A Summer of Saisons

This will be my first blog confession… I am an absolute whore for meaningless goals.  If I get behind an objective, I will stop at nothing to see it through to completion.  It doesn’t matter how stupid it is.  As long as I’m committed, I can’t be stopped.  This trait has played out well for me professionally, and it has also encouraged me to have a lot of very cool personal experiences.  I intend to document one of these meaningless goals today.

I have always appreciated Saisons, and last May I decided that I wanted to brew one.  Wanting to do a little commercial research before I assembled my first recipe, I took a look at the lists of the most frequently and highly reviewed Saisons on BeerAdvocate and was surprised to see how few of them I’ve actually had.  At that point an objective started to germinate; I was going to try 30 new Saisons over the summer.  If I go from June to August, that’s approximately one new Saison every three days.  It felt kind of lofty at the start, but I started hammering away at it quickly and ended up overshooting my mark by a few pints.

So 90 days later, and with a liver full of Saisons, what have I learned?  Well, I can say with 100% certainty that I absolutely love the style.  I can’t resist the aggressive, estery nose, the dry finish, the heavy carbonation, and the refreshing bite.  It was a perfect choice for my summer.  I crave the clove, the lemon, and the cider flavors I generally find hidden in my glass.  I also appreciate the range in the style characteristics.  I can truly say that no two beers I had were alike. 

Throughout this project, I tried to keep up with tasting notes.  Sometimes these ended up being a full review, and sometimes they were just a numerical value (1 to 5).  But none of these fallen soldiers have gone forgotten.  With that said, I think I would like to share with you my very own top-ten list from my “Summer of Saisons”. 

Please keep in mind that this list is only comprehensive to the point of what I’ve consumed over the past three months…

1. Prairie Artesian Ales (Krebs, Oklahoma) – Funky Galaxy
2. Saint Somewhere  (Tarpon Springs, Florida) – Patte de Singe
3. The Bruery (Placentia, California) – Saison Tonnellerie
4. Prairie Artesian Ales (Krebs Oklahoma) – Prairie Hop
5. Funkwerks (Fort Collins, Colorado) – Saison D’Brett
6. Brasserie Dupont (Tourpes, Belgium) – Saison Dupont
7. Goose Island (Chicago, Illinois) – Sofie Paradisi
8. Epic Brewing (Salt Lake City, Utah) – Sour Apple Saison
9. Pretty Things Beer & Ale Project (Cambridge, Massachusetts) – Jack D’Or
10. Ladyface Ale Companie (Agoura Hills, California) – La Grisette

Prairie Artesian Ales came out of nowhere for me and has completely blew my mind.  I want to drink everything they ever make going forward.  The Bruery’s Saison was amazing, but I kind of expected that.  I also fell in love with Funkwerks this summer.  I can’t wait to get back to Fort Collins and dig deep into their cooler.  And the cork from Saint Somewhere’s Patte de Singe almost lodged itself in my forehead, but the beer that forced it out was remarkable.

Clearly I have a domestic bias, but I suppose you’ll find that present throughout this blog.  Perhaps I can discuss that later.

There were also some “lowlights” that may be worth mentioning on this list.

I heard an interview with the brewers at Anchor (San Francisco, California) where they talked about their “Zymaster” series.  They noted that they did not pilot brew their stout before putting it into production.  I fear that’s what happened with their fourth addition, Fort Ross.  I’m assuming they thought they had it figured out on paper, but the end result was too dark, under-carbonated, and probably a little too bitter.  I was also very disappointed with the Lost Abbey (San Marcos, California) and Maui Brewing (Lahaina, Hawaii) collaboration, Lemongrass Saison.  If anybody should be able to brew a Saison it’s Lost Abbey, but someone something got lost in the translation to cans.

I also had packaging disappointments with a couple.  My bottle of the Smuttynose (Portsmouth, New Hampshire) Farmhouse Ale (from their Big Beer Series) was severely skunked, and I did not realize how old it was until after I was done.  What I assumed were awful “farmhouse” flavors, was actually the result of being bottled in 2011.  I’d like to try a fresher version of that one. 

I was also very let down with my bottle of Fantome Saison from Brasserie Fantome (Soy, Belgium).  The crown came off, the cork popped out, and nearly three-quarters of the bottle followed it.  I spent $16 for what ended up being about three ounces of beer.  It was a nice three ounces, but it only reaffirmed to my affinity for domestic beer. 

Anyway, thus concludes my “Summer of Saisons”.  I really enjoyed the focused effort and I think I might do it again in the fall with a different style.  I’m still trying to pin down which one I’m going to target, but I suppose it’ll end up here once I do.

-Matt