What They Say: Brewed with a special blend of domestic and Belgian malts for a delicate nut-like character, you’ll love this Lager’s rich taste and signature hop aroma. The exceptional full-bodied taste reflects our Brewery’s extraordinary commitment to brewing beers of the highest standard of quality.

Website: Saranac passes my muster for a good website. Navigation on top, everything easily noticeable and findable without much work. Well done, guys.

Why I Picked It: The seasonal brew for this year’s pack. This replaces the pretty popular Winter Wassail, which was a staple of the 12 Beers for quite some time. The label on the bottle’s neck informs me that Each year we brew a batch of very special beer to celebrate the holiday season.

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Presentation: A very holiday-like red label with a green Saranac logo. A lovely watercolor of the stereotypical snow-covered lodge next to a babbling brook. The full moon is rising over the mountains in the background. Full disclosure: I’d totally buy this painting and hang it in my house. This deserves an extra point. 4

Originality: I’m trying to remember if I’ve ever had a nut brown lager as opposed to a nut brown ale. I don’t think I have. However, nothing we haven’t seen before. 2

Taste: While the name teases you in to thinking it’s going to taste somewhat like their brown ale, the tastes are about as similar as Sam’s Boston Lager to their Boston Ale. That is to say — not at all. The hops take the the forefront here, beating the malts in to submission. The flavor, though, is surprisingly bland. You don’t really get any hints of anything until a blast of hoppy bitterness in the aftertaste. I like a bit of a stronger flavor in beers. 5

Body: The beer pours a deep brown with a very thick and creamy head. The foam sticks to the side of the glass for the entire life of the beer. The head’s thickness teases a thick, meaty beer — and this just isn’t. The odd pairing suggestion on this beer’s information page — Minestrone and BBQ Pork Ribs — is not particularly helpful. Maybe my distrust of the whole experience is because I don’t really dig minestrone? Could be. Regardless, the very thin body doesn’t do it for me. 4

Efficiency: If this beer actually is 5.3, the leanness of the taste should own the efficiency rating. I just don’t know if I could make a night out of this because it’s boring. I might have to add an relative boredom caveat to the efficiency rating. That is, I could drink this all night and probably get pretty messed up but I don’t think I’d want to. 5

Versatility: I don’t know what I’d do with this beer other than try it in the 12 Beers Of Winter. I wouldn’t recommend it as the “must have” beer out of this year’s sampler and, if anything, I’d tell people about how good the Winter Wassail was in last year’s pack. I can’t think of anything I’d cook with it — I probably wouldn’t think “hey, you know what I need with these ribs? Nut Brown Lager.” If you’re reviewing a 12 Beers Of Winter pack, though, you — uh — need to drink this. 3

The Snob Says: A disappointing seasonal offering. Their Winter Wassail was much better and this just doesn’t seem to add much to the party.

Final Grade: 23 (of 50) – OK beer.