A Year of Craft Beer, Vol. 11, Saranac Big Moose Ale

Here folks is another gem from the 24 Beers of Christmas case that Scoats put together for us.

It's called Saranac Big Moose ale and the bottle describes it as an ale that is dry hopped with 3 different hops, amarillo, centennial and cascade.  Initially after reading that I thought that I wasn't going to jive with this beer, but again, I was wrong.  This is an excellent beer!

The bottle I can reuse...SCORE!

What can I say, this is a very IPA like beer called an American Pale Ale.  The color was coppery to light coppery and when poured into my room temp mug it almost foamed over but quickly subsided to a nice uniform thin head that laces nice on the side of the glass.

I find the hop aroma nice, light and citrusy and tastes quite the same as that first in your mouth, then slight bitter balanced with very light malt sweetness and finally ending quite peppery with a bit of smoke and dryness.  I haven't seen any reviews that mention the peppery smokey flavor at the end but it covers my tongue to where it feels very very slightly numb.  It's kind of cool!

It seems to me to be light bodied with a light to medium mouthfeel (slightly watery) but I'm not complaining because it keeps it refreshing to me.

Now on my scale, I would rate this an 8 out of ten.  As a judge, the rating may be different to meet criteria, but I like this beer.  The peppery aftertaste is really cool!  I can see cutting points for mouthfeel.  It's very nice and I totally would seek this beer out again!

Thanks goes out to Scoats for including this one in the case!  I can't wait to see how this one cellars for next year!

Hey all, have a great weekend and I look forward to sharing my next beer with you!

Prost!

-Fish (as in drink like a...)