Strangest thing you've put in a Saison

Lime, Smoked Pumpkin, Cranberries, Brett, and Winter Spices, have been some things I've done. Cranberry works especially well. I love bastardizing Saisons. They take flavor so well IMO.

 

I've done oats, blueberries, brett, wheat, nothing too crazy. I like dryhopping them though. Dryhops really play well with brett saisons.

 

Lemon zest and crushed peppercorns for a lemon pepper saison...was pretty tasty.

 

Mango's and Oranges... I liked the play with a acid on the 3711 backdrop.

 

I a have split my first saison into 3 small batches. pineapple, rhubarb and whisky barrel chips. still waiting to try them.

 

pilsner malt and hops

 

I've done plenty, but probably the strangest I've done is adding lavender, black cardamom, and fermenting on red wine-soaked oak cubes. That's one of my favorite beers I've done to date.

Another favorite of mine is a pilsner, wheat, and rye saison with Sorachi Ace and lime zest with Brett C. I'm going to do that again soon and age a portion of it with gin-soaked oak cubes.

I agree with others that it's such a versatile style, and it's interesting to see what different additions can add in varying amounts. I'm a huge proponent of splitting batches between fruits, spices, yeasts, bugs, etc. with saisons.

Other things I've added to saisons include raspberries, blackberries, peaches, strawberries, white wine-soaked oak cubes, Meyer lemon zest, Satsuma mandarin zest, blood orange zest, clementine zest, rose hips, grains of paradise, etc.

 

Subtle but really well. I get a lot of lemon from some Saisons, so I figured lime would work, and it did.

 

Dandelions. I definitely skimped on the amount of dandelions used. I will be attempting this one again in the spring.

 

I definitely want to try this in the spring as well. Since I figure I might only get one chance, I'll probably do a 10-gallon batch, using dandelions for half. I'll overestimate and then blend back the "clean" half as necessary.

 

Black cardamom (in a dark saison with dark belgian candi sugar & midnight wheat).

 

I think my next one is gonna be grapefruit and sorachi ace hops after reading this thread.

 

I'm not crazy about Saisons but this has me wanting to toss one on deck during a double brew weekend soon for the spring.

Maybe a berliner, and a pilsner, and then a saison.

I'm thinking using some Nelson like I did in the past, using some good sour local GA peaches, and then aging it on some white wine soaked oak cubes for a little bit... That could be fucking great.

 

where do you want me to start?

 

I'll be the lone dissenting voice here I guess. I think that saison yeast strains are very complex on their own, and shine best with simple grain and hop bills. My favorite examples of the style (commercial or homebrew) don't feature any "weird" additions.

 

Hibiscus and brett. Not so adventurous as some, but it won its category in a couple of large competitions. If you've ever wanted to make a pink beer...