REVIEW 29: SARANAC PRISM

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:  USA

BREWERY:  Matt Brewing Company

STYLE:  Pale Wheat Ale

ABV:  5.2%

PURCHASE:  60-oz. pitcher, $8.00.

SERVING:  Said pitcher, poured into pint glass. Not particularly heady, but retentive. Yielded a roughly 1 1/4" head from tap to pitcher. From pitcher to glass, the pour speed didn't seem to matter, as I wound up with about a half an inch regardless. It took a very fast (five-second) pour to get over an inch.

APPEARANCE:  Golden-orange and glowing. Effervescent yet a bit foggy. Toes the line between opaque and translucent. Slightly off-white head. Not much lacing.

BOUQUET:  Prominent hop and grapefruit notes at the forefront. Rolled, doughy wheat overtones. Other citrus essences--mainly orange but tinge of lemon--complement the nose. Floral and also a bit peachy.

PALATE:  Light-medium body with soft carbonation that lurks in the background. Citric sweet front and mid-palate. Wheat is not nearly as noticeable taste- as it is aroma-wise. Hoppy and grapefuity through-line. After all, this is a pale wheat ale. Crescendoing grapefruit, which remains dominant in the aftertaste, as do hops. A tad yeasty, and a tad peppery--just a tad, at the very, very back. With oft-repeated pours, comes off as bit too watery in the finish. With a prolonged refrain from sipping, the grapefruit then assumes control of the overall aftertaste. 

MUSINGS AND METAPHORS:  One's infatuation with this beer seems to correlate with his/her infatuation with grapefruit. Is it just me, or is grapefruit, figuratively speaking, a flavor-of-the-month of sorts in the craft beer world?

It does seem to hog the spotlight here. That said, that doesn't detract from the Prism's appeal. It's very agreeably palatable and easily gratifying. It doesn't leave you too dehydrated. Citrus beers tend to share that quality. 

The problem is, this lacks a wow factor. There's still too much to scrutinize. The surging grapefruit prevalent in each sip of the Prism tends to alter an otherwise idyllic palatial balance. Hence, the result is a markedly better-than-average brew that retains a semblance of interchangeability. 




GRADE:  B