Saranac Black Forest

The last Saranac beer I tried was their Black Forest, which is a Bavarian-style black beer:

Vittles:

5.3% abv

Appearance: 8/10

It's definitely a black beer, all right.  Well, not quite...  It is very dark, and when the light shines through it, ruby tones come out.  The off-white head was fairly thin, and it fell quickly, leaving little to no lacing on the sides.

Aroma: 20/25

It smells a bit of caramel and chocolate, with a very mild hint of bitter coffee on the back end.  Roasted characters come through nicely with caramelized malt notes.  I like the way the hop character balances with the malt profile.

Taste: 29/40

Chocolate and coffee flavors make up the bulk of the grain taste, as you could imagine.  The hops are mild and add a slight earthiness and a moderate spiciness that are nicely matched with the maltiness.  The flavors overall are very mellow.  I think I was expecting a bolder in general.

Mouthfeel: 8/10

The medium body adds nicely to this beer.  I didn't notice much in the way of carbonation, though, which made the beer feel flat.

Style: 3/5

The two points where this beer really diverged from the style were with head retention and carbonation.  Other than that, it's a pretty typical black beer.

Drinkability: 8/10

It's smooth and mellow, which means it's easy to drink either by itself or with a meal.  I could easily have 2-3 of these without getting that bitter residue building up on the back of my tongue.

Overall: 76/100

There are a few aspects of this beer that remind me of Guinness, like the mild flavor and the chocolate/coffee notes of the roasted malt.  However, this beer comes through with a medium body, whereas Guinness has always tasted thin and watery to me.  I do realize that I'm comparing two different styles here, but readers who enjoy Guinness but find it on the watery side and would prefer a beer with more body may want to try Black Forest.

Welp, back to hunting the distributors for more good deals...  Cheers!