5.3%)Matt Brewing Company

Three out of four mugs

When it came to naming this beer, Saranac clearly mailed it in. Season’s Best – a nut brown lager, in fact – says nothing about the brew, other than the fact that it is a seasonal. Fortunately for beer drinkers, Saranac put far more effort into crafting the nut brown than in naming it.

Season’s Best pours a maple glaze, similar to the color of pancake syrup. One full finger’s width of French vanilla-colored foam sits atop the liquid. As the beer is consumed, the foam sticks to the side of the glass in solid strands, leaving long tendrils of tan film that stretch down into the remaining liquid.

Two scents rise from the brew: hops and walnuts. The variety of hop used in Season’s Best – Tettnang – is meant to enhance the smell of the beer with a spicy, somewhat bitter nose. Walnut suits the beer’s style, since nut brown lagers typically smell like a mustier, heartier nut.

A hop flavor comes in rather strong with the first sip, making the beer seem bitter. But Season’s Best quickly mellows into a nutty, peanut brittle taste, which lasts on your tongue and in the back of your throat long after you’ve swallowed.

A general dryness of the mouth unfortunately comes as a side effect of the brew’s enjoyable, long-lasting flavor. The beer also feels a bit chalky immediately after a gulp.

Season’s Best makes for a good sitting-around-a-fire type of beer. Take some time drinking it and allow the great aftertaste to linger.

Yuengling Black & Tan (Alcohol Content: 4.5%)Yuengling Brewery

Two and a half out of four mugs

Consider this a dark beer with training wheels. The B&T tastes like semi-sweet, hearty wheat bread. For the price, it’s a good brew.

Spaten Optimator (Alcohol Content: 7.2%)Spaten-Franziskaner-Brau

Three and a half out of four mugs

Optimator pours like a milkshake. The beer’s flavor starts with roasted malts and caramel, but evolves into a sweet, plum-like taste after a few seconds.

Twelfth Anniversary Ale (Alcohol Content: 9%)Middle Ages Brewing Co., Ltd.

Two and a half out of four mugs

Exceptionally bitter, even by porter standards. The alcohol taste is there, but a roasted, almost burnt flavor generally dominates.

Published on November 14, 2007 at 12:00 pm