5 Great American Craft Saisons
Saison is a beer style that may appear on taproom menus or in bottle shops, but the category is far from an ever-present fixture like a Hazy IPA, Pilsner, or Imperial Stout. A well-made Saison offers a certain je ne sais quoi that has captivated the taste buds of brewers and drinkers for generations.
Hailing from Wallonia, the French-speaking part of Belgium, Saison (French for “season”) is a type of farmhouse ale that was historically brewed to quench the thirst of weary farmers at the end of a hard day's toil. Traditionally light and refreshing, Saisons were low in alcohol, highly carbonated, very dry, and made with home-cultivated yeast that gave the beer spicy phenolic notes.
While the style originates in Belgium, home to its most famous example, Saison Dupont, American breweries now produce outstanding Saisons of their own. The style was first popularized in the U.S. by influential beer writer Michael Jackson. After Jackson featured Saison Dupont in his seminal reference The World Guide to Beer, the brewery gained U.S. distribution, helping revive interest in the beer at home while introducing it to a new audience across the Atlantic.
Following the release of Phil Markowski’s Farmhouse Ales in 2004, American brewers increasingly embraced Saison’s expressive, open-ended nature. Early adopters such as Brewery Ommegang and New Belgium Brewing helped redefine the style with beers like Hennepin and New Belgium’s now-retired Saison, experimenting with spices, aromatics, and higher alcohol levels. Newer Saison-focused breweries, such as Jester King and Scratch, lean into the style’s historic hyperlocal culture.
Unlike many beer styles, Saisons offer brewers considerable creative freedom, with broad BJCP guidelines allowing for significant variation in color, flavor, aroma, and ingredients. Modern Saisons may be fermented with either wild or cultivated yeast strains. Great Saisons don’t have to taste alike; what matters more is their ability to capture the sense of place and local character that defined the style’s farmhouse origins. With this in mind, here are five American Saisons to enchant your palate.
Allagash has been making its Saison since 2014. Photo credit Allagash Brewing Company
Although Portland, Maine-based Allagash Brewing is best known for its Belgian-style wheat beer, White, it has also been making Saison since 2014. The beer is part of the brewery’s core lineup and reflects Allagash’s approach to blending classic Belgian traditions with American influences. A hop blend featuring Northern Brewer, Bravo, and Cascade creates balanced bitterness alongside notes of white pepper, clove, and fresh orange zest. French ale yeast contributes floral, rustic character, while the malt profile of Pilsner malt, Carapils, Vienna, and red wheat provides a clean yet sturdy backbone. At 6.1% ABV, the beer falls squarely within the traditional Saison range, while high carbonation yields rich, pillowy foam and a refreshing zing.
Allagash’s commitment to the style extends beyond its flagship Saison. Each April, the brewery celebrates Saison Day with small-batch releases and specialty versions of the beer, including barrel-aged and fruit-infused interpretations (think flavors like pawpaw or ginger and yuzu), as well as guest taps from breweries like Chicago’s Off Color Brewing.
Jester King Noble King
The OG terroir-forward Texas Hill Country brewery, Jester King’s long and complex list of Saisons is an integral part of its history. Long known for its mixed-fermentation beers, Jester King has released numerous wild Saisons made with local Texas ingredients, including Saison Americaine, made with Hill Country well water and Texas pale malt, and Bug Farm, brewed with more than 3,000 pounds of Texas watermelon. A visit to the taproom will yield Saison-y treats galore, from Snorkel, brewed with oyster mushrooms and smoked sea salt, to the complex, layered Detritivore, made with Montmorency and Balaton cherries and aged hops.
For those who can’t visit in person, Noble King, now in its 26th batch, is a can’t-miss example. Brewed with organic noble hops and wild-fermented on Jester King’s farmland to capture the flavor of the Hill Country, it offers a Texan take on Saison’s origin story. Unfiltered, unpasteurized, and a modest 4.7% ABV, it feels built for sundown drinking. Dry and highly effervescent, with notes of bright lemon, summer grass, and funky hay, this Saison is a slow Texas evening in a bottle.
Madame R. Galle is Fair Isle’s house Saison. Photo credit Fair Isle Brewing
Seattle’s Fair Isle Brewing is another Saison mecca. Although it’s only been open since 2020, Fair Isle has built its reputation on farmhouse ales, producing more than 250 Saisons.
Like Jester King, Fair Isle places a strong emphasis on wild fermentation and local sourcing and incorporates foraged ingredients into many of its beers. Although the farmhouse ales aren’t brewed on a farm, Fair Isle partners with local producers and foragers to give its beers the flavor of Washington State. A visit to the taproom may yield a Rose Saison with Montmorency cherries and rose geranium or a Pjotr Saison aged in peated whiskey casks.
Madame R. Galle, the brewery’s house Saison, serves as the baseline for many of Fair Isle’s more adventurous farmhouse ales. Barley and wheat from the Skagit Valley and German hops provide smooth bitterness alongside notes of lemon and fresh herbs. House yeast contributes brightness without funk, while lively carbonation keeps the beer crisp and refreshing. At 6.2% ABV, Madame R. Galle falls comfortably within the traditional Saison range. This is a clever, sophisticated beer that showcases Fair Isle’s approach to Saison and remains one of the best introductions to the brewery’s farmhouse program.
Tank 7 Saison was the result of a beer that didn’t go according to plan. Photo credit Boulevard Brewing Co.
Tank 7 from Kansas City-based Boulevard may be the ultimate American-Belgian hybrid. Now distributed in 17 countries, including Belgium, it was created in 2008 as the result of a happy accident. An attempt to make a dry-hopped Saison with Belgian Abbey yeast and Brettanomyces didn’t go according to plan, but the brewers testing it out of the tank — Tank 7 — enjoyed it so much they started drinking pitchers of it. Nearly two decades later, it’s Boulevard’s flagship beer and a multi-award winner.
Tank 7’s combination of American hops and Belgian Abbey yeast offers an enticing mix of crisp grapefruit and earthy pepper alongside subtle tropical notes, while inverted sugar sweetens the malt base with hints of bread crust and lends the beer a richer, creamier body than traditional Saisons. This is well matched to the beer’s hefty 8.5% ABV, landing it in the middle of the BJCP's “super” designation. High effervescence offsets the alcohol, making Tank 7 a little too easy to drink. You don't need to be a Saison aficionado to appreciate why Tank 7 has become one of America's most celebrated interpretations of the style.
Sauvage is an annual release. Photo credit Arizona Wilderness Brewing
While you might not necessarily associate desert terroir with Belgian-style beer, Arizona Wilderness Brewing will shift your perceptions. Born from a love of the outdoors and the desire to capture the flavors of the desert in a drinkable form, the team behind AZW are true believers in showing off just how good their corner of the world tastes.
The Woodnotes Cellar barrel program is home to a wide variety of Saisons incorporating locally farmed and foraged ingredients, including Desert Dweller, made with Tohono O'odham-grown Sonora White Wheat and toasted ROC mesquite pods, and Boughs On Which The Wild Bees Settle, wild-fermented with hand-picked local citrus blossoms and wildflower honey.
Sauvage is an annual release blending barrels from different years in the style of solera brewing, which is rarely used in Saison. The resulting 7% ABV beer is an elegant combination of citrusy funk and oaky warmth with notes of must and pollen from desert yeast. Unusual, innovative, and exciting, this is a Saison worth seeking out.