Best American Saisons

I REALLY enjoyed Le Merle, but also Hennepin and Colette.

 

Hennepin is my favorite but Brooklyn Sorachi Ace is very good.

 

Off Color Apex Predator
Stillwater Stateside
Victory Helios
Boulevard Tank 7

 

Evil Twin/Local Option Plasticman and Victory DFH Saison Du Buff were both pretty good, and I liked them better than Tank 7.

Would to get my hands on some HF Arthur.

 

Another plug for Logsdon seizoen bretta. Peche and Brett if you can get your hands on it. Seizoen bretta seems like it's way more accessible

 

Just tried Stillwater Cellar Door and Off Color Apex Predator and both were fantastic.

 

What're your Belgian choices?

 

Arthur is literally the best saison I've ever had.

 

Saison Hands - Tired Hands (PA)
Urban Farmhouse - Commons (OR)
Anaïs - Sante Adarius (CA)
What Ever, Never Mind - Tired Hands (PA)

 

I'm another vote for buy Belgium and a strong believer that Dupont (especially the dry hopped and Avec...) is still the king although Blaugies, De Glazen-Toren and Fantome (on their best batches) are all solid. Fortunately, Dupont in Maine only costs me about two-thirds what @JackHorzempa seems to be paying in Pennsylvania (and Maine is not a notably cheap beer state).

I find most of the American examples insufficiently dry/inadequately attenuated with Ommegang Hennepin being a particularly egregious example. I suspect many American brewers are using something like the Thiriez yeast which to my palate makes less interesting beer than the harder to work with Dupont strain. I also don't like heavy hopping with New World hops. Finally, the prices for a number of U.S. examples are rather over the top.

Logsdon are probably my favorite U.S. saisons but I also like Hill Farmstead, GI Sofie and Boulevard (Tank 7 is over hopped but still good) with a slightly more tepid endorsement for Stillwater and Off Color. While Crooked Stave and Jolly Pumpkin are beers I like they don't fit my ideal of a saison.

I have not had Casey, Tired Hands, Side Project, De Garde or Funkwerks yet but I have had almost all of the others that have been mentioned

 

O.E.C, Crooked Stave, Hillfarm
Dupont Saison

 

While Saisonhands and Hill Farmstead Dorothy are two of the best tart american saisons I've had, I think that the best non-tart examples are Tank 7, Hennepin and CynicAle. Jester King El Cedro is probably the best of the in-between variety.

 

I had CynicAle at MSP in November ($8 for a can) and I agree that it was great.

DuPont is not American but indeed one of the best out there (that are not too hard to find).

 

Avery Perzik Saison

And since your in NJ you must try Flying Fish Farmhouse and River Horse Farmhouse. Two amazing saisons right here in our home state. About $8 a six also.

 

Being from San Diego, I really enjoy Lomaland from Modern Times. I think I prefer Tank 7 over it, but at $10 for four 16oz beers it's always a good choice. It's a little light, but perfect for a hot day at the beach.

 

I'm surprised to see so many people naming beers that are like 8.5-10% abv or very highly hopped examples with pretty clean yeast profiles as their favorite saisons. This is obviously an American trend, but in my mind strong, fairly malty saisons or ones with a lot of American variety hops and very little yeast presence are hardly the best that this style has to offer. I think we're doing doing great things with saisons in the US via fruit additions, fermenting with different microflora and experimenting with barrel aging, but when did drinkability, high attenuation and a marked estery yeast presence stop being paramount for this style?

 

Also really enjoyed L'Americaine - Breakside

 

Boulevard Saison Brett has always been one of my favorites.

 

Logsdon's Sezoen Bretta is my favorite American Saison. Brasserie St. James' Daily Wages is very, very good. I also really like Lost Abby's Red Barn.

With the weather heating up, I was in the mood for a good Saison last Friday. I decided to peruse the local bottle shop for an american saison that I hadn't tried yet, and walked away With an Almanac Dolores. Was definitely not bad.

 

Ommegang Hennepin
Kent Falls Solstice