Saranac Tropical Snow Storm IPA
Matt Brewing Company / Saranac Brewery

 

 

 

Poured the cute (Hawai-shirted bear on a pink flamingo tobaggan under snow-capped umbrella) 12 0z bottle from high into a Spiegelau IPA glass, getting a nice thick head. Beautiful slightly hazy light orange SRM 5 with a head settling within two minutes to a skim of fine foam, tiny bubbles rising constantly. Good lacing gets left in sticky ranked lines on the beer's way down. Smell almost as beautiful as the looks, with tropical fruity mango papaya grapefruit smell around something mysteriously flowery like passionfruit maybe. Taste has the grapefruit up front, a graham cracker sweet malt just behind, but very little bittering. Aftertaste is not bitter enough for me, but simply clean and mouth-watering. No taste of alcohol or yeast that I can notice. Mouthfeel a little too acid and thin, but carbonation is just right. A fine new addition to Saranac's 12 Beers of Winter package; hope they brew this one again.

 

It is almost as though Saranac had a crystal ball with regard to the weather of late! Yeah, the southern United States may not be precisely "Tropical", but when the label depicts a bear in a Hawai'ian print shirt under an umbrella atop an inflatable flamingo raft, I default to Florida, where they have been getting unseasonably cold, wintry weather. Here at Chez Woody, I am celebrating Happy New Sour/Sierra/Sara Nevada Nac Sunday (Week 673) & thumbing my nose at winter.

From the bottle: "Fourth Generation Family Brewery"; "An unfiltered hazy IPA with hoppy tropical-citrus flavors to get you through the cold. Aloha winter!"

Peering into the bottle, I could not see the haze that they were referring to on the neck label, so following the Pop! of the cap, I went with a very slow, gentle pour. Once I had it sufficiently decanted, I gave it a vigorous in-glass swirl to raise just under three fingers of dense, foamy, rocky, bone-white head with good retention that left fantastic lacing behind in its wake. Color was a gorgeous Golden-Amber (SRM = > 5, < 7) with NE-quality clarity, begging the question of haze. I do not care for it & The Gelt Gang of Mammon, Midas & Croesus agree with me or they would not have suddenly appeared to get a taste. Nose smelled like tropical fruit salad - mango, papaya & guava, in abundance! Mmm. Mouthfeel was medium, nothing spectacular. The taste remained very fruity, very tropical and while I applaud truth in advertising, I prefer my AIPAs to have a bit more bitterness, even if it is simply grapefruit. This one struck me as being a little too sweet. Now, all of that said, I know that we are exhorted to review to style & not to taste, but a check of the site's Style Guide reveals: "Hops are typically American with a big herbal and / or citric character, bitterness is high as well." Hmm. Perhaps time for an update or the creation of a Tropical AIPA style? I would argue for the latter, as well as a "Session AIPA" style. Now, back to this beer. I find it really tough to dun it simply because it employed more modern, tropical-tasting hops, but it is worth noting. It was actually a very pleasant beer & if they were to put it in a CAN during the summer months, it would be quite refreshing. Finish was semi-sweet/semi-dry, in that twilight area that is so hard to pin down & quantify. The takeaway is that it is a very fruity beer & that may be a consideration for some.

 

 

 

 

 

Very confused by this beer. I've never smelled beer that smelled THIS tropical. I can't give an honest review until Saranac responds to my question as to whether it's smell and taste come entirely from the hops, or if juice is added. If it's entirely hops, this beer is something magical. Smell and taste of Tropical Starburst. Not sure if I could drink several in a row, but absolutely worth a try.

The final beer reviewed from the beers of winter variety pack, and by far the best of the four. Poured from a brown 12 oz. bottle. Has a dark golden color with a 1/2 inch head. Smell is of grapefruit, oranges, some mango. Taste is the same, fruity, juicy,malts are present, extremely drinkable. Feels medium bodied in the mouth and overall is a beer that needs to become a seasonal, not a limited beer.