Chicagoland Saisons

Afterthought
Off Color
Is/Was

 

Apex Predator

 

Afterthought all the way.

Too bad about Keeping Together moving away.

 

Afterthought and Is/was definitely
I also recommend checking out Sundial brewing - I had their Floret saison recently and it was excellent.
Scratch brewing is in downstate IL but Beer Temple has a consistent supply of their saisons and they are usually good.

 

Too bad about it existing in name only.

 

Pretty excited to try Afterthought's stuff. I was just complaining that there are no local breweries making quality, drinkable Saisons a la Forest&Main.

 

I think people should know more about IsWas. IsWas makes beautiful saisons, half the beers are classic Belgian yeast, the other have additions of Brett and/or mix culture. For my money, the best classic saisons made in America.

other sneaky breweries that make a beautiful saison on occasion. Penrose, Roaring Table, solemn Oath, art history, all make saisons at least once a year. Penrose does both clean and funky recipes. Art History has a beautiful draft only saison called Butterfly Questions that gets is split into multiple fruit variants. (The base beer rocks)

Side note, go buy a case of Orval. Any passionate saison fan will improv their quality of life keeping this beer in stock. Get the glass too. You can always drink Orval at the Afterthought Taproom, and I love it

 

I think “went out of business” is a more apt term. If they are no longer brewing in Chicago, aren’t updating their social media with relevant business news or their web site,etc.(they still show HA Lincoln as their location on their map), or found a space elsewhere, received a brewing license in the new state, etc. How do they even exist as a brewery? What exactly qualifies one person as a brewery these days?

 

Sabbatical or hiatus would both be better words than “went out of business”, which sends the wrong message about Avery. She’ll be back to making great beer in due time. She was in Denver for GABF seen on social media hosting beer dinners and such.

bottom line, Keeping Together makes beautiful saison. Her pedigree is as good as it gets (head brewer at jester king + master cicerone) and she’ll make beer again someday. If you have friends with bottles, ask if they’ll share.

 

Does Is/Was have a taproom or a bar with with dedicated lines?

 

Also, Afterthought has an amazing bottle list of both local and Belgian/French saisons.

 

Afterthought and Is/Was, all you need to know to fill your trunk.

And yeah, the bottles for on-site consumption at Afterthought are very well curated and reasonably priced. Whether you're drinking their own or someone else's, the Afterthought folks just want you to have a good experience drinking saisons. Lovely chaps.

 

I've only had Afterthought's dry hopped collaboration with Revolution. I found it very hoppy and more bitter than expected for a saison during my first fresh can, but is really working for me after 4 + months refrigerated.

Will focus on picking up a few Afterthought offerings in the Spring when things warm a bit. based on the several recommendations and how my foreknowledge is tasting today.

 

Beer Temple will be a great resource for all things saison related. You’ll see IsWas and Afterthought on draft there as well as real Belgian & French breweries like Theriez and De la Senne

 

The IsWas / HB saison collab, Magic, was on tap at beer cellar. Pretty nice saison. Would happily drink again

 

IsWas Tree Tipper is pretty great. Beautiful spruce tip saison. I had the clean version, might have to go find a brett version