Samuel Adams Belgian Session

Brewed By: Boston Beer Company in Boston, Massachusetts
Purchased: 12oz bottle from the Sam Adams Summer Styles, from Jewel-Osco in Chicago, IL; 2012
Style/ABV: Belgian Blond Ale, 4.3%

Tonight I'm continuing to work my way through the Sam Adams Summer Styles seasonal mix-pack. Before we get started, let me give some props to Sam Adams:

Samuel Adams was founded in 1984 by Jim Koch, and currently the Boston Beer Company is the largest American-owned beer company in the United States. Sam Adams is also the largest craft brewer in America, with over a million barrels of beer being produced annually. You can check out the Sam Adam's website for more info.

Tonight's beer, the Belgian Session, seems to be a replacement for Sam Adam's Rustic Saison. The Rustic Saison didn't seem to do so well...at least not concerning reviews. Hopefully the Belgian Session will hold up as far as Belgian Blond Ales are concerned.

According to this beer's profile page, the Belgian Session is a take on a traditional Belgian beer, but brewed with a twist to create a "crisp, lighter version of this classic style." And yeah, at 4.3% ABV, this is a bit light as far as the style goes. This beer is described as being "fruity, spicy, and featuring toffee and caramel notes from the malts, and citrus characters from the hops." The beer is brewed as a session beer, so light on the alcohol, and ready to be consumed by the 6-pack. This beer uses Belgian yeast, Hallertau Mittelfrueh Noble hops (for subtle floral aromas) and American Ahtanum hops (for citrus notes).

Despite being a low-ABV session beer, this thing clocks in at 141 calories. It also packs 16 IBUs. For comparison, Leffe Blonde, another popular Belgian Blond Ale, packs around 200 calories per bottle. If you're curious about the Belgian Blond Ale style guidelines, you can roll over to the BJCP. I will say though, I'm expecting something a lot lighter being that this is a session beer. Let's get on with the review and see what is up with this beer:

Samuel Adams Belgian Session

The beer pours with 3-fingers of bubbly, Belgin-looking head. Actually...the head has slightly thinner bubbles, but meh. It's off-white in low light, and pretty damn white in bright light. The head is actually holding up reasonably well, and there is even some lacing on my glass. I'm guessing it has something to do with the steady stream of small bubbles rising from the center of my Duvel tulip. In low light this beer is orange/copper/gold. In bright light, this beer is a yellow-gold color. This beer is transparent, which is kind of Sam Adam's thing...I want to see what one of their bottle-conditioned beers looks like. Again, I'm impressed with the head retention, with one centimeter plus of head hanging around.

There's a lot of typical Belgian funk on the nose. You get that big clove-sugar-vanilla profile, floral notes, a hint of grain or bread, and some hints of fruit (maybe some citrus, a hint of something tart, and maybe a dash of sweet fruits; tropical?).

The taste is light, crisp, and refreshing, and a touch watery. Up front you get some clove and fruit, some grain, and then a crisp finish with some hints of grain and hops. Maybe a touch of drying. There are some hints of banana and lemon in here, and maybe a hint of tartness with the finish.

This is light, super refreshing, and ridiculously drinkable at 4.3% ABV. This has a light-medium to light-heavy mouthfeel, with medium to high carbonation (there is a bit of effervescence here), good palate depth, but very low complexity. I'm not picking up on any toffee or caramel really. Up front is some clove, lemon, and hops, the middle is more clove and lemon, and the back is that hint of grain/hops. I mean I could probably dig for flavors here, but nothing is screaming out. The back is crisp and finishes nicely. 

Rating: Average

 

This is definitely a drinkable or sessionable Belgian. I'm feeling like this is a decent Average Belgian Blond. There is not much here in the way of complexity or depth of flavors, but then you get something that is incredibly drinkable and features nice layers of clove. Personally, I'd rather just drink a Duvel and say screw the calories...but Duvel is like a Belgian Strong Ale and I don't want to compare apples to oranges. Really though, this is an okay edition to the Summer Styles. This is a great summer beer with a big of Belgian flair. Would I pick this up as a 6-pack? Maybe. Until next time, don't drink and perform brain surgery.