Summit - Honeymoon Saison

Tonight I'm reviewing another saison brew. Its that time of the year where this style really flourishes.  With its light, refreshing characteristics and floral, sometimes fruity aroma the saison style is an easy choice on a hot, humid day.

Summit just released this brew as part of their Unchained series of craft beers.  We reviewed the Imperial Pumpkin Porter which was number 5 in the series earlier this year.  This series of brews give the brewers at Summit a chance to craft their own, unique beer and produce it on a small scale for all to enjoy.  Generally its the brewmasters that create the recipes and hand them over to the brewers.  This time, its the brewer who's in the drivers seat.

I tried this saison for the first time last night on tap and it was fantastic.  This was a great alternative to the bud I was drinking on the golf course earlier in the day.  Those golf cart drink girls need to start stocking some of the delicious stuff as opposed to bud light lime and other pseudo-piss water.

Summits website has a great overview on the background of this creation straight from the brewer himself.

Batch #07 has a very clear, pale yellow color with an unsettling lack of head retention.  As I described in my review of St. Feuillien's Saison I was rather impressed with the amount of foam that lingered around throughout the brew.  So to see the exact opposite leaves me a little taken back.  The aroma, while not very prominent, is still inviting.  Sweet malt and honey are the front runners here with a subtle orange and citrus dancing in the background.  The taste is where this saison puts on its fancy pants.  That saison spice of candied sugar and black pepper come forward with a sweet honey malt and grapefruit citrus.  Not a lot of carbonation here but that's ok.  There isn't enough sweetness here to make overly cloying.  In fact, its nicely balanced between the saisons spice, the honey and 5.3% ABV.

Overall - Summits Unchained #07 definitely lives up to the hype surrounding its release.  Its an easy drinker that will go over well with the MN craft beer market.  With its slant towards accentuating the honey this brew wont fall nicely into the saison category.  But thats not a big deal for me.  It has the characteristics I like in a saison and its refreshing and easy to drink.  Its difficult for me to complain about that.