Saison Du Buff and Collaborations

There is always an argument to be made about which is better, Collaboration or Competition. In fact, I'm pretty sure I wrote my SAT essay on the topic. Within the craft beer industry, there is an interesting balance between competition and collaboration. 

As a craft brewer, you obviously want to support other breweries, because the more people interested in craft beer, the bigger potential market you have. On the other hand, of that potential market, the more customers that you have, the better it is for your business. Basically, you want your competition to do well, but not better than you. One of the ways that brewers get people interested in craft beer is by collaborating with other well known brewers. I also imagine that they have some fun while they do it. 

Saison du Buff is a collaboration between Dogfish Head, Victory, and Stone. The beer was conceived together by the brewers from all three breweries. It is an American saison brewed with parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme. As it sounds, it is an herby, hoppy, lemony saison. An interesting part about trying Saison du Buff is that you can find it in one of three bottles, depending on which brewery it was produced at. Each beer will taste a little different, and even though the Dogfish Head site says that the beer is 6.8% ABV, my bottle from Stone says 7.3%. It should also be noted that each of the bottles will cost different amount, depending on which brewery produced it (Dogfish is the most expensive). 

The beer itself is very good, but not my favorite version of a saison (as I am kind of a saison purist). It is light and refreshing, hiding the 7% ABV well. Don't let the herbs scare you, they are actually overwhelmed by the citrus flavor in the beer (at least in the version that I tried).  

Saison du Buff is a good beer, not great. It is probably a little overpriced (especially the DFH version), but I am glad that I tried it. 

Glassware: Saison, tulip

Synonym Beer: Brooklyn Sorachi Ace (a less balanced version) 

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