while it doesn't necessarily rank with a lot of the awesome beers listed in here....it IS pretty good. I loved it the first time I had it on tap. then bought it bottled and it was TERRIBLE. I recently discovered it comes in cans with a nitro widget in there to give you that creamy draft texture. pretty damn good!
http://france44.com/media/catalog/pr...e_4_cans_4.gif

Hopefully Hair of the Dog is on your list. Fantastic brewer.

http://www.hairofthedog.com/

If you ever see this one from Anchorage Brewing, get it. It's one of the best brews I've ever tried.

http://fifthseasongardening.com/wp-c...-White-IPA.jpg

Oh yes. Thanks, man. Adding it to the wish list.

KC locals, do yourselves a favor, head to Martin City Brewing Company and have a fresh beer.

The wife and I are splitting a growler of their bourbon barrel aged Porter and it's just fantastic, so much coconut and vanilla from the barrels.

Spent yesterday at 2nd Shift Brewing in New Haven, MO. I brought home:

Growlers:
LSD
Katy

Bombers:
Art Of Neurosis
Hibiscus Wit
Albino Pygmy Puma
Brew Cocky

After our tasting, I walked back to brew house and they let me hang out and chat for a bit. I was surprised that they are just a 2 person operation, brew and bottling. They (Steve) hooked me up with a bottle of Grace (unreleased American Wild Ale), a couple 2nd Shift glasses and some stickers. They were in there busting their asses. He said him and his girl work 7 days a week, 12-15 hrs a day and they break even. Super cool people with plus to great beers. Definitely hope to see more of them available in KC.

On a side note, 2nd Shift rents it's building on the property of a resort/retreat outside New Haven. Not knowing anything about it, I stayed the night there. No joke, they were hosting a ****ing ukulele festival on the property. 60 ukulele players from around the country were there. I've experienced some bizarre shit in my life, but getting buzzed on 2nd Shift beers while watching a ukulele open mic jam session is definitely up there. It was like the PBS American Idol.

That is fantastic!

Men's Journal releases their 10 best saisons on the planet list. I hate the way they format their lists, but I'll try to condense it:
http://www.mensjournal.com/expert-ad...lanet-20140212
Brasserie Dupont's Saison Veille Provision
Brasserie De Blaugies' Saison D'Epeautre
Funkwerks' Nelson Sauvign
Hill Farmstead's Arthur
Ommegang's Hennepin
Upright Brewing Company's Four
Boulevard Brewing Company's Tank 7
The Bruery Saison Rue
Crooked Stave Artisan Brewing Project - Surrette Sour
Brooklyn Brewery Sorachi Ace

Arthur deserves all the hype. It's my favorite on that list by a long shot. And yes, I've tried all of them.

Heh. The writeup on Arthur is funny in the article. The brewmaster said, "Why do we only have one beer on the list?"

Thanks for the list. I've only tried four of them, but I've been looking for some of the others, including Arthur.

Honestly though, I'd replace Hennepin with Saison-Brett.

That's not really a surprise coming from Shawn Hill. To be fair though, everything I've tried from Hill Farmstead has been top notch.

From that list only Saison Dupont, Hill Farmstead Arthur, and Brasserie de Blaugies Saison d'Epeautre are actual top 10 saisons.

I'd like to see your list, Reaper. Not to criticize it, just to see what I should be looking for as a new fan of saisons.

Without really thinking about it too hard, unranked:

Hill Farmstead Arthur
Hill Farmstead E.
Hill Farmstead Ann
Blaugies Saison d'Epeautre
Saison Dupont
Fantome Saison
Fantome Ete
Tired Hands HandFarm
Sante Adarius Rustic Ales Saison Bernice
Boulevard Saison-Brett

I've only had two of those. The Dupont, and the Saison-Brett. I've always been on the lookout for the Hill Farmstead stuff, but it being from Vermont and extremely limited, I've never seen it this far south. Thanks for the list.

Hill Farmstead bottles are ONLY sold at Hill Farmstead. Kegs are only sold in Vermont. Well, a few kegs get out to NYC and Philly a couple times a year.

Reaper, I'd be interested to see if any of Side Project's saisons would make your list.

I'd be interested too. Very, very, very interested. Because I haven't had any.

Let me know when you're in KC next, I can try to work something out.

This local brew pub, Lost Rhino, is around a mile from my home. Really good IPA and dark Belgian style brown just had last night.

http://www.lostrhino.com/

http://images.besprouttech.com/image...0312153058.png

http://images.besprouttech.com/image...0312153121.png

Down in Florida for vacation and got to try two new beers for me:

Bell's Two Hearted Ale (very good, obviously).
Dogfish Head Saison Du Buff (I loved this beer).

Also picked up 90 minute IPA, but I've had it before.

Glad you finally got a taste of of Two Hearted.

If I had to pick one beer to drink for the rest of my life, that's the one.

I've got to try it. It's definitely on the pick up list next time I'm in KC.

Where do you live? You may not need to get to KC to find some.

I'm in Louisiana, right next to the Texas border. When you mentioned it last time, I went to their website to check distribution. They don't distribute to Texas or Louisiana.

Fuuuuuuuuuuuu.

And I'm assuming you can't get it in Arkansas, or NewPhin would have tried it by now.

fwiw, fyi, psa, and a few other acronyms, http://www.seekabrew.com/distro/index.html is a pretty cool tool for finding beer.

I've honestly not looked into Arkansas. That's a ways away for me. I'm about 2 1/2 hours from Houston. The selection there is awesome enough to keep me busy until I can make it back up to KC. It even gives me something else to look forward to when I head up there.

Thats an awesome link. Thanks, man. According to that Bell's dosen't distribute to Arkansas or Mississippi either.

Two other things I noticed. Boulevard doesn't distribute to Kentucky which is just next door. My buddy there says they have some weird distribution laws in KY. Maybe thats the reason.

Also, Abita has a much larger distribution than I anticipated. It's all over the place down here, but it's made here in Louisiana. I'm surprised to see it's distributed to all but a few states. I don't find it to be high quality at all. do y'all see lots of it where you are?

Now drinking Back Forty Freckle Belly IPA. Pretty tasty.

So, I'm thinking of making a weekend trip up to Missouri for Training Camp. I'd like to also stock up on some good beer from the area. If I were to go, which beer stores in the area are the best overall? Which store has the biggest variety, and best selection of regional beers?

I'm not sure where you are coming from, but if you're passing through St. Louis then you'll be looking for either Randall's or Lukas.

Coming up from Louisiana through Arkansas. KC is really the only major city I hit.

Gomer's, Bubbles, and Red X on the Missouri side. Lukas Liquors in Overland Park, KS... I never shop for beer in OP/Olathe, so there are probably others in that area. Village West Liquors by Kansas Speedway has pretty good selection, but it's nothing to go out of your way for. The first 3 on the MO side are all within a 15-20 minute drive from each other in the Northland (there are a couple of Gomer's on the south side of the city, too).

If you're coming via Northwest Arkansas you should hit the macadoodle's at the ar/mo border in Bella vista.

I was going to recommend this. I was also going to recommend he pick some Prairie Artisan Ale beers.

http://prairieales.com/

Thanks for the input, guys. If I go, I'll hit those three that Bearcat mentioned. I'll also check out macadoodle's if Bella Vista is near my route.

It's on what is now known as I49. Formerly I540. Prior to that hwy. 71.

Yep, when I make the trip I come right up 71. Thanks for the heads up.

No problem. There are actually a couple of Macadoodle's in the area, and you'll see signs for them prior to getting to Missouri. Hold out for the Missouri one as their selections are the best thanks to Missouri having access to better distribution networks than Arkansas at the moment.

It is literally right at the AR/MO border on your left. There's a stop light there, so you shouldn't miss it.. but if you pass the huge Wal-Mart super center on your right after crossing into Missouri, you've gone too far.

They have a great craft beer selection, though it's kind of crowded thanks to their wine selection taking up half their square footage. I'm hoping they decide to dedicate some of their crazy wine section (two stories with multiple tasting stations) to craft beer in the near future.

Damn....sounds like a crazy wine selection. Maybe I'll pick up a bottle for the wife. Thanks again for all the tips. Rep when I get to my desktop.

I would recommend Lukas out in Martin City. It's a little off the beaten path, but the selection and competitive prices will more than make up for it. The place has a MASSIVE beer selection. Just all kinds of stuff.

My newest love is Blonde Fatale from Peace Tree. Just an unbelievable Belgian blonde.

Easy to get to from 71 re: his route to St Joe.

Yep, 5 miles west on MO 150.

http://www.greatlakesprep.com/wp-con...ession-IPA.jpg


had their pop-up for the first time...delicious...love this session trend

Reaper, I've got a question about saisons/farmhouse ales. Actually a couple. I originally set out to ask you this via pm, but I figured others might like to read your response as well.

They've quickly become my favorite type of beer. When I think Saison/Farmhouse Ale, I think of a golden color, but I've come across a few dark ones as well. One was so different that I didn't even realize it was a saison/farmhouse ale until I looked it up afterwards. My first question is this....what exactly classifies a beer as a saison/farmhouse ale? I know that they originated in Belgium as beers brewed in the winter months to serve to farm workers in the summer. Is that the only requirement, to be an ale brewed in winter in cooler temperatures?

I looked on Wiki and read that they have a very broad definition. I was hoping you could educate me a bit.

Also, my second question. Is there any difference at all between Saison and Farmhouse Ale? I'm under the impression that there is not a difference.

Thanks, bud.

That is actually a question so complex that it has taken me well over 100 pages in my book project to answer. I've been to Belgium to figure out the answer to this. I've pored over 130 year old brewing documents in French with Yvan de Baets from Brasserie de la Senne to figure out the answer to this. The answers I'm about to give are the shortest, cleanest ones that I can give, but know that there's more to it than this...

1.) Saison is an example of a Farmhouse Ale, but not all Farmhouse Ales are Saisons. Saison refers to a style brewed in the Hainut province of Wallonia (the French-speaking Southern region of Belgium). The other Farmhouse Ale styles are Biere de Garde (brewed in France; it is maltier, less hoppy, less bright: think apples, nuts, & must rather than Saison's stonefruit, hay, and funk) and Grisette (think beer brewed for miners rather than beer brewed for farm laborers; these are light & very hoppy, lacking Saison's historic funk & acidic aspects).

2.) You essentially have the basic story down: indeed Saisons were brewed in the winter to keep for the summer & harvest seasons so that saisoniers (seasonal farm workers) could drink something out in the fields. Most American brewers have taken Saison to be a wide-open style that they can experiment wildly with. This is because there isn't really a stylistic definition. We tend to think of Saison Dupont as the prototypical Saison: golden, hoppy, very fruity, earthy also, a bit phenolic too. So up until maybe 3 years ago I'd say 90% of American saisons were direct takes on Dupont, using the unique Dupont yeast strain. But Dupont isn't actually the prototype in Belgium; it was just the first saison to be imported to the U.S.

The majority of saisons throughout Belgian brewing history have essentially been amber ales. Farms tended to use whatever grain and whatever ingredients they had on hand, so a glass of Saison could vary dramatically from village to village, depending on what was growing in the area. Even more historically, Saisons were fermented with wild yeasts, so they were at least partly sour. American saison brewing is only recently (with Hill Farmstead & its followers, like Prairie, Crooked Stave, Sante Adarius, etc.) re-discovering that lactic sour edge that old saisons used to have. That edge kind of went away when Belgian brewing became more of a commercial thing than a necessary-for-sustenance-and-hydration thing, as unless you have expensive quality control...once you introduce wild yeasts & bacteria into your brewhouse basically every beer you brew is going to be sour.

If you want to taste THE most authentic Saisons then you should seek out Brasserie de Blaugies, imported by Shelton Bros. They are a small, small brewery a stone's throw from the French border, ran by a couple of school teachers, who only make farmhouse ales. Their La Moneuse is the archetypal amber saison, and their spelt saison (Saison d'Epeautre) is as stone-cold classic as anything Dupont makes.

There are no rules anymore. We're so far removed from the original cultural contexts in which the saison style arose. That word is slapped on anything that is dry & hoppy & fruity & funky (or at least tries to be) and there's nothing we can do about it. I would personally like to see a recognized difference between Saison and "American Farmhouse Ale," but I'm also a big proponent of label protections for all sorts of historic beers styles.

Hope all of this helps a bit.

Wonderful. You did not disappoint. The part about the sour edges being re-introduced into American brewing was definitely interesting. I have a Prairie Artisan Prairie Somewhere in the fridge right now that's labeled as a sour farmhouse ale. I've been hesitant to try it because sour isn't really my thing as far as beers. I'll break it open tomorrow to get a sense of the older farmhouse ales.

This part right here, I assume, would be why there has been such a broad definition, and why American brewers figured they could get wild with the experimentation.

I don't think the distinction of an American Farmhouse Ale is a bad idea at all.

Anyways, thanks for taking the time to lay that out. I knew you were writing something on the subject, and I'd love to read it when it's complete.

I'll also look into Brasserie de Blaugies.

One last question. I have not been much of a fan of the darker farmhouse ales. Is there one you would recommend?

I can't recall having a dark or black saison that has really impressed me. It's a weird take on the style that I don't get. I know that Hill Farmstead & Sante Adarius make a couple, but I'm not putting in the effort to trade for them. About the darkest I tolerate is a Fantome Hiver or Fantome de Noel, and those are just dark amber.

Wait, now that I'm thinking about it, I remember Stillwater's two dark saisons -- Exsistent and A Saison Darkly -- being pretty good. Not amazing, but tasty beers that blur between farmhouse ale and old-school porter.

Reaper,

How long would you cellar a bottle of Love Child? Just curious.

You could easily cellar a bottle of LC for 2-3 years. I have still bottles of Love Child 2 and 3 that I occasionally open and they're still fine.

I concur with phisherman. Theoretically they can last for a decade, but you'll probably reach the point of rapidly diminishing returns after 3 or 4 years.

Yea, I'm more looking for the sweet spot with them. I was listening to one of the Boulevard guys and he said that it doesn't need to be cellared that long because it's already been somewhat cellared.

The answer to that question is kind of a moving target. The mix of beers that make up any variant of Love Child all have been aged for varying degrees of time before they're blended into the finished product.

I actually have a good friend that is a brewer for Boulevard and he's constantly told me that the "sweet spot" is when it's fresh. His opinion is that the beers have been aged and mixed so that they taste the best and represent what they wanted out of the beer right then. Sure, you can age the beer, but who says that it will improve or even change at all? In my opinion, the LC series beers haven't really changed heavily over time anyway, other than LC 1. That stuff got just stupid sour.

:thumb: Cool. That's similar to what the other guy from Boulevard was saying.

Stillwater's Existent is what finally prompted me to ask you that question. I had a bottle last night. It was decent. However, like you, I've never found a dark farmhouse ale good enough to make me a fan of the style.

I just pass on the dark saisons. Never found one that compared all that favorably to my least favorite regular saisons. And some have just been a hot mess.

Though Fantomes can be dark, the "experimental" nature of Dany's beers make it hard to classify them in any style, other than farmhouse ale.

Well, I tried the Prairie Somewhere sour farmhouse ale tonight. I thought it was wonderful. I even enjoyed(surprisingly) the sourness just a little bit. I wish I would have tried it a lot sooner, and I wish I would have bought a second bottle while I was in Houston.

That's five Prairie Artisan Ales now, and I've been impressed thus far for the most part. I really liked Prairie Somewhere and Prairie Hop(I really love the hoppy farmhouse ales). The Wine Barrel Noir I liked quite a bit even though I'm not a huge stout guy. The two I didn't really care for were the Funky Galaxy and the Birra Farmhouse Ale. I have my eye on a couple more of their farmhouse ales, like Puncheon and Eliza5beth. Any opinions on the rest of their farmhouse ales would be appreciated.

As for the rest of their beers, I've been on the lookout for Prairie Bomb for Mikeyis4dacats and myself. I'm definitely grabbing some when I'm in Houston in October. While I was looking for that, I came across some Bible Belt double stouts, but they had rust around the bottle cap, so I left them alone.

I happened across a bottle of this today while filling my growler up with Southern Tier Pumking. I'm likely going to crack it open tonight. Thanks again for the recommendation, bud.

Reaper- I am reading Farmhouse Ales by Phil Markowski right now and there is an entire Saison section in it from Yvan de Baets as I am sure you know and I am sure you have read the book.

Interesting stuff. It appears Saison or Biere de Garde seems to have as broad a definition as lager and ale could.

You brewed with what you had and what was needed. I love the fact Belgians couldn't care less about style constraints. They just do what they want to make good beer.

Puncheon and Eliza5beth are both awesome. BOMB! is very good too.

I wasn't a fan of Funky Galaxy either, FWIW.

If you all have a chance to grab any of this brewerys stuff I really recommend doing so. SO far I have only been out once to pick it up from Tillamook, a 1.5 hour drive to the coast. Not sure if they distribute it anywhere but if you see it grab it up.

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/31540/

Yeah, uh, let me know when you can hook up some De Garde. They don't distribute anywhere near KC, not even close. They make great sours. Yum.

I don't remember if I already mentioned this or not, but I had the oddest experience with funky galaxy. I had a bottle one night, didn't really enjoy it...but could not stop thinking about it and was craving another one.

That went on for a few months until I made another trip to Houston, and picked up another bottle. I drank it the same night I got home from Houston, and once again didn't like it. Haven't given it a thought since. Weird.

Yep, just not a fan of black saisons, even when they're hopped with Galaxy hops.

Yup. That half of the book from Yvan is responsible for much of the world's knowledge of Belgian & French farmhouse ales. He's learned other stuff since that book came out about a decade ago, stuff he shared with me for my book. :)

Just finished it. What an absolute wonderful beer. Exactly what I want out of a White IPA. So often someone will recommend a beer to you and it ends up being mediocre. Not this time. It was great. Just a touch above Boulevard's Reboot. Thanks again, lawrenceRaider!

interestng read

http://www.thedailybeast.com/article...-dictator.html

Whoa boy. 2nd Shift put out a beer called Chaotic Insecure Delusions. A saison/farmhouse ale aged 30 months in white wine barrels. Reaper, please find it and drink it. I am going on a city-wide hunt tomorrow for more.

Do want

I live in Philly, man. No way I can find it. Someone will have to find it and get it to me.

Man, Texas is coming on strong! I've never considered stouts a 'go-to', but this bitch straight up seduced me!

had the boulevard hibiscus gose...beautiful and delicious, loving all the new gose

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DtUya-AVOb...iscus+gose.jpg

This stuff is pretty damn good, possibly better than Warlock.


http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r...ps0372fbfb.jpg

I can co-sign this beer. I think I may have liked Warlock a tad better, but this is still very good.

My wife reminded me why we got married by coming home from Denver with:

Haandbryggeriet Sur Megge
Picobrou Morpheus Wild
Trinity Saison Man
Crooked Stave Surette Provision Saison
Crooked Stave Saison Vieille Artisanal