Best American-Brewed Saisons?

Discussion in 'Beer Talk' started by Ilovelampandbeer, Apr 9, 2015.

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  1. hunninghake

    hunninghake Initiate (0) Nov 21, 2005 Colorado

    <----- THIS!
     
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  2. jcos

    jcos Pundit (761) Nov 23, 2009 Maryland

    Tank 7.

    Not a huge sour/brett fan and appreciate stuff actually that can be bought at a store.
     
  3. Phigg1102

    Phigg1102 Initiate (0) Sep 29, 2013 New York

    Logsdon Seizone Brett was superb. Tank Seven and HFS Arthur are also two of my favorites in the US.
     
  4. SABERG

    SABERG Grand Pooh-Bah (4,777) Sep 16, 2007 Massachusetts
    Pooh-Bah Society

    I very much appreciate and value.
    Arthur
    Hennepin
    Saison Bernice
    Allagash Saison
    Cheers
     
  5. Kurmaraja

    Kurmaraja Initiate (0) May 21, 2013 California
    Trader

    Cheers on bring up Upright. Biased, perhaps, but I feel they deserve top tier mention along with the HFs, SARAs, Caseys of the US. They tend to do more in the herbal realm and a lot of their really wacky stuff - the Sole Comps - barely make it out of Portland being anywhere from 40 - 200 bottles. But the Flora Rustica, BA Flora Rustica, Anniversary Saison, and many more are world class.

    Commons from Portland is doing some good work in that realm as well - Maybelle for example (I've heard the newsest batch is better than previous, and previous batches aged really nicely). Expect to see more from them now that they've expanded.

    Also notable is that bottles from both of these breweries are great value. $8 - $15ish for 750s.
     
  6. beermeplz

    beermeplz Initiate (0) Feb 13, 2015 California

    I'm partial to funky and/or sour saisons/farmhouse ales, so my post will reflect that.

    Just had Prairie Eliza5beth last night...great stuff, well balanced with just the right amount of sour and funk...more complex than a lot of others out there.

    On a more local level, Shady Oak Barrel House is just getting started and putting out some really funky stuff.

    I've also had a couple exceptional ones from Tahoe Mountain Brewing (esp. Viejo Rojo)
     
  7. indesertum

    indesertum Initiate (0) Apr 5, 2009 New York

    just because non USA brewers don't follow BJCP guidelines it doesn't mean that using BJCP guidelines for classification makes no sense. and of course it's going to be a classification post-fact. what else would it be? i brought up BJCP guidelines as one point in my argument that there are two major umbrella categories of saisons.

    i don't understand what point you're trying to make by bringing up one random saison from the 1970s. if it didn't taste like a traditional saison then it probably wasn't?

    i'm not saying all european saisons are the same nor am i saying all US saisons are the same. i'm saying there are two major categories that taste really different and that trying to compare the two seems an exercise in futility

    but i'm glad we can agree on my basic premise

    i defined what i meant by "classic saison". i realize you're railing on the usage of the term classic in general, but it seems pretty irrelevant here. i don't understand the need for a requirement to define a style by time period. it seems oddly nitpicky and unnecessary.

    if i went to a bar and asked for a beer like saison dupont the bartender would understand what the hell i'm talking about. and if i asked for a beer like love buzz saison i would get a recommendation for a different type of beer

    I haven't had sour saisons from upright so I can't comment on what tier they belong in, but I do like what they're doing. thanks for the recs. i haven't really been impressed with commons so far, but i'll keep an eye out for maybelle.
     
  8. 77black_ships

    77black_ships Initiate (0) Dec 4, 2012 Belgium

    Saisons in the 1970s tasted different from 1900 – 1950s saisons as far as I can tell. That is why I brought up that one. There was a saison style post the farmland period & pre Dupont.

    I do agree indeed with the basic premise.

    You refer to Saison Dupont as a classic saison. Jester King and many other breweries refer to wild beers with local ingredients etc. when they talk about saions etc. Classic has clearly come to mean two different things here. Funny thing about Saison Dupont is, most USA saisons don’t imitate it & in Belgium it was always something unique. Saison Dupont isn’t like Westmalle Tripel, no one seems to bend on imitating it, other than keeping the idea of saisons alive maybe, it appears to have nothing to do with the rest of the style. I think that even if the brewery had gone bankrupt it might have changed nothing. It isn’t unlike any other classic.

    P.S.: Only had 3 Upright saisons so far but I seem to quite like them.
     
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  9. Chinon01

    Chinon01 Initiate (0) Jan 23, 2007 Pennsylvania

    Victory Helios ($3.99 for a 25oz bottle btw)
    Southampton Saison
     
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  10. indesertum

    indesertum Initiate (0) Apr 5, 2009 New York

    yeah maybe classic is the wrong term. i mean something more like belgian or european saison vs sour american saison. a lot of belgian saisons have an element of sour to it, but americans really take it to the next level. i still kinda think belgian saisons are more traditional and older than super sour american ones, but ok

    i don't understand why you would say that nobody imitates the dupont style in europe and it makes me think that you really don't what you're talking about. there are a ton (at least relatively in terms of proportions because there are a lot more american breweries). besides fantome and dupont, there's bocq, brasserie a vapeur, brasserie de legendes, lefebvre, and ellezeloise. they're not the same, but they're pretty much variations on the same theme. i'm sure there's more that don't get imported but it's not a unique style and dupont is certainly not the prototype just the more common available one (and imo better one).


    i honestly like the house saison at block 15 more than upright but i feel like there's batch variations because some batches are more fantastic than others.
     
  11. crazycatcouple

    crazycatcouple Initiate (0) Mar 26, 2015 Arizona

    another vote here for funkwerks saison
     
  12. JDbudget87

    JDbudget87 Initiate (0) Oct 9, 2014 Arkansas

    Tank 7 is my favorite, no question. It's on my "always buy when you see it in a store" list because finding it around here can be a bit difficult at times. I also like Prairie.
     
  13. JonathanB

    JonathanB Initiate (0) Nov 5, 2013 California

    Hill Farmstead
    SARA
    Side Project
     
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