In 2008 I made a strong saison with some propped up Fantôme dregs and some pressed apple juice which I aged in a carboy and bottle-conditioned in reclaimed green glass. I called it Soulevement des Saisoniers (essentially: uprising of the seasonal workers). I intended to brew it professionally on a few occasions over the years, but it never happened.

Prior to and since that I have made a fair bit of cider. I have some apple orchard experience and have picked, pruned, and grafted in orchards starting as a teenager and up to the current day. I know a bit about apples, and really enjoy dry and funky ciders in particular...

In 2022 I was talking to JC from Filaree about revisiting my idea to make a saison with apples in the Floodland style. I had made some hobby cider with his apples and knew the general contents of his orchard, but I wanted to know what he thought would be interesting for us to work with in a beer. He suggested Winesap, which is a classic American varietal that is great for eating/baking as well as juice. Although it's not a particularly tannic/acidic true cider varietal, it has a really pleasant flavor and aroma. Truth be told I would have picked a more tannic varietal because I really like structured ciders, but JC has had a lot of Floodland beers and also knows his fruit very well. I am of the belief that if you are going to work with smart and talented people you should put some trust in them. In the end I think my decision to let JC make the call on the apple varietal was the right one.

We took about 3 or 400 pounds that year, and treated them as I would if I were making cider – we sweated them (essentially aging the apples in a setting that allows them to slowly release some moisture, concentrating their flavor and sugars), milled them, allowed a brief maceration, and then pressed them in a rack and cloth press. The runnings were racking to a barrel and topped with already-aged beer and allowed to slowly ferment and age for about 10 months before bottling. The result was altogether different than my previous work with apples 14 years prior, but very Floodland-y, and we released the single barrel two years ago... some of you may have had a bottle of it, although there was very little to go around.

A bit over a year ago we duplicated that prior process, scaling the batch up a bit so that there's enough to go around. Again we let the beer age in barrel for quite some time. The 2025 Winesap harvest has come and gone and now we are releasing last year's blend, which given its trajectory should continue getting better in bottle for quite a while.

We didn't make an apple beer in 2025, but I expect we'll make another in 2026, as I think I have begun to get a bead on these and I really enjoy the profile. The malic acid in apples takes quite a bit of time to settle and develop, so these beers take some aging. With the 2022 the enzymatic activity of the apples combined with the beer lent to a very light profile in the finished beer, but I think the 2024 has a softer mouthfeel and a more distinct apple aroma and flavor (we see these fruit refermentations affecting the beer profile frequently with raw fruit refermentations – for example peach beers and grape beers which sometimes have zero head retention).

This beer is pleasant and refreshing, it has a pleasant light acidity, and although Winesap has almost no tannin we find some good texture in this. It is bright and lively and super easy to drink. If you had the previous version you are probably as excited as we are about this.


Bottling date: 07/10/2025
ABV: 6.57 ABV
Conditioned with: Organic sugar.
Cellar: This is conjecture as we've brewed so few of these, but the previous bottle has aged pleasantly. I expect it won't peak for at least a year ... fall 2026, and should drink well until at least 2028 if not longer.