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Saison Athene
Saint Somewhere Brewing Company
- From:
- Saint Somewhere Brewing Company
- Florida, United States
- Style:
- Saison
- ABV:
- 7.5%
- Score:
- 88
- Avg:
- 3.93 | pDev: 12.21%
- Reviews:
- 300
- Ratings:
- Status:
- Retired
- Rated:
- Mar 30, 2020
- Added:
- Aug 29, 2007
- Wants:
- 25
- Gots:
- 31
Saison Athene is a bottle conditioned Saison brewed with chamomile, fresh rosemary and black pepper. A dose of wild yeast at bottling adds to the complexity.
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by mactrail:
Reviewed by mactrail from Washington
3.03/5 rDev -22.9%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5
3.03/5 rDev -22.9%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5
Cork blew out on releasing the cage. Marked 2010 on the cork, once I found the landing zone. Big foam but settled down to a nice head. Plenty lively on subsequent pourings. Very prickly and sprightly on the tongue. Smells like the sediment in the fermenter when you're siphoning into the secondary.
Buttery and tart at the same time. Immediately get a little sour taste. Big yeasty funky stew of flavors. It's hard to taste the malt for all the acidity. Likewise the hops, if there are any, are buried in the Belgian bitterness. Aack, heartburn on the way.
From Best Damn Beer Store in San Diego. If it was on tap in an abbey, we'd be grinning, so I give it points for seeming too authentic for words. For drinkability it's tough to get very much down, but I am missing the coarse crusty bread and aged Gouda.
Mar 26, 2012Buttery and tart at the same time. Immediately get a little sour taste. Big yeasty funky stew of flavors. It's hard to taste the malt for all the acidity. Likewise the hops, if there are any, are buried in the Belgian bitterness. Aack, heartburn on the way.
From Best Damn Beer Store in San Diego. If it was on tap in an abbey, we'd be grinning, so I give it points for seeming too authentic for words. For drinkability it's tough to get very much down, but I am missing the coarse crusty bread and aged Gouda.
More User Ratings:
Reviewed by macrosmatic from Florida
4.02/5 rDev +2.3%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4
4.02/5 rDev +2.3%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4
Reviewed from (long-standing) notes. This particular 2012 vintage corked & caged 750 mL bottle was purchased locally on 5/28/12, and kept in the cellar until January 2018. Poured into an El Catador Barrel-Aged glass.
A: Not much cork “pop” left at this point, but here we are. Pours a lightly hazy bright gold with only some larger bubbles rising to the surface then disappearing. Minimal head. Other than the low carbonation, this looks beautiful.
S: Citric lemony tartness, basement and barnyard funk up front. Light lactic tart as well. I'm assuming Brettanomyces, and perhaps Lactobacillus as well. Cracker malts, and still some mild grassy and citrus hops. A bit of dry vinous character, and an impression of woody dryness (though I don’t think this is barrel-aged). Despite being more than years old, I’m not getting any oxidation, at least on the nose.
T: Funky and lightly tart and vinous. Barnyard and musty hay and a touch of basement and old-book-vanilla funk. Light lactic tart and cracker malts. Some lemon citric acid and grassy and herbal hops. A light white wine vinous character joins in as the beer finishes pretty dry with a lingering funk. No oxidation here either.
M: A light body, and low alcohol presence. The carbonation sensation is very low – it does detract at this point, but I have no reason to believe that it was packaged like this. So I won't ding it too much for the loss of carbonation during aging.
O: This is nicely funky at this point. But I’m not certain if the increase in funk makes up for the loss of the hop bite and carbonation (as far as my enjoyment). But a more-than-solid lightly tart, balanced funky saison for sure.
Mar 30, 2020A: Not much cork “pop” left at this point, but here we are. Pours a lightly hazy bright gold with only some larger bubbles rising to the surface then disappearing. Minimal head. Other than the low carbonation, this looks beautiful.
S: Citric lemony tartness, basement and barnyard funk up front. Light lactic tart as well. I'm assuming Brettanomyces, and perhaps Lactobacillus as well. Cracker malts, and still some mild grassy and citrus hops. A bit of dry vinous character, and an impression of woody dryness (though I don’t think this is barrel-aged). Despite being more than years old, I’m not getting any oxidation, at least on the nose.
T: Funky and lightly tart and vinous. Barnyard and musty hay and a touch of basement and old-book-vanilla funk. Light lactic tart and cracker malts. Some lemon citric acid and grassy and herbal hops. A light white wine vinous character joins in as the beer finishes pretty dry with a lingering funk. No oxidation here either.
M: A light body, and low alcohol presence. The carbonation sensation is very low – it does detract at this point, but I have no reason to believe that it was packaged like this. So I won't ding it too much for the loss of carbonation during aging.
O: This is nicely funky at this point. But I’m not certain if the increase in funk makes up for the loss of the hop bite and carbonation (as far as my enjoyment). But a more-than-solid lightly tart, balanced funky saison for sure.
Reviewed by REVZEB from Illinois
3.79/5 rDev -3.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
3.79/5 rDev -3.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
2015 vintage bottle. The smell is the clear star of this beer, aromatic and bright in the nose. Chamomile, rosemary, black pepper, wild yeast, biscuit malt, other spices, potpourri, orange zest and lemon zest. Taste is not as vibrant, very thin with then the soapy revenge of grandma's cabinets in the finish. Feel is a bit funky, has heat and sharpness from the spices. This one is a bit all over with high highs and low lows
Apr 18, 2019Reviewed by cjgiant from District of Columbia
4.14/5 rDev +5.3%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
4.14/5 rDev +5.3%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
Bottle with cork dated 2015:
Pours a slightly dirty yellow gold. Slow pouring still takes multiple tips to fill a glass as the cloud of foam billows on each pour. It does settle fairly quickly each refill, though. Long term is a thin but full layer of white bubbles.
Opening threw a tart funk in my face, increased during the pours. Didn't expect this, and eventually I started noticing it less and less as I drank the beer. But hay and barnyard classic notes remained. Light funk and maybe just a smidge of tartness still lingered.
Taste was a surprise in a relative sense with the beer being very dry, earthy and hay-like, with a little peppery twinge at the end. Some barnyard funk started growing in the middle midway through my glass. A dried herb flavor grew more in my impression as leading into the peppery dry ending. Occasionally I get a little unsweet peach note, but I'm tying to figure where that lightly tart funk from this nose is. Carbonation was nice, not overbearing at all. Light and dry feel.
Confusion early, but I ended up liking this beer fairly well. Reminded me in very generic terms of a Saison DuPont style of saison, dry, crisp, earthy. Also reminded me a little of the seasoning additions of the DFH herbed saisons (the base saison is different, however).
Jun 23, 2016Pours a slightly dirty yellow gold. Slow pouring still takes multiple tips to fill a glass as the cloud of foam billows on each pour. It does settle fairly quickly each refill, though. Long term is a thin but full layer of white bubbles.
Opening threw a tart funk in my face, increased during the pours. Didn't expect this, and eventually I started noticing it less and less as I drank the beer. But hay and barnyard classic notes remained. Light funk and maybe just a smidge of tartness still lingered.
Taste was a surprise in a relative sense with the beer being very dry, earthy and hay-like, with a little peppery twinge at the end. Some barnyard funk started growing in the middle midway through my glass. A dried herb flavor grew more in my impression as leading into the peppery dry ending. Occasionally I get a little unsweet peach note, but I'm tying to figure where that lightly tart funk from this nose is. Carbonation was nice, not overbearing at all. Light and dry feel.
Confusion early, but I ended up liking this beer fairly well. Reminded me in very generic terms of a Saison DuPont style of saison, dry, crisp, earthy. Also reminded me a little of the seasoning additions of the DFH herbed saisons (the base saison is different, however).
Reviewed by Invinciblejets from South Carolina
3.67/5 rDev -6.6%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
3.67/5 rDev -6.6%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
L: Cork started to self eject as I twisted the cage off then proceeded to gush out bigtime ..... Poured with a nice orange juice like color with a thick shaving cream foam head.
S: Hay, spices, pepper, very mild funk.....some lemon.
T: A dry spice taste like sage or something some hay some pepper and a chemical like taste..
F: Super sparkly and dry maybe a bit powdery...
O: A bit too carbonated way too much spice and not enough funk. Didn't really do it for me at all.
Dec 06, 2015S: Hay, spices, pepper, very mild funk.....some lemon.
T: A dry spice taste like sage or something some hay some pepper and a chemical like taste..
F: Super sparkly and dry maybe a bit powdery...
O: A bit too carbonated way too much spice and not enough funk. Didn't really do it for me at all.
Saison Athene from Saint Somewhere Brewing Company
Beer rating:
88 out of
100 with
463 ratings
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