Son of Samurai

Origin Story

Son of Samurai, described as a Red Saison, is a brand new Short's concept beer, thanks to an idea from our Quality Control Intern, Sam Decamp, who worked with us in Elk Rapids. Not really intending for this to become a Short's beer, Sam was merely talking to a few of the guys at the plant about wanting to homebrew an experimental Red Sasion. Tony overheard the idea and liked it enough that he proposed we just try it out as a test batch in Bellaire, and as a way to pay credit to the original idea master, they decided to put one of Sam's many nicknames, "Samuri", into the name of the beer. Saisons are generally hard beers to define and classify. Although groups like the Brewer's Association have written stylistic guidelines for them, Saisons can range in flavors to many different degrees, depending on where and who is brewing them. As a group, these beers were historically described as refreshing summer ales that had distinctive qualities depending on the farm brewer, available crops, and ingredient substitution, which commonly took place in times of shortages. Most sources agree that Saisons range from deep golden to amber in color and have a light to medium body. Therefore, it's not unlikely to imagine that a red colored Saison may have been created a few centuries ago, in their original farm brewery settings, and is perhaps the reason why we are not the only brewery who has dabbled in this type of stylistic variation. It's also agreed that the hop characteristics in a Saison can range quite a bit, and even be somewhat assertive. So when our brewers decided to build off of the "Samurai" theme and use an ample amount of Soriachi Ace hops from Japan, their bold distinct lemony flavor and aroma qualities fit right in with the light refreshing nature of style. Of course, the true unifying component of this particular Saison, regardless of it's red color or distinct hoppiness, is the use of Belgian Saison yeast during fermentaion, which adds the unique spiciness and fruity tones found in the flavor and aroma of all beers brewed with it.