The Spring Beer Tourney: # 8 Saranac Red vs # 9 Dundee Red

      This brings us two off your standard reds, Saranac Irish Red and Dundee Red.  First off, they are both red.  Saranac has caramel, light mocha and citrus herb on the nose, while dundee is a bit more on the citrus.  Saranac is a classic red and is just what I thought caramel citrus herb with a hint of mocha.  It's a little too damn fizzy.  But the Dundee is so fizzy it caused to burp almost immediately, annoying.  Dundee Red has really the same flavor profile just maybe weaker, although its hard to tell through the fizz.  Once the carbonation calms down, and it took a while, neither of these is very exciting.  They are decent reds, but I would not buy either one of them.  Oh well, Dundee is the winner here, as soon as I could extract the flavor from the fizz.  Just a bit better.

Saranac Seasons Best

      Saranac Seasons Best is a nut brown lager,  which sounds like a damn good idea.  Seasons Best is light brown with herb, caramel and light mocha on the nose.  On the palate the herbal hop dominates at first and carries through to the finish.  It seems a bit much at first, but after a few sips it calms quite a bit.  Than the other flavors of mocha, caramels and sugar come out.  This becomes a really pleasant Winter Lager to enjoy by the fire.  A winner, although there are a number of others I would recommend a bit more.  Nice List.

Octoberfest wrap-up: Saranac Octoberfest

      Saranac is the last of the Octoberfests, for now, to decide the best of the season.  Saranac is made somewhere, blah, blah, blah.  It pours out a light amber with a dry caramel and light mocha nose.  The hops hit a little with this one but in a very good way.  There's strong, but not sweet, caramel here as well as strong mocha.  This is quite good I like the higher hop, which is still fairly mild by some standards.  I would rate this a touch higher than the Sam Adam's.  So just pop a Saranac then a Sam's, lather, rinse, repeat. Alright, here's the list.

1. Saranac
2. Sam Adam's
3. Brooklyn
4. Magic Hat
5. Coney Island
6. Leinenkugel's
7. Otter Creek

#2 Anchor Bock vs #7 Saranac Irish Red

Switching to the North-east Bracket we go to our last Irish Red to go in the first round. It's the #2 seed Anchor Bock, a spring bock out of San Francisco, against the #7 seed Saranac Irish Red Ale out of Utica, New York. It's left coast versus east coast. The palate cleanser will be a roast chicken fresh out of the oven. Saranac pours out a light amber red while the Anchor is a not quite opaque dark brown. The Irish Red has a little hop on the nose that yields to a brown sugar scent,unusual. The bock starts yeasty with a bit of chocolate and caramel on the nose. The Saranac has that slight caramelized fruit which yields quickly to a decent hop bitterness. Pick at some chicken, wow the skin is crispy with a spicy herb rub, delicious. Anchor has made a bock with good malts and mocha flavors, but a surprising blandness, and barely detectable hops that appear only on the finish. This could be an upset.
Uummm, chicken. Alright time to put them head to head sip for sip. The Anchor lacks balance and the relatively weak hop in the Saranac overwhelms the bock. The bock fires back with a strong body and richness. I don't know if this #2 seed is going very far if it can't dominate this level of competition. Of the three Irish Reds in this tourney the Saranac is the weakest. More chicken. I look at the glasses and notice that the Anchor is quite a bit lower, you just can't ignore the evidence. The bock pulls out a squeaker, but how will it do in the next round against a tougher foe? You never know how the match-ups will end up.