Subsidiaries
6.2/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 6
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 6
Deep rubious brown, nearly black, with a soft, fluffy head that’s quite large. Aroma is not strong, and only smells slightly milky. Flavor is malty, with only the slightest tinge of a chocolate flavor. Kinda plain.
Tried
on 09 Jan 2005
at 22:12
8.2/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 10
Flavor 8
Texture 6
Overall 8
In the Saranac "12 Classic Styles" 12-pack. Very dark brown with a large fluffy beaige/tan head. Looks nice. Aroma is outstanding: SWEET caramels, vanilla, and other aromas. Good for someone who enjoys that type of thing, bad for someone who doesn’t, as this aroma is quite strong. Flavor is porterlike, for sure, with heavy accents on caramel candy. Too tasty to be this cheap.
Tried
from Can
on 09 Jan 2005
at 21:07
3.1/10
—
Appearance 4
Aroma 4
Flavor 3
Texture 2
Overall 2.5
Dark brown coloured body, not opaque at all, with crimson highlights when held up to a light. Aroma of light cardboard, malt, subtle low quality chocolate (less than 30% cacao), mushrooms and must-not too pleasant. Light-bodied; Super fake caster sugar taste with some mild malt, cardboard, caramel and a light coffee twang. Aftertaste is just as unpleasant-metal, blood, light malt and some bitter malt is present. Overall, another horrible Sary beer...but this was really expected. Avoid this one, because it really isn’t any good. I sampled this twelve ounce bottle pulled from the holiday sampler pack purchased at Total Wine in McLean, Virginia on 03-January-2005.
Tried
from Bottle
on 03 Jan 2005
at 23:11
4.8/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 4
Flavor 4
Texture 6
Overall 5
Another selection from the winter sample pack. Sampled from a 12 oz brown bottle this beer pours a bronze color with a medium sized tan head that fades quickly. The aroma is sour malt. The flavor is sour malt, bitter and a light but a sharp hop presence arrives in the finish. A rather unremarkable beer.
Tried
from Bottle
on 03 Jan 2005
at 14:54
6.8/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 6
2004 bottle. Good deep orange-honey golden appearance, with a firm white head. Aroma of strong juicy hops, mostly citrusy and quite bitter. Some light caramel and toasted malt in the background. Flavor is all hops, for the most part. Some decent malt establishes a decent backbone. The rest of this beer is just full frontal assault of cascades. It’s real enough and quite juicy and bitter. Medium-full body, moderate carbonation. Aerated, zesty mouthfeel. Nothing new here, of course, but it’s a tasty American IPA if that’s what you’re in the mood for.
Tried
from Bottle
on 02 Jan 2005
at 12:18
4.9/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 4
Flavor 5
Texture 6
Overall 4.5
2004 bottle. Hmm. Well, it looks like they felt they could just put some malt in this, and add some rye and call it a rye bock. This is a joke of a bock. No bockiness to this, no bittersweet notes, no sour yeast, no big caramel or toffee or chocolate notes. It’s just a mildly sweet basic brown malt with rye in it. Again, it’s not bad, just has no style to it, and leads a very unspectacular existence. Dryness from the rye. Rye and light caramel in the nose, with a dark amber-reddish color. The color may be the best thing about this beer, but it’s nothing great either. I think if you take away the novelty of using rye, this beer is very poor.
Tried
from Bottle
on 02 Jan 2005
at 11:57
4.4/10
—
Appearance 4
Aroma 4
Flavor 5
Texture 4
Overall 4.5
2004 bottle. Amber-tan colored body, with some slight auburn highlights and a rapidly disipating white head. Aroma of light grains, some metal and a touch of bitterness, perhaps some soap. Flavor has light toasted malts, base malts for a backbone and some fuggles. They certainly arent going to be responsible for the extinction of hops with this beer though. There is just enough hop there to notice. Very little sweetness, mostly a watery, light and dry caramel touch and then a crisp, clean (bland) finish. Like many of Matt’s beers, it’s not bad, just very very unspectacular.
Tried
from Bottle
on 02 Jan 2005
at 11:45
5.9/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 5.5
2004 bottle. Medium amber-orange, with some light copper hues and a small white head. Very clear, as all of Matt’s beers are. Aroma gives off some nuttiness, light traces of hops and a hint of toffee. Flavor starts out with a moderate malt base, buttered popcorn, light caramel and peanuts. Smooth, though very artificially carbonated mouthfeel. Decent hops bitterness on the finish and that’s it! Quick show here, not much to think about. Quick, clean and crisp, with a decent malt.
Tried
from Bottle
on 02 Jan 2005
at 11:41
5.8/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 5
Texture 6
Overall 6
Another beer obtained via the holiday sample pack. Sampled from a 12 oz brown bottle this beer poured a dark red-brown color with a small tan head. The aroma was sweet and malty with a vague bitterness underlying. The flavor was bitter, malty, a tad grainy and had a light hop element. The finish was bitter and had a roasted malt element. A nice drinkable beer but not one I would seek out.
Tried
from Bottle
on 29 Dec 2004
at 20:22
3.6/10
—
Appearance 4
Aroma 3
Flavor 4
Texture 4
Overall 3.5
The selling point here is the bottle not the beer. This is really a basic Pale Lager - perhaps without the bitter skunk that pervades most of the beers in that style - but what we have here is at best a very bland beer. Sampled from a 12 oz brown bottle this beer pours a straw yellow color with a large white head. The aroma is minimal but vaguely sweet. The body is thin and the flavor is pretty bland - but at least inoffensive. Corny and light with just a hint of malt- there is not much to this beer. Nyuk Nyuk
Tried
from Bottle
on 29 Dec 2004
at 20:16