Normally, I wouldn’t discuss another brand. I saw that Norhtern Brewer had a Belgian Tripel IPA, which I’m sure is quite good but I wanted something lower gravity after a winter of 1080 beers. It came with Danstar’s dry saison yeast, but I used White Labs Trappist since it was close to the expiration date.
Anyway, tastes great. As the temperature is creeping up, it’s quite tasty and refreshing.
My wife gave me a BB Saison as a Christmas present.
Two things about Brewer’s Best I don’t like:
The kits include their “B” caps. Since I like to write something on the caps to remind me what’s in the bottle, the caps are a little awkward.
Their kits include dry yeast; if that’s your thing I’m fine, but since I’ve NEVER seen the kits refrigerated, I have to question the yeast.
On that note, you mention the yeast was approaching expiration, so how long has it been since those specialty grains were cracked?
Still, I enjoyed the beer, so I wouldn’t say “they suck” or be too hard on them. I prefer kits that let me buy caps and yeast separately.
I mostly use NB kits, so the B on the cap is adequate identification for me.
I had the White Labs Trappist vial from last fall and decided to use it on the Belgian IPA instead of the supplied Danstar yeast. I was too cheap to throw it out. I’m still going to use the Danstar Belle Saison, but on a NB saison kit. The Brewer’s Best kit was still fairly new.
