Blackberry Farm’s Classic Saison Beer Debuts at Billy Reid
A refreshing, Belgian Farmhouse-style brew, made by hand in small batches
Among the beautiful, sprawling 9,200-acre Blackberry Farm estate in the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee, you’ll find a world-class hotel, an active farm with over 100 employees and a brewery unlike any other. For years now, the brewery has produced top quality beers for consumption by guests on the estate’s grounds. Now, however, one is getting distribution across the US. It happens to be their Classic Saison—and the reason why it’s garnering all this attention is that, simply put, it’s excellent.
The medium-bodied brew delivers strong effervescence, while matching hops notes with citrus fruits. And while complex, this Beglian-style farmhouse beer holds up well against a myriad of food options. Chief Fermentation Officer Roy Milner explains to CH, “I fell in love with this style about 10 years ago. Saisons were not a beer that was very popular at the time. It’s very seasonal brewing and it’s agricultural brewing—something we were really interested in.” They have been working on this beer for five years, and have been serving it on the farm for four years. As for why a beer would host a presentation at a fashion boutique, not only is Billy Reid a fan of the beer and a longtime friend of Milner, but Blackberry Farm will be sponsoring a dinner at Reid’s annual multicultural festival event, Shindig, which takes place each August in The Shoals, Alabama.
Blackberry Farm’s Saison is now for sale in the southern US states, as well as at Eleven Madison Park in NYC. It will be unrolling further across the US in the coming weeks.
Lead image by David Graver, other images courtesy of Blackberry Farm
