Sour Saisons

I have to go with cfrances on this one....personally didn't find Saison Rue sour at all.

 

+1 Boulevard Saison-Brett...although sour isn't my first thought on this one.

 

Dry & funky is not sour.

 

Below is the description in the Notes section for the BA review of Allagash Interlude:

“Two yeast strains were used to create this unique 9.5% ABV Belgian style ale. The first, a Belgian farmhouse yeast, establishes the flavor foundations of a classic Belgian-style ale. The second, a house strain of Brettanomyces yeast, brings it to the next level contributing an intriguing myriad of flavors including pear, apricot, graham cracker, and bread crust. Finally, a portion of the Interlude is aged in French Merlot and Sirah oak barrels, which impart a distinctive vinous plum character and a drying, almost tannic finish.”

I personally have not had Interlude but I find the above description interesting. Firstly, the word “sour” is not used at all. Maybe the “tannic finish” can be perceived as “sour”?

I was also fascinated by the flavors attributed to the Allagash house Brett strain: “an intriguing myriad of flavors including pear, apricot, graham cracker, and bread crust.” I have homebrewed using Brett (along with a ‘regular’ Belgian ale yeast strain). My homebrewed beers are extremely funky (in a barnyard sense). It appears that the Allagash Brett strain is not a funky strain.

I will have to try Allagash Interlude someday; that beer ‘reads’ as an intriguing beer!

Cheers!

 

So many wants in this thread!
Also convinced me to try Sofie again.

 

Anchorage brewing Tides and its takers and Love Buzz.

 

The Anchorage Love Buzz saison is fanastic. Even some of his non-saisons are very saison'y (bottled with brett and aged in wine barrels).

Also if you have a Quebecois trader, Le Trou du Diable makes some very interesting saisons.

 

Grassroots Sankt Hans deserves a better score than it currently has, and is an excellent tart Saison.

 

CCB Guava Grove is fantastic.

 

Agreed. Solid brew, but I wouldn't call it sour.

 

Do it, you'll wonder why you don't drink it more often. Also, 1 year old Sofie > current vintage Sofie

 

I've made that statement for the last three years. Sofie with a year on it is a beautiful thing, same thing Matilda does after a year or so, just gets better.

 

if that is tart then some of their 'saisons' are full blown sours.

 

I opened a HF Anna on Sunday (in bottle probably 6 months) that had a slight tartness. Nowhere near Flora, or even Vera Mae (this year's), but it was damn nice.

 

Logsdon Soezon Bretta (sp?) was nice. It made me want to try more of their beers.

 

I opened an Anna NYE and thought the same.
Actually, every HF saison has gotten significantly better (to me) with 3-6 months on it.They seem to take on a bit more tartness and the rest of the flavors really come together.
Not a huge fan of anything other than Arthur fresh.

Curious how the latest batch of Arthur is in a few months since it is significantly less tart from the get go.

 

Hoping the same Jeff! Haven't had Anna in a while and I'll have to soon. Wish I had more Vera, probably their best standard lineup beer if you ask me!

 

Bitter Monk is another fantastic one that could pass for a saison with some age.

Dulcis Succubus really surprised me the first time I had it. Tart and delicious.

 

Batch 4 coincided with the release of BoT. Batch 3 was on the shelf from late summer up until mid-novemberish. I know that batch 4 spent some time in 500L French Oak Puncheons. I heard (not sure on this) that it was also dry hopped.

 

Two that stand out in my mind are Logsdon's Peche 'n Brett and McKenzie's Saison Vautour Du Bois (which I think was shared by Immobilisme when I tried it).