Olde Saratoga Brewing Company - Saratoga Oatmeal Stout

This winter seasonal pours an impenetrable deep, dark brownish-black with a cap of rich-looking, persistent foam. Oats are often used in stouts to contribute body and silky smoothness, and these qualities are plenty evident in this satisfying brew. Expect the complex array of malts used by Saratoga in this stout to pay dividends with big roasted notes of dark chocolate and well-roasted coffee forming a flavorful core, backed by secondary touches of toasty nuttiness and caramel. Some earthy and lightly spicy hop contributions add contrast and interest. Bitterness, from both the hops and the roasty malts, comes across as moderate, expertly balancing this stout’s touch of sweetness and drying the beer out nicely in the finish. Grilled meats of all kinds are a natural pairing – you can’t go wrong with charbroiled burgers topped with an aged, nutty cheese. Cheers!

The Olde Saratoga Brewing Company is a fixture within the craft brewing industry in New York. Founded in 1997, the brewery is responsible for producing many well known beers found along the East Coast and elsewhere. In addition to their own Saratoga-branded year-round and seasonal beers, Olde Saratoga serves as the brewing partner for a number of other beer brands. Owned now by California's Mendocino Brewing Company, which brought the brewery into their fold in order to produce fresh Mendocino beer for the East Coast, Olde Saratoga produces about two dozen total beers both year-round and seasonally.

To those outside the brewing industry, the idea of a brewing company contracting with another brewery to produce their beer may seem strange, but it's a common practice at all levels of the brewing industry, from big brands to small microbrews, and it's been essential to the growth of the craft beer movement. Many great brewers don't have the capital resources to build their own brewery, so partnering with an existing brewery that can accurately brew your recipes and bottle it up for you as you grow your brand is critical. In a variation on the theme, some brewers will rent time on a brewery’s equipment. In other cases, a brewery may run out of capacity and turn to another brewery for help meeting their demand. Olde Saratoga’s brewing know-how has made them one of the go-to breweries for such services, partnering with a number of other beer companies over the years including such respected brands as Southampton Publick House and Shmaltz (He'Brew).

For more information on the brewery, their tasting room (where you can fill a growler with tasty beer to take home), and brewery tours, visit them at www.oldesaratogabrew.com or call 518-581-0492.