The Saison du BUFF (Brewers United for Freedom of Flavor), is a collaborative beer between Stone Brewing Company, Victory Brewing Company and Dogfish Head. This Saison/Farmhouse style ale was initially brewed at Stone in April 2010, and then brewed at Victory in July 2010 and finally at Dogfish this month, August 2010.

Each batch, though brewed at each brewery, will use the exact same recipe and come in at ~6% ABV. My bottle is from the batch brewed at Stone and is labeled at 6.8% ABV. The screen-printed bottle displayed each brewery’s logo and has a personal message from Greg Stone on the back, detailing the history and process of the Saison du BUFF.

The pour from this bottle displayed a clean and fluffy, one and a half finger white head. The lacing is splotchy but I’m glad to see some in a Saison-style. The body is crystal clear, minus those occasional carbonation bubbles, and golden orange. It really was bright for a Saison and not as thin as some others appear.

The nose is extremely powerful, and all the herbs used in this beer are up-front in your face. A grassy flower nectar came out first, followed by some intense pine notes and parsley. A hint of lemon zest is hidden in there somewhere it seems, though it’s masked greatly by the herbs. Also, some lingering whiffs of Christmas tree (evergreen coniferous) sap round out the nose.

I was surprised to see the herbs that were dominant in the nose recede a bit in the mouthful. This felt medium-bodied, though a bit thinner than others but was extremely clean and crisp. The rosemary really shines through immediately coupling in a grainy-wheat taste with it. The pine flavor is toned down a bit, though this finishes with a bold sage and sap flavor. I can’t believe how well balanced this is and just how good it actually tastes. From the nose, you’d think you’d be walking into a forest, gathering some plants and biting into them, but Greg, Sam and Bill have managed to keep this tamed and manageable.

When this was announced earlier this year, I was extremely excited to try it. When you have a collaboration of three great brewers from three amazing craft breweries, can you go wrong? Not this time. The Saison du BUFF is well-balanced, and a bit bolder with it’s semi-obscure herbs used in the brewing. Hopefully it hasn’t changed much since Dogfish and Victory have been brewing it because this one I’m sampling is outstanding. Grab this if you can, it’ll be gone this year.

Overall: 9.2/10

Title photo from: Flickr