Best American Saisons?

Hill Farmstead makes a number of Saison beers and they are OUTSTANDING!

Tired Hands (Ardmore, PA) makes a number of excellent Saisons.

Forest & Main (Ambler, PA) makes a nice selection of excellent Saison beer.

Stillwater makes very good Saisons, my personal favorite is Stateside

Ommegang Hennepin is very good.

Goose Island Sofie is very good (with aging the Brett character will be more prominent)

I enjoy drinking Boulevard Tank 7; it is an Americanized hoppy Saison with wonderful flavors from Amarillo hops.

@pep , I don’t know if a trip to Ardmore (or Ambler) is convenient but a visit to Tired Hands and/or Forest & Main would be great.

Cheers!

 

For the Saison's I've sampled, nothing was even in the same league as Hill Farmstead's Phenomenology of Spirit (2013). That was the only saison I've had by them, so I'm sure Arthur and the the few others are great as well.

Honorable mentions: Tank 7 (Boulevard), Hennepin (Ommegang), and Fer Me Verjous (DFH)

 

Is Boulevard's Saison Brett distributed widely? We get Boulevard beers in MD but not sure I've seen this one anywhere. I'm really interested to find it though based on the recommendations.

 

I love Saison Brett, but am not huge on Tank 7. Tad bit too sweet for me.

 

Im not saying it's the best, but I'm always surprised with stone's saison. Very nice IMO. Anything boulevard, jester king, and crooked stave are amazing.

 

Firestone Walker Opal
Boulevard Tank 7
Jester King Das Wunderkind, Hibernal Dichotomous
Prairie Hop, Prairie Standard (RIP)
Ommegang Glimmerglass

So many good ones and so hard to pick

 

Two which haven't been mentioned yet:
Pretty Things-Jack dOr
The Commons-Urban Farmhouse Ale-a must have if you are anywhere near Portland

 

Bumping this bad boy to add Funkwerks Saison to the list. Including this in an upcoming trade after revisiting it a few weeks back. Enjoy it both ways, but I think it really shines with the yeast at the bottom allowed into the glass. Wonderfully rich, almost creamy, and fruity on the palate, but then dries out on the finish as a proper saison should. Seriously awesome under-the-radar stuff.

 

Logsdon Seizoen Bretta.

Prairie Ale was also pretty good but way too expensive.

 

Upright Flora Rustica (Barrel Aged) is the best one I have had so far. Perennial Saison de Lis comes in second.

I have found Hill Farmstead to be vastly overrated so far. I still have a bottle of Hill Farmstead / Blaugies Le Sarrasin so maybe that one will surprise me. I quite like USA saison’s in general.

 

Reading back through this thread (due to the bump), I wanted to note a couple things:

1) @bubseymour - I'm pretty sure Saison-Brett (and the other limited Smokestack beers) hits anywhere that Boulevard distributes. However, it's a spring release, and I have no idea if it would be on shelves anymore. It's long gone in the Kansas City area for the most part.

2) @BottleCaps80 was spot-on about Love Buzz. It's out again now and as fantastic as ever. Pick it up if you see it without hesitation.

3) Prairie has re-released the aforementioned Prairie Standard, which was believed to be dead. It should be on shelves anywhere that Prairie distributes right now. A great hoppy saison, and much more moderately priced than Prairie Ale.

 

My top 3:
GI Gillian
Allagash
Crooked Stave Surette

 

Can't go wrong with these:
Tank 7 Wide distribution, and it's delicious
Saison De Lis nice and dry, very flavorful.
Sofie Probably the best saison I've ever had.

 

I've had it on tap and it was way too sweet. Out of the bottle it almost seems a little more dry. Was yours out of the bottle or on tap? I prefer most beers on tap but Tank 7 is better from the bottle.

 

I've had it on tap and bottled. I don't necessarily remember one being sweeter than the other, but either way I'm not a fan.

 

Look into both Jester King and Wicked Weed. They make some pretty tasty stuff!

 

Upright barrel aged flora rustica is freaking phenomenal

Upright Saison Du Blodget is also fantastic

Upright Special Herbs is quite ridiculous

They are classified as "wild ales" but Ale Apothecary La Tache, Sahati, and Sahalie are all super good.

Any of the Logsdon Saisons are solid offerings as well

 

Thanks for intel. I went to Boulevard's website and here are the only Boulevard's I've seen on shelves in bottle shops in Frederick MD county ..Two from the year round offerings 80-Acre (sparce), Unfiltered Wheat. Zero seasonals at all. 5 from the Smokestack series...Dark Truth, Double Wide IPA, LST, Sixth Glass and Tank 7. I've seen these Smokestacks in 4 packs and big bottles very frequently...actually even more frequent than the 2 year around brews. That's about it

 

If you're near Philly you have to check out Tired Hands in Ardmore. They make some excellent saisons and world class beer all around.

 

Goose Island Sofie
DFH Saison du buff
Tank 7