Saranac Mountain Berry Ale

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 6

Bottle ( thanks Eric) Poured a crystal clear amber ale in the glass. Modest cap with short retnetion and ligh lacing ability. Slightly spritzy carbonation. Modest malt spine, light body, tart mouth feel, sweet and sour character. Aromas are really subtle..light grain and cerial tiones with some sweetness and fruit tones from both yeast and fruit...but very subtle. Sweet without cloying up front with caramel malts then a sour fruit taste to balance..middle is like a pear cider with some biscuit tones. Finishes surprisingly quick and clean with light drying from the use of wheat. Refreshing, pleasant and fruity-cidery made with real fruit and decent ingredients but there is just nothing really distinct about this brew that makes it stand out. I'd never turn one down though.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

This will conclude my tasting of the Saranac Summer sampler-pack and I purposely kept this one for last. The aroma is sweet with notes of fresh berries as well as some very faint honey or caramel. The appearance is a crisp and reddish-orange (copperish) in color when held to the light with a medium-sized head on top that diminishes to a light lacing that is an off-white in color and bubbly. The mouthfeel is light-bodied with berry complexity as well as some slight bitter balance with a palate that is wet-like. The flavor is lacking a bit but I notice some overtones of bitterness typical of many ales under the very berry fruity profile and has an aftertaste that is honey-like with a finish that is decent but nothing special. Overall, not a bad offering here but I expected more. After all said and done, this Summer sampler lined up on the very unoffensize but fairly solid side of things and there was nothing really special about it; I guess that is what Summer brews are all about, being bland and easily poundable on a hot and sultry Summer day.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

The aroma wasn't bad....not overly strong as some fruity brews can be. I really liked the amber coloring that this one poured. The taste was good and smooth....all in all quite enjoyable.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 5 | Flavor: 3 | Overall: 4

Copper colored with a fairly good head that slowly receded and a mild but decent malty berry aroma. Light bodied with an artificial fruity flavor and a vague beerlike bitterness that didn't work at all for me.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 7

Hell ya, more fun from the saranac summer sampler. This i would say is the best, a sunrise color with a mellow berry and dough aroma. Has a decent bready malt base with some definite berries, pretty damn refreshing i must say, best of the sampler, hells ya.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 6

Light amber color. Small head. Aroma is berryish and slightly malty. I am going to start this review with a rant. It ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with this beer in particular, but fruit beers in general...I hate to admit I used to like fruit beers quite a bit. After sampling a bunch of them recently, I am starting to wonder what the hell is wrong with me. That said on with the rating. Mild and somewhat malty ale, flavored with blackberries, raspberries and sweetened with a touch of blueberry honey. The fruit is evident and taste fairly nice. I just wish that the beer was a little more powerful to balance out all this fruit. This would be a much better beer to drink on a warm summer day, than on a cold, wet and windy winter evening. What the frell was the American brewers club thinking when they included this beer in their December shipment? Couldn't they have included Saranac's Black Forrest or the Christmas beer?? Very drinkable and despite the fruit beer rant, this beer is OK. Aftertaste is full and round. Finish is clean and smooth. Aftertaste is slightly sweet.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 5 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

rich amber-orange color, thin foamy head. Has a light American Pale ale smell a bit like sierra nevada. Taste is good; refreshing with a tart berry character. I like the honey sweetness coming through with the malts. balanced finish; exhale to taste the lingering berry essence. Mouthfeel a bit thin here as is flavor but its packaged well and drinkable. Pretty good beer and an ale that could be enjoyed by anyone

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

a nice golden ale with malty and some berry flavor. had a nice mix of differnt berries. a good clean and very smooth drinking ale from our very own upstate brewery

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

Poured a medium to dark gold with head that faded to a paper thin lace. Nice fruity aroma that was over sweet. The taste was of malt with just enough fruit to make it refreshing and smooth.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 5 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 4 | Overall: 4

Well what can I say? It's a fruit beer. Pours an amber body with an average sized head and some lacing. Aroma is sweet, somewhat malty and full of berries. Raspberries, blackberries and pretty much whatever other berry you can think of dominates the flavor. It is pretty smooth though, but it's still the worst of the Saranac's I've tried so far. I guess I just don't like fruit beers... or anything that can possibly resemble a wine cooler.