A Salute to Saisons (2020-2021)

I'm finally getting my evening started on #SaisonSaturday pulling from the cellar...

2015 bottle of To The Choir from SARA. Plenty of tartness and a reasonable amount of funk. Dried apricot-like fruitiness against the modest-but-present wine barrel. This is another beer that leans towards the AWA aspects in my opinion, but the label confirms the "Farmhouse Ale" categorization. Absolutely no evidence of oxidation in this bottle, but it would seem the age has caused some carbonation loss. Quite a tasty beer, but I think I'm going to go seek a more traditional saison this evening.

In the interim, cheers to everyone here!

 

I may be doing this Saturday by myself...but as long as y'all don't mind I'm gonna keep plugging ahead. Up next is a 2015 bottling (per the cork date) of St. Somewhere Fraternite. A collaboration between the Tarpon Springs brewery and several others.

This is a very nice saison - much more of a traditional approach that the SARA above. It has developed a wonderfully complex Brett funk with a dryness that compliments the light hoppy bitterness. Some lemony citrus fruit as well. Really, really enjoyable. Some...or maybe most...of these "mega-collaborations" end up much less than the sum of their parts as it were. Fraternite bucks that trend for sure. I would drink another of these in a heartbeat!

 

Warning - There may be some (semi-)local homerism in this post...

I intended to reply to this pair of posts earlier, and upon posting about the St. Somewhere beer above I realized I had failed to do so. To me it was wholly appropriate to see that one of the first beers posted in the Saison thread was from St. Somewhere. Bob Sylvester of St. Somewhere is as true of a "beer advocate" as I have ever met. He has gladly shared from his wealth of beer knowledge with those who ask, whether at the brewery or in the homebrew club I was in for a few years.

Even locally, I don't think he's ever gotten the recognition he deserves (IMHO). I suspect because he hasn't dipped a toe into the popular / "sexy" styles, and instead focuses on consistently very good Farmhouse Ales with occasional other Belgian styles. Tarpon Springs is about an hour away from me, but his Brasserie was a must-stop for me whenever I was in the area.
I don't know what happens to his distribution with the demise of Shelton Brothers. But I hope to continue seeing his beers around.
Upon reconsidering, I don't think I'm going to embarrass him with a tag of his user name. But I would encourage any of the saison-curious folks reading this to try some of his beers.

 

Made my weekly visit to Fox Farm today and received this absolutely amazing gesture from one of the staff (Jenna). As if I needed another reason to preach about FF!





Moderate acidity, red grape, cherry, wet hay, fig.
Taste is predominantly grape juice and dark berries; earthy, maybe some nuttiness. Not very dry or sharp; pleasing finish. This is excellent!

 

Now I feel like I've been getting screwed. Haha
That's outstanding!

 

HF Samuel b2
Crisp green apple, refreshing, slightly tart but soft. Honey is there but it's not overpowering or sweet. This is an elegant and quite lovely Saison. I never thought I'd get the chance to try this and it certainly doesn't dissapoint.

 

Celebrating the arrival of my Novare Lambic Basket! Lambiek Fabriek Oude Kriek. Incredible craftsmanship all around.

 

Fox Farm Persimina
Tasting peach, pear and apricot.
Slightly sweet, not tart. FF hasn't disappointed me yet.

 

Tonight I am drinking Amory’s Tomb Wax Galaxies in their 2nd anniversary glass which I purchased today. Their description is a modern saison, heavily hopped, with a flavor profile towards a NEIPA. Now I do appreciate that they acknowledge that a hoppy Saison can reach nearly NEIPA flavors but I actually think this particular beer is less NEIPA than a beer such as Astral Traveler. There is a bit of pepper to this beer which keeps its feet planted a bit in the Saison world. It is much better than Astral Traveler as the Saison flavors aren’t drowned out by the hops.

Amory’s Tomb produces an interesting spectrum of Saisons. It’s enjoyable to try each one and see where it lands. I’m glad to see them make it to their second anniversary despite the adversities of COVID. One of my favorite breweries at the moment.

I do have one question, what is the deal with breweries selling glasses that are such low capacity? The second anniversary glass from Amory’s Tomb is beautiful yet it’s only 10 oz. I don’t get the point of creating such odd sized glasses. It’s too big for a taster and too small to fit even a 12 oz can. It’s labeled as a Pilsner glass so really confused why it’s so small. Oxbow does this as well. I have 2 beautiful glasses from Oxbow but both are quite small. I have a handful of other glasses from breweries which hover in the 10 oz size. I don’t get the point since I would love to use these glasses more but they simply aren’t practical.

 

Floodland Senescence
A blend of three different spelt saisons from three different years — sort of a saison and lambic mash up. I’m really enjoying this one , fruity and floral mixed with more complex wood and funk. Really drinkable too with a soft mouthfeel with the perfect amount of carbonation to lift everything up.

 

Farmhouse at Sunset from Elder Pine. A really nice dark saison, sorta like a dubbel fermented with saison yeast- dark fruit, earthy spice, hint of cocoa.

 

Sweet wax bottle art.

You know what would have been great for this thread and this week...Mystic's Three Cranes.

 

Silver Branch released another batch of Beyond the Gnome World. I can definitely see why this won gold a GABF for Classic Saison; it hits all the notes really well.