If you're not into Brett funk, but like saisons, I can see how you might not be blown away by Saison Brett. With a couple of years for the Brett to work, that stuff is sublime (in my opinion, of course).

Yea....I've had two 2012 bottles in the last month or so. Just wonderful.

I had 11, 12 and 13 vintages of it last year for my birthday and the 11 blew everyone away. The balance between the funk and the base beer was just about perfect.

Are there still some bottles out in the world to be found?

Spec's in Houston had a few bottles of 2012 left a little over a month ago. Not sure about the KC area. Also, those bottles in Houston won't be there more than a few weeks. I'm headed that way and will be buying what's left.

Heh. Talk about subjectivity. I love Saisons so much I'm writing a book on them, but I HATE Hennepin.

I thought Hennepin had a super weird taste for a Saison. I only tried it once though. I've got one more bottle. Maybe it will change my opinion.

Btw, when I asked y'all about recommendations for my non beer buddy that loved Tank 7. You mentioned a few names. Of those, my wife got her hands on Stones Matts Burning Rosids and Firestone Walker Opal. I'll be sharing those with him over the next couple weeks. Thanks man!

Saison is my favorite beer style by far. I have 5gal fermenting and it will probably be pretty average for a Saison and I will still enjoy drinking it and working on the next one.

Whats your #1?

Whoa, high bar there. :)

No doubt a subjective claim by me, but I feel vindicated that Beer Advocate backs it. Obviously this doesn't mean much, but it says that I'm not completely crazy in terms of my personal ratings.

My homebrew

Irish Red Ale
http://thumbnails110.imagebam.com/32...6322371672.jpg

I know that you asked Reaper specifically, but I've been absolutely blown away by several different new (to me) Saisons lately.

Hill Farmstead's Arthur http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/22511/62282/
Epic's Elder Brett http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/22893/77859/
Logsdon Farm's Seizoen Bretta http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/25710/69702/.

They all had an element of funk from Brett, but all were different and spectacular in their own way.

i will buy that book

I like Saison Brett so these may be up my alley.

Good info I will look around for some of these. I'm going to OKC this weekend and plan to search around for some new brews.

I'm assuming you've had all the Prairie Artisan Ale Saisons?

Nope but that's top of my list.

Hill Farmstead Arthur. I know - the hype behind that brewery - but I truly believe that Hill Farmstead is making the best farmhouse ales in the world.

I agree. Arthur is outstanding.

Have you had a chance to try any of the new Saisons that Cory King is putting out via Side Project? Wine barrel aged and funky as all get out.

Get on it. Prairie is putting out some top notch stuff. Puncheon, Merica and Prairie Somewhere all blew me away. As far as stouts go, BOMB! and Vanilla Noir were both very tasty as well.

I haven't yet been able to try any Side Project stuff, though obviously I really want to. I have almost no ammo here in Alabama to trade for in-demand stuff. I might be moving to Philly this summer, in which case I can trade Tired Hands growlers for damn near anything.

I need to get to STL and interview Cory.

Oh man, Saison du Fermier, Saison du Ble, Saison de Rouge, the list goes on and on....those are just the ones that I've tried and they were all fantastic.

Prepare though, the hype machine is in full force for Side Project's stuff; he just put out a peach sour that people are trading unreal hauls for.

So if I can only pick a few bottles of Prairie Artisan stuff, what must I absolutely get?

I am planning to spend around $100 but my understanding is that wont get a whole lot.

Oh I know all about what Side Project bottles go for on the trade boards. I have no ability to land anything. My friend Abbas is moving to STL in about a month, and I'm going to make him be my mule during bottle release days.

Any of their farmhouse ales, and Bomb (if you like imperial stouts w/ chilies & chocolate & etc added). My favorite Prairie farmhouse ale has been Eliza5beth.

Thanks for the info, I had that one on my list.

I've seen the Prairie House stuff here in DFW for awhile. I'll have to give it a try based on this thread now.

Any of you KC guys struggling to get Bell's Two Hearted Ale?

Stores here are completely out and claim that there's a possibility it will no longer be distributed to Missouri. Had to drive 30 minutes into Illinois to get some.

It's worth it on it's own, but found out that Dogfish Head distributes into Illinois. Picked up some 90 Minute IPA - had never been able to try it. Tasty.

Anything else from Dogfish I should check out?

90 minute is a quality IPA.

As far as other Dogfish head beers.....I've heard the Indian Brown Ale, Burton Baton, 120 minute IPA, and Palo Santo Marron are all great.

Yeah, I'm pretty fond of it. Makes the hour round trip and the $40 for a combo case of Two Hearted and 90 minute worth it.

As particular as you guys are here should really get you guys into home brewing... The hobby is fairly cheap and you can produce some quality beers of your own

I'm having a Frambios right now. I love the dry sourness that delivers surprising complexity. I don't drink them often, but they are a nice treat.

I'm not patient enough, and I know I wouldn't be able to make anything I like more than Bells, Lagunitas, Schafly or Dogfish.

Basically this.

Sampled my first big batch earlier and it's coming along well... a stout with bourbon soaked oak chips, and threw in some coffee today.

The patience thing is definitely an issue, at least until I get a bit of a pipeline going... started it three weeks ago and it has at least another couple weeks before bottling.

Definitely an interesting hobby and at ~$50 for ingredients, it comes out to about $1 per 12oz after the initial ~$200 for equipment... well, and maybe other stuff eventually. :D

Just finished bottle conditioning my first homebrew , it was an Irish red and pretty tasty ! Especially for my first time.

As far as beer to try before you die. That list begins and ends with Augustiner Lagerbier Helles! The stuff I can only get in München!

http://www.bier-index.de/images/prod...rbier-hell.jpg

Is Two Hearted a year round release? Or is it seasonal? I only ask because I never see it in the Spec's warehouse in Houston. They usually have a really good selection from around the country. It may be as simple as Bells not distributing this far south.

Damn....just read that Bells doesn't distribute to Texas or any of its surrounding states.

Yup... If you can make a box of macaroni and cheese you can make beer... Clean/Sanitized equipment and a good thermometer is about the hardest part...

I prefer the 22oz bottles over the 12 ozers, I have even found good success with those plastic PET bottles...

I like Ales.. Mainly Irish Red Ales ...

My red is lighter in color than the homebrew in your pic. Did you use a secondary? I moved it over to the carboy to help with clarity.

I am one of those guys that don't believe in the secondary.. It's just one more step to mess up your beer(in my personal opinion) Lots of people like to use a secondary and alot of people don't... If you do, more power to you. I have been home brewing on and off since the early 90's and I have never felt the need to do so. But it will make the beer clearer .

3 weeks in the primary works wonderful to me, I make it the same way every time and it produces a beer I like to drink so I just don't mess with the system.

Okay, I only did it because it was my very first homebrew and I wanted to be able to gauge the difference between doing a secondary or not. This next batch will be solely primary like you mentioned. The most difficult part for me was bottling and not because it a difficult process or anything. It just sucked doing it in my kitchen with no extra pair of hands. I need to work on my efficiency so I spill/waste less. And capping was tedious lol. Small price to pay for less than 50 cents a beer for something that tastes much better than keystone/old Milwaukee ( or anything else from the store at that price point )

Go to Walmart and get a 5 gallon bucket for about 3 bucks then find you a bottling spigot on amazon for maybe 5 bucks

My primary has a valve on it so I usually turn the valve on and use a dinner plate to let the beer coming out of the primary to deflect off of to prevent over foaming in the bottling bucket...

I have a stand up bottle capper but I also have reusable PET plastic bottles that work great, even reuse your caps... Also another great reason to use plastic is you can determine your carbonation level easier by the firmness of the bottle.

I am not a smoked bacon beer or any crazy flavored beer guy, I am mainly an Ale maker and Irish Guiness clone maker .. I don't make clones for American beers because they are so cheap already I just pick that up locally.

i buy ingredient kits from Midwest Supplies or Norther Brewer and locally.

Your best bet is to buy locally from a beer shop that grinds your grains as soon as you buy your kit... Another big big tip to produce good beer is to get that wort chilled to yeast pitch temp ASAP...

My next step will be kegging , at that time I may experiment with a secondary fermenter...

Kegging is the way to go because there is no bottling and no priming needed..

If I can give you but one piece of advice I would say to make sure you sanitize everything that touches your beer.. I use star san then I put all the bottles in the dishwasher on sanitize mode right before bottling

It's a fun hobby... The yeast does all of the hard work :thumb:

Experiment with table sugar for priming.... Get a box of Domino Dots sugar cubes, I put 1 dot (1/2 teaspoon) per bottle and always have great carbonation.. Don't over prime, you will produce bottle bombs if you do

I got my Irish red kit from midwest supplies :). I'm using them for another Irish red and my wife wants. Me to try the apple ale.

I just did a big porter and used oak blocks cut from JD barrel slats and some Tennessee Honey tossed in. Bottled it about a month ago and have it in the cellar waiting until Fall.

I'm thinking of buying an oak barrel as well. The barrel isn't that big of deal but. You really need to season it with something. I like the sherry barrel aged stuff so I will probably try to go that route.

I've mad probably 15 batches of beer in the last year and have been mainly kegging for a year. It's much easier than bottling. Nothing like having your own beer on tap.

Put an old fridge in the garage , take out the shelves and drill holes for the taps in the door.:thumb:

Marcellus , what is the best for the kegs? The pin lock or the ball lock? Where is the best place online to buy a turn key setup (minus co2 of course)

I sent you a PM so this thread doesn't get too derailed.

Yeah, I have some plastic bottles from Mr Beer, but I'm saving my 22oz bottles, since it's less work on bottling day and it's normally what I drink anyway.

I had read and heard some discussion on chilling, but had no idea what kind of challenge it was until I did it.... took about 30 minutes with an ice bath and adding pre-boild/cooled water just to get it down to 80 degrees. My cousin made his own chiller and said it takes him about 15 minutes, so I'll be making or investing in one of those.

I'm thinking about buying an oak barrel, pouring a bottle of bourbon into it, then rotating it for a few weeks... and since there's more surface area in contact with the beer, I don't think it would very long at all.

I didn't get much bourbon or oak flavor when I tried it yesterday and it has been about 10 days... a little surprised there wasn't more of those flavors, but the instructions said 2-4 weeks, so it wasn't totally unexpected.

I brought in a recent haul of:

Boulevard Saison-Brett 2014, plus their new sampler packs with their ginger-lemon radler and ESB.
Parodox Beer Co. Skully no. 5 (American Wild Ale, Woodland Park,CO)
Sanitas Saison (Boulder, CO)

I don't know much about the CO beers, unfortunately I'm carb free until Memorial Day so they have to wait.

The Lemon Ginger Radler is amazing.

Ugh. I can back to KC just a little too late. Can't find Saison Brett anywhere. Any hail Mary ideas? Anyone find some recently?

I saw them at Trader Joe's on Sat. Call around to some smaller liquor stores in Kansas. I have a Milwaukee's Best demographic store near my work that will have limited releases for weeks.

Isn't radler like half beer half lemonade or something? The Germans would laugh and say its a drink for women and they were the ones who told me its like half beer half lemonade. While in Munchen, last year I had my wife go to grab me some beer from the vending machine and she said they were out of the good stuff and got me a Radler. What a waste of perfectly good Euro cents. Hopefully, whatever your drinking was NOT what I had in Germany.

I can't imagine that it would all that hard to find. Just hit all the smaller craft stores. I will keep my eyes out here in Lee's Summit and let you know if I see any.

That's shandy. Radler is a mix of beer and flavored soda pop.

Sounds yummy

I'm looking forward to drinking Boulevard's lemon-ginger radler. But until I can acquire some, my go to is this:

http://www.bineandvine.com/shop/imag...adler-can.jpg/

It's just plain delicious. An undeniable summer quaffer.

Boulevard's Ginger-Lemon Radler is excellent. I've been drinking it for a while; it was on in the tasting room for the last few months and I was fortunate enough to be given quite a few of the test batch versions in bottles. Great, easy summer drinker.

Is the Boulevard lemon ginger radler in stores now? I'll have to try it.

Yeah. It's only in the new Boulevard mixed 12 packs.

I had this recently at the Royals/Padres game in San Diego. It's a local brew and holy crap was it good! Rated 93 (Outstanding) on Beer Advocate.

http://www.greenflashbrew.com/images...y832604415.jpg

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/2743/45175/

Palate Wrecker has been talked about here before, so I won't bother really getting into it other than to say that I'm a bit surprised it is sold at a ball game.

They had one concession stand that sold a shit-ton of local brews. Pretty cool really. Although it was $15.95 for a 22 oz. bottle. :eek:

That's definitely part of what surprised me. I think they retail around $6.99 for 22. I'm also surprised they sell such high abv beer. I guess it shouldn't surprise me since stadiums have been selling watered down margaritas and such for awhile now.

Did just that. I tracked down 3 today. Only one of mine that wasn't the last one was lions gate at 144th and Metcalf. I did tons of calling

Cool. I sent you a pm about a place in Olathe that had 3 of them. Maybe you already found it.

Any of you guys on BeerAdvocate.com, Untapp'd, etc.? Some of you guys have a lot of knowledge and experience with beer. Would love to see what you're drinking and how you're rating it.

I'm on Untapp'd and my username is TimBone64. Anybody who's on there, hit me up with a friend request or just post your username here.

If you drink this batch of Boss Tom's, don't trust your farts the next day. I don't think I'll be buying any more of the Boss Tom. It's good but for the money, I'll drink Shiner and keep my drawers dry.

With so much Saison talk, figured I'd drop this here...

Boulevard Honors Sporting Kansas City’s Historic Victory with Championship Ale

I think you need to see a doctor. ROFL

ISO: two bottles of this

Ditto.

Badass. If someone can pick me up a bottle or two, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Sad it's not the chiefs or royals
Posted via Mobile Device

Oh, and I'm just about addicted to Dogfish Head's 90 Minute IPA.

Which is a kick in the balls because it's $11 a four-pack and a hour drive round trip to pick it up.

And that's not a knock on sporting zach
Posted via Mobile Device

Kansas City Chiefs One-and-Done Ale

20 years in the making.

Boulevard are regarded as an old-guard craft brewery. It was in the first wave of Midwestern craft breweries. It is practically an institution.

And neither the Chiefs or Royals have won a championship in the entire life of Boulevard Brewing Company for Boulevard to have given those franchises a tribute beer. So, yeah, I totally get what you mean, Sauto. It IS sad.