Saisons in the Sun
Hell's Basement

355ml can - a rather winsome reference in the punny name here, I gotta say.

This beer pours a clear, medium bronzed amber colour, with a teeming tower of puffy, finely foamy, and somewhat creamy beige head, which leaves some Hebrides-esque lace around the glass as it eventually subsides.

It smells of gritty and grainy wheat malt, some equal to the task rye cracker astringency, a Low Countries yeastiness, some raisin and prune dark fruity notes, and very tame earthy, weedy, and dead floral green hop bitters. The taste is bready and doughy caramel malt, a mixed rye/wheat graininess, some edgy black pepper spice, subtle Belgian saison yeast, a fading dried fruitiness, and more understated leafy, grassy, and floral verdant hoppiness.

The carbonation is quite active in its wheeling and dealing frothiness, the body a solid middleweight, and more or less smooth, but for a bit of spicy yeast kickin' about, looking for a place to happen. It finishes off-dry, the blended malt contending with the lingering sassy peppery yeastiness.

Overall - this comes across as a very heady and engaging rye-forward version of the style, with the big Alberta malt (barley, wheat, and rye, all) doing well to mingle on my palate, all under the yoke of some old-school, robust yeast. Good, good stuff.