It's hot and humid out, folks. Go drink some beer.

But not just any beer -- get thee to the Goose Island Brewpub, 1800 N. Clybourn, at 6 tonight for the exotically named, potentially award-winning Sai-Shan-Tea, which is very much a beer.

It's the product of a collaboration between Goose Island's brewmaster Jared Rouben, tea purveyor extraordinaire Rodrick Markus of the Rare Tea Cellar and Chicagoist's beer connoisseur/food editor Chuck Sudo (whose byline you see from time to time in our food pages).

Rouben has been on a roll with these beer-making collaborations with Chicago chefs, so it was only a matter of time before a tea connoisseur and bearded blogger were added to the mix.

The beer's key ingredient is Markus' Emperor's Lemon Meritage tea. Sudo, who blogged about the whole beer-making process, describes it as a saison that goes down like a shandy.

"We wanted the beer to have a lot of character and weight, but have people coming back for more," Sudo says via e-mail.

Like summer, this stuff is fleeting -- only 40 kegs' worth available, and only at Goose Island Clybourn -- so try Sai-Shan-Tea while you can. While it's hot. And since we're headed for vacation tomorrow and need to have a clear head whilst packing, have some for us, too.