It's still hot and it's still summer, which means it's still the Summer of Saison! This example of the style comes from Tarpon Springs, FL where they know quite a bit about needing a thirst quenching drink after being out in the hot weather. At 7.5% abv this one weighs in about average for the modern interpretations of Saison, but is higher than they traditionally were... but it's hot and we're thirsty so let's just see how this one stacks up!

Appearance: Upon opening the bottle, the beer overflows a bit... good thing we'd read about this happening and opened it over the sink. Saison Athene pours a light, clear golden straw color with an off-white puffy head that reminds us a bit of soda head. The head is quickly gone, but the beer still looks delicious. There's a bunch of yeast chunks from the overflow, but nothing too bad.

Smell: The smell is smooth and of orange and funk from the brettanomyces, which is a wild yeast sometimes found in Belgian-style beers. This wild yeast provides a light, musty aroma to the brew. The beer smells quite dry with a muted Saison yeast note... honestly the smell is more mild than we've come to expect out of this style.

Taste: The first, and predominant, taste you get is orange cream. The mouth feel is much fuller and creamier than expected... it's quite smooth. Somehow, it's still dry, though. Carbonation coats the tongue in fine bubbles, but the mouthfeel of the beer keeps the carbonation from being prickly at all. The funk is much stronger in the nose than in the taste, where it's very backgrounded by the strong orange cream tasete. It's full on the front, but a much thinner, drier and more refreshing brew on the finish. We like this one, but it's too full and not quite dry enough for the Summer of Saison. This is a fall or early spring Saison... perhaps even a good one for winter. The alcohol is, however, very well hidden so don't expect it to warm you on a cold winter day.

As a side note, past experience with this beer has shown us that, if you age it, the brett will continue to work on the sugars in the beer and dry it out. We highly recommend you do this!

Every year Samuel Adams does their Long Shot contest to allow home brewers to get their beer made in a commercial brewery and distributed throughout the Samuel Adams distribution range. It's a great idea, we think, and has resulted in some delicious beers! Speaking of beer, let's check out the Lemon Pepper Saison from the Samuel Adams Long Shot Series:

Appearance: The Lemon Pepper Saison pours a darker shade of clear gold than many traditional Saisons. The big, white, fluffy heady is totally expected, though. Looks like it might be a bit much for a hot summer day, but perfect for a warm spring day.

Smell: The aroma doesn't have a lot of the yeast character that we expect from a Saison. We get some papaya and fresh apricot. Obviously, there's some lemon and cracked pepper in there as well, but shouldn't that almost be assumed by the name of the beer? Well I guess we'd assume it would smell like a Saison, so that shows what assuming does...

Taste: A bit sweet for a Saison, but the pepper on the finish helps to dry it out at the end. It's a fruitier tasting beer with apricot and papaya in there. There's a hint of lemon in there, but it's definitely more in the aroma.

All in all, this beer is OK. Not a great representation of style, but still pretty good. We wouldn't seek it out, but we'd happily drink it!

We were pretty stoked to get this months club, we've tried a lot of beer, no really we mean A LOT. So when we get beers we've never seen before it's always a little more fun. These sounded cool too especially the Southern Pecan, which is where we'll start.

If you want to get the same club as us go here: Click to Join

Lazy Magnolia Brewing Company - Southern Pecan

Appearance: Depending on the light the Southern Pecan strays somewhere within the range between brown and garnet. The head on this one is an off-bone color.

Smell: The aroma of this beer is a little like a lager. There's some sulfur in the smell, and it smells smooth and sweet.

Taste: On the tongue it's a bit sweet and finishes nutty. It has quite a malty tone to it, but the nuttiness balances it well. This would go well with dessert or barbecue. In fact, it makes us really want a piece of pecan pie! We really like this one, we would totally buy this if it was available around here.

Lazy Magnolia Brewing Company - Indian Summer

Appearance: A golden clear pour is the first thing you notice when you pour this one.  It's not as light looking as many summer beers, but not too dark to be worrisome. It's just deep enough in color to look interesting. Surprisingly off-white head for the color of the beer.

Smell: Right away we get spiced fruitiness... not heavy handed, but in a good way.

Taste: Oh, that's good right up front! Crisp and pretty dry up front, it's not nearly as sweet as it smells. The wheat in this beer definitely helps with the taste while the orange peel and coriander are super light, which is important for a spiced beer. When we heard spiced, we were worried... but this is spiced in a way that we can really enjoy. When we say wheat, coriander and orange peel, you might think Blue Moon (or a better craft beer version) but this is a much lighter summery beer that is light-handed with the spice. The citrus definitely adds to a brightness rather than sweetness.

Ellicottville Brewing Company - EBC Pale Ale

Appearance: This is more pale, when it comes to the spectrum of paleness. The head is white and the beer is clear. Pretty much hit the style on this one.

Smell: Oooh, that's pretty nice! Lot's of hoppy smell and some honeysuckle in there. A hint of orange is in the aroma as well. This smells nice! A little sweet and lots of hops.

Taste: We actually have differing tastes over here when it comes to pale ales. Jeff really likes this one, it's got really solid bitterness up front with some decent honey and orange hop flavor at the end. Devon prefers a more late-hopped beer with less bitterness and more hop flavor that this one has.

Ellicottville Brewing Company - EBC Nut Brown Ale

Appearance: Guess what? The beer is brown. Surprised? We're not. But we'd be upset if it was blonde or red. The head is a coffee and cream color. It's on the darker side for a brown ale, and looks pretty appetizing.

Smell: There are some sweet and malty aromas in this one. It's quite nice, there's a bit of brown sugar as well. No real hop smells, this one is all malt.

Taste: Up front there's a strange bitter flavor... but not from hops. That's too bad, because we expected much more from this one. We don't know what the flavor is, but we don't care for it. It smells good and looks good, but this one fell a little flat for us. That's part of trying new things, not everything is delicious. Oh well.