It's remarkable how quickly the craft-beer landscape is shifting, and no style is a better example of that than saison. Armed with multiple yeast and bacteria strains that produce shockingly bright and unexpected flavors, this new American school of brewers is unabashedly redefining this Old World style.
Our favorites in this evolving category start with Cellarman from Sante Adairius Rustic Ales (Capitola, California). With a punchy citrus-like tartness, mild bitterness, and bright expressive yeast character, it’s a perfect example of how American brewers have made the style their own.
Apex Predator from Off Color Brewing (Chicago, Illinois) eschews the mixed-fermentation approach for a more traditional Saccharomyces approach, but the light-handed approach to malt and hops combined with some fermentation magic yield a saison that is among the most delicately drinkable we’ve tasted all year.
Casey Brewing and Blending (Glenwood Springs, Colorado) has been making a name for themselves with their mixed-culture saisons and wild beers, but the most exciting thing we’ve tasted from them is their Fruit Stand series of saisons with added locally grown Colorado fruit (cherries, blackberries, apricots, and more). The tart acidity rivals beers other brewers might call “sour,” blurring style lines in a delicious way.
The citrus flavor explosion of DeGarde Brewing's (Tillamook, Oregon) Saison Quatrieme (and others in the numerical series) takes the balanced restraint of other mixed-fermentation tart saisons and turns it up one louder. Subtlety be damned as orange, grapefruit, and lemon notes explode in your mouth with every sip. It’s unhinged in the best and most rewarding of ways.
We’d be remiss to not include the contemporary inspiration for much of this saison resurgence, Hill Farmstead Brewery (Greensboro Bend, Vermont). While almost all of their vast array of saison offerings deserve recognition, the underlying sweetness and mild citrus notes of Anna (brewed with wildflower honey) make it one of our favorites. One glass of Anna might have you scouring the trading groups to land a rare bottle of Ann, the wine barrel–aged version of Anna.