Top 5 American Wild Ale Producers

great read here! about 2016 SPON — Méthode Gueuze
http://jesterkingbrewery.com/introducing-jester-king-2016-spon-methode-gueuze

 

Oh wow that's a big entry even for them! Very interesting thanks for the heads up.

I was about to say, I hope this doesn't confuse the recently entered Spontaneous blends people added here during GABF, but it seems the notorious ThatsThatDude has already decided to duplicate it instead of update the existing entry. God I'm so tired of that guy lol

 

That's pretty interesting how they are going to work on establishing a new certification--I wonder if this will basically become a new style even though it is made in the same manner as Gueuze and Lambic.

Seems pretty wild to me something like this may be getting its own classification first before something like the "NE IPA."

 

Problem: I have not had every breweries sour offering.

Of what I have tasted:

Wicked Weed
Rare Barrel
The Lost Abby
Cascade
Jester King
Natty Green (sleeper pick, they have made some tasty sours if you can find them)

 

Russian River
De Garde
Allagash
OEC
Crooked Stave

 

I think they are not getting mentioned because they are more in the fruit beer category rather American Wild Ale category.

 

Casey
SARA
Hill Farmstead
deGarde
Side Project

seems to be a consensus top 5 based on my experience.

 

Their R&Ds are almost all definitively AWAs. We aren't talking about Belgian Red and Raspberry Tart here, we are talking about Vintage, Champs du Blanc, Bourbon Barrel Bramble Berry, Wild Peach, and VSB. They mostly get forgotten because these beers were all really easy to get, so the lack of hype keeps them out of conversations like this despite their incredibly high quality.

 

Haved always enjoyed some of these:

The Bruery
Allagash
Russian River
Lost Abbey

Cheers!

 

I'm with the majority when I say Jester King and Wicked Weed.

However, there are two local breweries in Western North Carolina that could stand on their own if they were available nationally; Zebulon and Fonta Flora. I know the head brewer/owner at Zebulon and he really knows his stuff about funky beers. I've had some of his homebrewed or small batch sours and they're phenomenal. Every time venture over to Fonta Flora I'm never disappointed with whatever sours/funky beers they have on tap.

I'm glad both of these breweries are small and local though, more for the locals!

 

I don't think my sampling in this area has been either wide (range of breweries) or deep (systematic working through of lists) enough for me to pretend to know "the top 5." FWIW, though, my favorite American breweries in this area so far are Russian River, Hill Farmstead, Grimm, and Lost Abbey, though my one OEC beer was excellent.

Thanks again to OP for starting this, and to those making informed contributions. I've now got a new list of (elusive) breweries to seek out. The quest is endless . . .

 

In no particular order:

Hill Farmstead
Side Project
Russian River
Firestone Walker Barrelworks
Crooked Stave

 

I wish they were easy to get! I've yet to get my hands on a single r&d bottle...

 

Anyone that didn't include Funk Factory should take another look at their list

 

They're pretty readily available where I live (South Bay LA), plus you can just walk into the brewery itself and get pretty much every beer you mentioned. I have three of both Eugene's and a couple Chaos in my personal stash. They get pretty decent distribution to a couple places (El Cerrito in Corona, CA and Stearns in Long Beach). They are mostly just sitting on the shelf from what I've seen; there's even quite a bit of the Propagation stuff left.

If you're interested in some, DM me and I can hook you up. Granted, I don't really trade, so you may have to be patient with me!

 

Draai Laag in Pittsburgh

 

Wicked Weed
JK
CS
Green Man (way too limited but the three they make are phenomenal)
Grimm (love all the wild ale and IPA blends)

 

Maybe not in the top 5, but three that haven't been mentioned yet are Proclamation, Cisco, and Backacre.

Jack's Abby has also had some pretty good sours. Night shift has been hit or miss for me. Trillium has had a couple good releases as well.

 

Hill Farmstead
Casey
Side Project
Jester King
SARA

Honorable mentions: Backacre and de Garde

 

In no order...

Funk Factory
Side Project
deGarde
Casey
Hill Farmstead