Must try Wild Ales?

scratch brewing
white rooster
perennial(just as good as side project if not better. get at me)

 

I can believe no one has mentioned Almanac in SF. You can hit Rare Barrel, RR, and Almanac in the same trip.

 

Echoing many sentiments above, if you like fruited sours or sours that taste/smell exactly like a fruit (not just somewhat reminiscent) there is no better maker of said wild ales than degarde with a close second to j wakefield

 

Strange Roots aka Drai Laag if you find yourself in Pittsburgh.

 

Asheville, NC
- Burial Beer Co - Big focus on saisons, brett beer, and wild ales
- Zebulon Artisan Ales - Old world styles and sours
- Hi-Wire - A little bug of everything but they have a facility on the South Slope that focuses on sours.
- Fonta Flora (Morganton, NC) - Opening a farmhouse brewery soon. Focus on Saisons and spurs.
- Not to mention Sierra Nevada & New Belgium also have nice breweries that serve the east spurs.
- Lots of other good breweries including Green Man, Zillicoah, Bhramari, One World, and too many others to name.

 

Visited friends in Chicago last month. Bottle list from beer bar we went to had Rayon Vert on it. Couldn't quite believe it. Had to be a misprint. Bartender said that distributor told him the bottles had been sitting in a warehouse somewhere for years. RIP 2012, right? Anyway, had 3 bottles while there and got their last 4 to go. Still an amazing beer.

 

A real bitch to pour that one - no matter how slow you go. But always worth the aggravation.
Was it 2012? Wow, time is flying by me

 

Agreed, was going to say if you'll be in the New England area, go to OEC. A ton of fantastic Wild Ales.

 

Grimm Artisinal ales just opened in Brooklyn, if you're going to be in the NY area also. Fantastic Wild Ales when I visited last week.

 

Cool your. I did the "regular" your a few years back, after they moved to the new place. The tour guide was great. We did meet the brewer and sone others involved in brewing as well as Rod. We had four tasters for free. When the tour was over I asked our guide if we could see the coolship and she was quite excited that we asked and took us over and in. Much smaller than I imagined.

Overall a great informative tour. Just wish I was able to buy a draft to drink outside after the tour.

Enjoy

 

Casey's Brewing in Colorado makes excellent wild ales, but you have to book a tour or tasting ahead of time to try their beer or buy to-go bottles.

Ale Apothecary and Side Project have come up quite a lot, but I support it. Every Ale Apothecary beer I've had has been so well refined.

Crane Brewing is turning out some great sours.

 

They've changed things up a bit. You can buy beer outside of the tour now. I believe with the tour you still get a free flight but then you can buy additional beer from there. I went back in April and did not do the tour and I could buy a beer anyways. I'm hoping to do the regular tour this summer some time.

 

Lots of great recommendations already. I guess I will second and third (and fourth) many of them. It's a long list, so I won't expound on any in detail. Suffice to say, if I am mentioning them here, they're great in my opinion. I have bolded must-must-hits. Make sure you do your homework to whittle it down and more importantly check hours (lots of these places have awful hours as you mentioned with Jester King).

Anchorage Brewing in Anchorage, AK
Holy Mountain in Seattle, WA
De Garde in Tillamook, OR
Cascade and Upright in Portland, OR
pFriem, Logsdon, and Double Mountain in Hood River, OR
Ale Apothecary and Crux in Bend, OR
Russian River in Santa Rosa, CA
The Rare Barrel in Berkeley, CA
Firestone Walker in Paso Robles, CA
Sante Adairius in Capitola, CA
The Bruery in Placentia, CA
Beachwood Blendery in Long Beach, CA
Black Project and Crooked Stave in Denver, CO
Casey in Glenwood Springs, CO
Side Project in Maplewood, MO
Perennial in St. Louis, MO
Prairie and American Solera in Tulsa, OK
Jester King in Austin, TX
Fair State in Minneapolis, MN
Funk Factory Geuzeria in Madison, WI
New Glarus in New Glarus, WI
Dovetail, Off Color, Half Acre, and Goose Island in Chicago, IL
Penrose in Geneva, IL
White Rooster in Sparta, IL
Scratch in Ava, IL
Speciation in Comstock Park, MI
Transient in Bridgman, MI
Jolly Pumpkin in Dexter, MI
Central State in Indianapolis, IN
Jackie O's in Athens, OH
Bullfrog in Williamsport, PA
Tired Hands in Ardmore, PA
Fermentory Form in Philadelphia, PA
Hill Farmstead in Greensboro Bend, VT
Suarez in Hudson, NY
Grimm in Brooklyn, NY
Plan Bee in Poughkeepsie, NY
Oxbow and Allagash in Portland, ME
OEC in Oxford, CT
Mystic, Chelsea, MA
Burley Oak in Berlin, MD
Zebulon in Weaverville, NC
Wicked Weed in Asheville, NC
Fonta Flora in Morganton, NC
Orpheus in Atlanta, GA
Saint Somewhere in Tarpon Springs, FL

I probably missed some breweries, especially smaller ones. Some popular ones I omitted because I personally don't stand behind their beer. Hope this helps.

 

Crooked Stave should be bolded. It's a must-must-hit.

 

Ale Apothecary comes to mind. I have not had anything from them but I will make the trip one of these days. Also have recently been hearing terrific things about Plan Bee Farm brewery.

 

Jolly Pumpkin and Russian River

 

FV13

 

Not my style, the wild ales I've tried I didn't like, but I do have a question; How in the world does any Brewer maintain any type on consistency given the nature of using the wild yeast? Seems like that is a real wild car and very difficult to control to any degree.

 

If you're in Indiana make sure you try Une Anne, their stuff is easy to get and is all very good. If you're going to trade make sure to put de garde at the top of your list everything from them is awesome.