Saranac Hefeweizen

So for those who didn't know, the past few weeks I have been out of town so the posts have been automated. This post is included in that. I've been travelling in Europe and finished up my trip in Las Vegas with some friends. I set these posts up in advanced so I wouldn't have to worry about the blog while I was out of the country. Don't worry though, I took notes on all the beers I tried while I was away (especially in Ireland!)

This week, I have another of Saranac's beers from their Summer Sampler. This one was the Hefeweizen because I needed a break from all IPAs I've been drinking. Seriously, that many hops can kill a girl. Plus, I do have a soft spot for wheat beers.

The beer poured a gold color with some cloudiness. There was a thin, white head that dissipated rather quickly. There was some nice lacing as the beer moved down the glass. The nose was very bready with a few light citrus notes. The flavor had a strong banana notes with mild spiciness and just a bit of the bread that was in the nose. The finish was nice and clean.

Overall, a very nice beer. A good example of the style, in my opinion, though not the best I've ever had. I would recommend it to any one looking for a beer at the end of a long day. 

Shock Top Wheat IPA

A few weeks ago, my friends and I went out to celebrate my roommate moving in. We went to a local favorite, Junior's, for some food and a few drinks before really heading out for the night. Junior's has a great deal where they feature a brewery and put a few of their beers on special for the month. This month the brewery was Shock Top. The bottles of the Wheat IPA and Raspberry Wheat were the particular specials when we were there so I had the Wheat IPA.

I really have been getting into different IPAs lately, see the last few posts if you don't believe me. I think that, when done correctly, they are a very nice beer. I still have a hard time when the brewer has been too heavy handed with hops. I'm also a big fan of wheat beers. With how smooth they are and how generally refreshing they are, I find that they are among some of my favorite beers. The combination of the two was something to look forward to in my mind. 

I wasn't given a glass so I couldn't get a proper read on the color but I'm pretty sure it would be a solid gold color with some haze. There was a solid hop nose with a slight hint of citrus. The beer itself was a bit sweeter than I expected. It had a strong bready flavor to it as opposed to the hops that I was expecting considering it was an IPA. The finish was clean and pleasant. 

While it wasn't exactly what I was expecting, it was a good wheat beer. I'm not sure I would give it the credit of being a full IPA considering that it was lacking the hop flavor that I was expecting. Not as good as it could have been, but a good try nonetheless. 

Saranac Rye IPA

So as I mentioned in an earlier post, I purchased Saranac's 12 Beers of Summer pack which gives you 6 different beers to try. The next few blog posts will likely be about them as I had never had most of the beers in the pack before. This post is about their Rye IPA.

A Rye IPA is when the brewer replaces a portion of the grains with rye instead. The proportion is usually somewhere between twenty and thirty percent depending on the recipe but on various websites I've seen people say they put as much as forty to fifty percent of the grain to rye. They tend to have a spicier flavor to them from the rye and can be very startling the first time you try them if you aren't expecting it.

The beer poured a hazy, deep gold color with a bright white head. I didn't get much of a head but it did seem to stay with the beer as I drank it. There was very little lacing on the glass as I drank this beer. The nose was very spicy with quite a few hop notes to it. The flavor was pleasantly spicy with a welcome burn as you got to the hop notes. It was nicely balanced with a few malt notes toward the end. The finish was nice and clean with just a bit of a lingering burn.

A very nice beer though not something I would necessarily associate with summer considering the spice of it.

Thomas Neeson's SMaSH IPA

A good friend of mine started homebrewing about a year and a half ago. I've tried some of his beer and it is quite good. He's a grad student up in Vermont studying Education and he is a talented musician as well. He doesn't have a brewing website yet but as soon as there is something I will put a link in here.

The most recent batch he gave me to try was an all-grain brew of an IPA that was dry hopped. This was his first all-grain brew and he had been doing extract brews before that. For those who don't know what that means: extract brewing means that you are brewing using prepackaged malt extract where as in all-grain brewing, you are creating the extract yourself by creating the extract yourself by mashing different grains to create the wort.

The beer poured a hazy, gold color with a thin white head. There wasn't very good retention of the head and very little lacing in the glass as the beer was consumed. The nose was surprisingly mild for a dry hopped IPA but there were still a few hop and citrus notes to be found. The beer was very much a full bodied IPA with a lot of good hop flavor with some nice, light lemon notes as well. The finish of the beer was a lingering of the hop bitterness which left you wanting more of the beer.

A great example of DIY in the beer industry, this was very much a successful homebrew.

Saranac Blueberry Blonde Ale

So I was without internet for awhile as I moved into my new apartment but I didn't stop taking notes or trying new beers. One that made a particular impression on me was from Saranac's 12 Beers of Summer Pack, Saranac Blueberry Blonde Ale. Now in the past, I had found one of their seasonal beers a bit strong for my taste but one of my friends was raving about it so I decided to try it. Also, I was still on the hunt for the mystery blueberry beer that I HAVE FOUND and will review at a later date.

The beer poured a hazy, gold color with a bright white head. The head had good retention throughout and there was some excellent lacing. The nose of the beer had some very strong blueberry notes with just a hint of some citrus. Normally, this sort of nose is the hint of bad things to come but the flavor was pleasantly mild. It had a very nice blueberry flavor that was well balanced with a touch of hop and citrus notes. The finish was very mellow with a bit of blueberry lingering at the very end.

This beer is available, as I said, in the 12 Beers of Summer Pack but also in its own 6 pack if you want just this one. I highly recommend it.