I Can't Live Without Saranac Beer!

If you love microbrewed beers, then Saranac will tempt your beer taste buds like no other. The Saranac beer family consists of a wide range of brews that will satisfy the most discriminating beer lover. From Adirondack Pale to Winter Wassail, a fantastic selection awaits you.

One of the few remaining family-owned breweries, the Matt family is now in its fourth generation of brewing leadership. German immigrant Francis Xavier Matt, or "F.X" as he preferred to be called, founded it in 1888 . Competing against the corporate beer conglomerates, Matt Brewing not only survived fierce competition but is now also respected as one of the top tier specialty beer breweries in the United States.

A hallmark of the Matt Brewing Company is its ability to constantly adapt to changing beer trends and refocus it's direction when the market demands it. I've always loved their Matts Lager, first tasting it when I moved to New York in 1982. It had a full body and taste that attested to the founder's apprenticeship in German breweries over a hundred years ago. Since then, the succeeding generations of the Matt family have capitalized on the micro-brew phenomenon.

Ah yes! Microbrews! The movement started in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s, and the term originally was meant to describe a new generation of small breweries focused on producing cask ales. It also was used to reflect the size of these small breweries that produced less than 15,000 barrels of beer annually. The trend spread to the United States in the 1980s, with the Pacific Northwest leading the charge. This began the genesis of the microbreweries and brewpubs that are so popular with beer aficionados today.

Historically, there were 1,568 breweries in the United States in 1910. The number was drastically reduced due to prohibition. In 1980, the number of breweries was down to only 82 active breweries. Since the microbrew revolution in the 1980s, there are now more than 1,400 breweries producing over 6 million barrels of beer each year.

The Saranac line of beers competes very favorably with some of the most respected craft brewers today. They go head to head with the likes of Sam Adams, Sierra Nevada, Rogue, Middle Ages, Dogfish Head, and many others. In fact, as I write this, Saranac Pale Ale has advanced to the Semi-Finals in the Washington Post's "Beer Madness Tournament". If you look at the competitors it edged out so far, it reads as a "Who's Who" of craft breweries. Truth be told, I also like most of their competitors' products! But I did vote for the Saranac Pale Ale entry, as it's one of my Saranac favs.

Matt's Saranac line can be divided into specific categories:

- Core Beers: Pale Ale, Adirondack Lager, India Pale Ale, Black Forest, Black and Tan, and Lager

- Limited Releases: Kolsch, Hefeweizen, Belgian White, Summer Ale, Golden Pilsener, Octoberfest. Pumpkin Ale, Season's Best, Caramel Porter, Imperial IPA, Black Diamond Bock, and Pomegranate Wheat

- Perennial Favorites: Oatmeal Stout, Roggen Bock, Marzenbier, Nut Brown Ale, Mocha Stout, Single Malt, Belgian Ale, Mountain Ale, Chocolate Amber, Bock, Rauchbier, Brown Ale, Extra Special Bitter, and Winter Wassail

If you truly enjoy finely crafted beer, you can't go wrong with any of these selections. And that's what I love about Saranac: I have a lot of different styles and tastes to choose from. I might want a medium-bodied, slightly sweet beer, so I'll choose the Adirondack Lager. When my taste buds scream out for a bitter beer, then it's either the Extra Special Bitter or the India Pale Ale. If you are unsure as to which type of beer you'd like to sample, check out their web site and click on the particular bottle and it will give you very specific details on the style, the ingredients, food pairing, alcohol content, etc.

As an example of how good their selections are, I have sent their Caramel Porter out to my daughter-in-law in Portland, Oregon. Because Portland is a bastion of the microbrew movement, it's really a testament to Saranac that a fan of theirs prefers the Porter to other microbrews out there. It's like the old expression of "bringing coal to Newcastle".

Is there anything I don't like about Saranac beers? Yes, but it's beyond their control. What I would like is to be able to buy any of their beers at any time during the year. Alas, I can't as the limited releases are, well, limited. They are seasonal in nature and you have to grab'em while you can.

By the way, April 7th is Brew Year's Eve. It marks the repeal of Prohibition on April 7, 1933. Be sure to celebrate it on the 7th with a finely crafted beer in your locale. Cheers!