Price
Meter
Low!
Ah, decoction, how I love thy name. Friends, there’s just nothing like a rich, malty German style lager made with a decoction mash. But, what after all, is a decoction mash you ask? It’s a classic process used in German brewing (and around the world these days by craft brewers of all nationalities) whereby a small portion of the mash is removed from the mash tun, boiled, and then returned to the tun. This does two things really, it raises the temperature of the entire mash, but it also releases some really great nutty-toasty flavors known as melanoidins from the malt.
But isn’t it all boiled you ask again? That’s true, but the full boil comes later in the brew kettle, where hops (and perhaps other ingredients depending on the style) are added and infused into the malt. Mashing precedes the boil in the brew kettle, and uses a series of temperature increases to convert starches in barley into fermentable sugars to feed those hungry yeast that so thoughtfully give us alcohol and carbon dioxide in exchange for a free meal.
Hence, the name of Saranac Decoction Concoction Lager, a beer newly introduced by Saranac in their 2013 winter sampler pack. Here’s what they say about it on the label:
This dry-hopped lager’s distinctive flavor comes from boiling mash being added back into the brew. Traditionally German. Uniquely Saranac. Totally delicious.
Technically, the boiling mash goes back into the mash, not into the brew, which is as I said another step in the process. But I’m sure that’s what they meant.
Saranac Decoction Concoction has an alcohol content of 6% by volume. I paid $13.99 for the winter sampler 12-pack in which I got two bottles of this beer. There is a best by date of March 2014 on the neck, but I’ve had this bottle chilled in my beer fridge since I bought this in December (or was it January? No matter) and it is still delicious.
Saranac Decoction Concoction pours to a murky reddish brown color with a thick creamy head formation and a luscious sweet nutty malty nose. Taking a sip, the beer has a firm mouthfeel and a thick malty palate that is very chewy with caramel and redolent of toasted nuts and malty melanoidins. Some very light molasses is present too, but the beer finishes dry with a gentle grassy hop bitterness that balances out the sweet malt.
They call this a Vienna lager, but it's more a bock to me, and at 6% ABV it has the kick for that style, too. When I think decoction I do think bocks and doppelbocks after all. Saranac Decoction Concoction seems fuller in body than a Vienna, more like a chewy bock. Either way, this is truly a glass of liquid bread.
A 4-star brew for me, with another ½ star tacked on for the great price.
And remember, try a new beer today, and drink outside the box.
*Pricing data accurate at time of review or latest update. For reference only, based on actual price paid by reviewer.
(B)=Bottled
(D)=Draft
(G)=Growler