Saranac Summer Ale
A beer with generous amounts of wheat malt for a light, refreshing taste. Look for the subtle hints of spice and lemon.
2.7
261 reviews
Utica, United States
Community reviews
Pours a slightly hazy, pale golden yellow color with a one finger white foam head that quickly settlers into a thin ring. Sporadic spots of lace left behind.
Slight earthy aroma was grassy, spiky hops, light fruit, faint light fruit and pale malt. Really bland and not much going on except for the hops which aren’t that inviting. Slightly bready with biscuity malt.
Light bodied with a crisp, spicy hop bite up front that lingers over the yeast, light fruit and pale malt notes into a slightly dry finish. Subtle dry bitterness with some grassy, floral hops countered by light fruit sweetness and subtle biscuit flavored malt. Not overly complex but it’s crisp and refreshing with some nice hop flavor. A nice beer on this 100+ degree day.
Pale yellow in color with a foamy head. It had a somewhat soapy aroma. Taste was lightly bitter with an insignificant lemon finish. It was a disappointing offering.
Aside from the fact that this is a bit harsh, I find it slightly bland. There’s just nothing terribly memorable about this beer.
12 oz bottle poured into pint glass. Gold with thin white head. Much more bitter than any other "summer" ale I’ve had, like a brown ale/summer ale blend.
Bottle; clear yellow withe medium off-white head; aroma-hay, floral, grass, citrus; taste-no sweetness, lightly bitter, light body, thin feel, lively. Not good
Pours a vibrant yellow with minimal lacing. The aroma consists of lemon, grass, cereal, coriander and pine. Moderate to heavy carbonation. Both mild in sweet and bitterness.
Poured from a bottle into a pint glass. About a finger of head. Color was honey pale. Minimal lacing on the top that dissipated to nothing at a record pace. No film on the sides.
Smelled honey and lemon mainly, but also some wheat, grass and some skunkiness
Honey dominated the taste, but also some lemon and wheat grass. Nothing crazy.
Light body. Thin texture. Above average-to-heavy carbonation. Abrupt finish.
Just your typical summer beer. You always hope for more, but it never delivers.
Appearance is medium white head with amber color. Aroma is a mix of wheat and citrus. Taste is a similar mix. Overall decent, but not great
Originally reviewed: 10/8/09. Bottle from the mixed 12-pack from summer. Poured into my weizen glass. Pours a dark yellow/gold with a fizzy white head on top. Doesn’t stay long. No lacing. Smells like buttered bread, sweet sugary malts, and lemon zest.
The mouth is crisp and refreshing. Flavor is pretty good. A nice tame mellow bready flavor. This is definitely one of the sweeter Wheat Ales I’ve had, but I like it. This would be a great refresher during the warm months. I’m never expecting a lot with Saranac beers, but I am always pleasantly surprised.
Bottle poured into a cheater pint
A: clear straw yellow, slight 1/4" head with very low retention. Gobs of bubbling carbonation.
S: neutral nose, slight citrus and malt
T: not a lot of flavor. Hint of malt and citrus. Slightly soapy.
M: light bodied
Bottle courtesy of adneilsen (thanks AAron) poured a clear gold with a lasting white head. Aromas oif wheat, lemon zest, light orange and light spice. Palate was light bodied and crisp with a dry finish. Flavors of wheat, lemon zest and light spice with a crisp dry finish.
Like the lemon taste, fresh and clean but too watery. I enjoyed it but it was nothing special.
Bottle. Boring and watery. You don’t need to "Look for the subtle hints of spice and lemon" because they are readily apparent. A bit disappointing but may make a good substitute for Gatorade on a hot day. Very average beer. I got this in a discounted sampler pack. I guess you get what you pay for. PS-First rating, glad to be on the site!
Refrigerated bottle poured into a glass. Pours hazy golden with small white head. Some lacing, light carbonation, and medium body. Taste is grainy lemony malt. Slight sourness, but pretty good.
Bottle @ home. Clear golden orange appearance with a white head. Orange citrusy, slightly yeasty, slightly bitter, wheat malty nose. Pretty orange citrusy, slightly spicy, lightly yeasty, wheat malty flavor. Citrusy, somewhat bitter aftertaste. Boring, typical, lame summer ale.
Out of bottle at wedding in Utica. Tastes if lemon citrus, grains, cereal, slight spice. kinda watery and not all that much flavor.
Pours a mild golden yellow color with a light head. Mild lemon/citrus aroma. Has a mild lemon-like taste. Has crisp feel and very bubbly. Very refreshing.
Relatively strong coriander flavor. Other than that, a fairly typical wheat ale.
Poured from bottle. Faint aroma of yeast and malt. Golden, thin head. Flavors of bitter citrus, wheat, hay and spice. Dry, refreshing feel. Decent.
Bottle. Gold bodied with a tall, fluffy white head. Aroma is grainy with soft spice, light lemon, and soft floral notes. Taste is grainy with more light spice, faint citrus, cereal, and light grassy notes. Body is light-medium with a soft, bubbly carbonation. Finishes with more grains, cereal, light lemon, soft spice and hints of grass.
A good summer ale in -a-pinch. The aroma is a lite secented, and just that. The malts ( wheat ) is just there. This is a filter ale and may have been better if it was un-filter. The hops are not strong at all. Has a very lite lemon taste. A fair ale.
Okay, I’m not a big fan of Saranac, but for 99cents a bottle, I thought it may be worth a try. Pretty much what I figured, a bland summer brew. Tastes is light, not a lot of flavor….welcome to Saranac Brewery. So, my rating may be lower, the lemon taste is too sour.
Notizen:
-Süßer, klebriger Geruch
-frischer, angenehm säuerlicher Antrunk
-leicht fruchtiger Mittelteil
-leicht muffig
-minimal hopfig
-zu schwach
Test vom 3.12.2006, Gebinde: Glasflasche Noten: 7,9,9,9,12,9 - 8,95
Lemon, spice, wheat, barley, hops, and orange make up the taste pallet of the Saranac Summer Ale, in that order. Reminds me a lot of the Sam Adams Summer Ale, but minus the throat burn and plus a little tiny hint of a Belgian Whit (the orange, I guess). You won’t mistake this for a Belgian Whit, though, just a hint, like I said -- and not at all cloudy in appearance. This is fine for a summer ale, I actually like it a little better than the Sam Adams iteration, and this is a bit cheaper to boot. It’s nothing to rave about, but not bad. This bottle neck had good freshness dating, but some don’t have any at all -- my guess is they are trying to stamp them now and forget some batches or some bottles have it rubbed off on the assembly line -- they might want to try the notched label approach Sam Adams uses.
Spiced aroma of lemons/citrus with the appearance being a yellow/gold. The flavor is light and a mix of graininess and lemons. Decent brew all around.
12 oz. bottle. From mix summer pack. Clear gold color. Light carbonation. Nose of lemon. Taste of light citrus and light wheat. Overall, plain and bland. Don’t bother. Seriously don’t bother
12 oz. bottle. From mix summer pack. Clear gold color. Light carbonation. Nose of lemon. Taste of light citrus and light wheat. Overall, plain and bland. Don’t bother. Seriously don’t bother.
12oz bottle. Pours a very clear dark golden color with a one finger creamy white head. A sweet wheat aroma, along with lemon and corriander. Really bready and yeasty at first, followed by citrusy sweetness and some slight hoppy bitterness. Smooth mouthfeel, almost slick.
24-Sep-10 (12-oz bottle, Bottled on 05-Mar-10: Purchased 17-Sep-10 at BevMo in Solana Beach, CA) Beer #1 of the "12 Beers of Summer" 12 pack, Summer Ale, is cloudy, golden-amber in appearance with nearly an inch of whitish head that settles to a thin ring. It smells like caramel, honey, bread and cardboard, with a background of dusty, grassy hops. Initial flavors of citrus and very light, grassy hops dissipate quickly into an evolution of slightly toasted bread crust, bread dough, nuts, and cardboard for a stale, unpleasant aftertaste that only gets worse as the beer warms up. On the palate, the beer is dry with light-medium weight and medium-high carbonation, but finishes flat and pasty, so it’s not as refreshing at a "summer ale" should be. In summary, chug this beer when it’s below 40 degrees, but after that, it’s nearly a drainpour.
07-Sep-05 (12-oz bottle: Obtained in trade with shadey, thanks Shane!) Citrusy and spicy nose, with coriander seemingly in the mix, so this already is not your typical American Wheat beer. Not much wheat flavor and it’s lightly sweet, but again lots of lemony citrus and coriander, and it’s mildly bitter, which is probably more from the spices than hops. Definitely a light bodied brew, but reasonably clean and crisp throughout. Medium gold in color with no haze or cloudiness. Average looking white head settles to a ring. Overall, a very light summer beer that somewhere between an American Wheat and a Belgian Witbier, so it wins points for not being a generic and flavorless wheat beer, but ultimately it doesn’t really grab me. (6, 3, 5, 3, 11 = 2.8)
Part of the Saranac Beers of Summer Box - $13.48 at Sherlock’s in Marietta, Georgia.
Appearance: Pours a hazed, bronze-esque body with a thin, scant, whitish head.
Smell: Malted wheat with a vague, ill-defined spiciness and a bit of honey and perhaps less than a bit of light caramel (though I may be unduly influenced by reading ’caramel coloring’ on the label). Then, there’s the lemon, which, sadly, has an artificial bent to it.
Taste: Wheat malt, along with some simple pale malted barley joins a medium sweetness and small hint of graham cracker crumbs. A small hint of honey as it warms. Then, in comes a lemony flavor akin to adding a spoonful of Crystal Light to the brew. A subtle spiciness and a hint of bitterness tries to cut through the lemon additive to no avail. Finishes crisp, the tongue popping with crackling carbonation. A bit more of the lemon flavoring lingers in the aftertaste.
Mouthfeel: Medium-thin body. Medium-high, soda-like carbonation.
Drinkability: SSA reminds me a bit of Leinenkugel’s Sunset Wheat (minus the Fruity Pebbles kick, natch). One to pound after mowing the lawn, or pound while out at the lake with friends, or not drink at all. I think I know which option I’ll go for. I see a few notations of people wanting to call this a witbier, but, come on, let’s not be hasty. At the very best, it’s like a weird, creepy distant cousin the rest of the proud Witbier Family never calls, doesn’t accept FB friend requests from, or responds to requests to "borrow" money.