Chico, CA

Style: Saison

ABV: 7.5

Staff Review: Pours a beautiful golden color with a thin white head. Citrus aromas welcome the nose. Tastes refreshingly crisp, thanks to locally grown Mandarin oranges, a portion of which were handpicked by the monks living on the grounds of the Abbey of New Clairvaux. Finishes with a nice kick of pepper. Enjoyed on a late Spring evening with chicken curry, but we can’t wait to sip this on a hot Summer night.

Seattle, WA

Refreshing and complex. The high fermentation temperature used with the Belgian yeast strain allows it to add its unique characteristics to the flavor without the addition of spices.

ABV: 6.3

ABW: 4.9

COLOR: 7.3

BITTERNESS: 20

ORIGINAL GRAVITY: 1056

AVAILABLE: WA

They were originally brewed during cooler months, taking full advantage of the harvest bounty, and put down until summer as a refresher and restorative. Saison yeast available today is quite tolerant of high temperatures, and do their finest work between 68 degrees F and 85 degrees F, depending on the strain. Since harvest larder of all manner was put to use in the production of saison, the “style” had a broad spectrum of interpretation amongst villages and farms depending on what they had at hand.

The 19th century saw farmhouse brewing dwindle to some degree, but also served to reformulate saisons for commercial enterprise, sculpting them into the variety that we love today. Still rustic, agrarian and individualistic in nature, saison offers a chance like no other beer to put a personal stamp on what is largely an interpretive style. Add to that the unique yeast strains, and one is left with a virtual oasis of brewing opportunity in an otherwise inactive time. With this in mind, they can be designed to consume lively, fresh and young, or aged, with excellent development of complexity.

Profile

Though open to whimsy, it would be wise to at least pay some passing attention to style parameters, as one would with any attempt at style. A sampling of popular and reverential examples will indeed show a wide breadth of artistic fancy and some similarities. Saisons are golden to amber in color, with burnished gold or pale orange considered the classic, distinctive cast. Saison is effervescent, with a billowing, lacy head; of moderate strength and full attenuation. Aromatically busy, saison is spicy from either the yeast and/or addition of spices, and also carries a firm, herbal hop character. The estery nose is reminiscent of tart, citrus fruit.

Saison benefits from bottle conditioning, adding to its farmhouse charm, as this adds complexity and texture, and some additional earthiness. A light-to-medium body and mouthfeel gives quenching ability, as does the lively carbonation, and sometimes a hint of sourness. The flavor of saison is as varied as the brewers who make them, a manifestation of individuality and creativity, an intricate tapestry whose sum is greater than the parts, and with no particular ingredient or facet dominating.

The malt character can be crisp and lithe or softly toasted, the hops evident without overwhelming, and any spice addition used to suggest rather than to bombard. The yeast footprint should provide some phenolic or peppery notes and a musty or earthy finish, and can itself impart loads of character.

Ingredients

The malt bill, extract or grain, need not be complicated to produce an excellent saison. For all-grain brewers, base malts are all that is necessary, as boil time and mash temperature can be used to provide additional mouthfeel and color. Nevertheless, dark versions (full amber) would graciously accept a small measure of medium caramel malt. Depending on the desired color, pilsner, two-row or pale ale malt alone, or blended with Vienna or Munich malt is the strategy that I’ve employed for all of my saisons.

Vienna malt meshes perfectly with the yeast and spice additions, and gives a light copper hue to the wort. Munich malt adds a touch of toasty maltiness and amber color to fuller versions of saison, though it would be best to keep the measure below 20 percent. Keep in mind that a prolonged boil of 90 minutes or more would contribute some caramelization if desired.

Additional varieties of malted, flaked or raw grains are quite at home in saison, adding their own flavor, heading qualities and especially that notion of farmhouse-brewed ale. Traditional brewing grains like wheat, rye and oats would be logical and authentic choices of course, but there’s no reason you couldn’t tailor a recipe with any cereal grain.

For those using extract, all but the palest of saisons can be brewed, though they will need a measure of character malt for body and depth. Dextrine malt and carapils would be the best option for pale saison, and caramel or crystal malt for copper to amber recipes. Munich, amber or wheat malt extract are also excellent options. Remember that any cereal grain needs to gelatinized and/or mashed to get any appreciable and desirable effect.

Though all-malt recipes are the norm, some are made with kettle additions of sugar. Virtually any kind of sugar or honey, if selected carefully, will accent nicely. Varietal honey and sugars such as Belgian dark and light candy, turbinado or even something like agave syrup might be worth exploring. Gravities of commercial saison generally range from OG 1050 to 1065, but certainly bigger ones would be great for keeping.

Those earthy, herbal varieties of hops are best for saison. Styrian and East Kent Goldings and noble Saaz, Tettnang and Hallertau are prime choices, and get along famously when blended. The soft, musty aroma and hint of floral resin is unmistakably Old World and exceptional in traditional European recipes. American hops, along with domestic malt and cereal grain, would offer an ideal opportunity to concoct an American-inspired saison. Bittering rates should be commensurate with the original wort gravity at 25 to 35 IBU.

Spices are optional, but common in saison, and should be used for subtle complexity rather than featured. Coriander, peppercorn, grains of paradise, star anise, ginger and lemongrass are spices that I’ve used in combination, at about ¼ to ½ ounce per spice per five gallons. Fresh herbs would be an interesting slant also. To enhance the aroma fully, grind or prepare them right before use, and add at the end of the boil. At least five saison yeast strains are offered by White Labs and Wyeast Laboratories, so there should be something for any condition and preference.

Saison is by far one of the most enjoyable brews to investigate, and appropriately, can be made to suit any season. Brew a brisk one for summer, and a keeper for fall, winter and spring.

That’s the problem with this beer—every brewer has their own idea of saison. So to get a sense of its origins and its near-amorphous sense of being, it rewards one to travel to the province of Hainault in Belgium’s Wallonia. This is prime saison country: a landscape of flat fields upon which cattle graze and stalks of ripening corn and sheaves of wheat wave in the gentle breeze. Farmhouses dot the landscape, places where farm workers once gathered the hay, working up a thirst, which a bottle or two of home-brewed saison would quench.

Southwards across the border into France was traditionally the country of bière de garde, amber-colored and malt-accented, while here, the local beer tended to be light in color, low in alcohol and high in hops. In the years leading up to World War II, these saisons were produced towards the end of the brewing season and fermented in wooden barrels. They possessed a marked bitterness, used no added sugar and were exceedingly refreshing.

In the postwar years, saisons became stronger, drifting away from their roots. Nowadays most saisons start at a robust 5.5 percent and continue upwards. However, in the past few years the beers of the saison family (grasping a firm definition is as difficult as wrestling with a ghost) have been undergoing a new revolution. Brewers both in Wallonia and further afield have kept saison’s essential nature (refreshing, golden-amber, hoppy) but used it as a template for innovation.

Keeping to Tradition

Tourpes is a village in the middle of saison country. It is home to Brasserie Dupont, one of the most venerable of saison breweries. The 6.5 percent Saison Dupont defines the beer style for many: dry and restrained in sweetness, with a nose boosted by a resiny hoppiness. It contains no spices or herbs and Pilsner malt anchors the base with a trio consisting of Belgian, English and Slovenian hops providing the seasoning while it gets a 90-minute boil in a directly fired cooper. Fermentation is a week in enclosed flat-bottomed vessels. “They are new but based on the old traditions,” says Managing Director Olivier Dedeycker. “We want more esters produced by this equipment.”

This is followed by a week’s maturation in horizontal tanks, culminating in filtration and the addition of sugar and new yeast before it goes straight into bottles. During this period of secondary fermentation, the bottles are left for six to eight weeks. “Saison Dupont is brewed the way it was 20 years ago,” says Dedeycker. His family has owned this brewery since 1920, when they bought the farm along with the traditional brewery. The farm has long since merged into the brewery.

Dedeycker is a passionate champion of saison and has clear views on what classifies this style. “From my point of view it is a historical beer, so if you want to brew it the right way, then respect the way the beer was always brewed.” Talking further with him, it is clear he would like a saison appellation, in similar vein to the one that governs Kölsch. However, there’s just one problem. “There’s no description of the saison style,” he says.

Taking a glance around the world of saison seems to confirm his view. Some, like Dupont, eschew spices, others don’t. On a visit to Dany Prignon’s brewery at Fantôme, I was presented with his saison, dark orange and hazy, bittersweet, with hints of orange peel and star anise. “Is there coriander in it?” I asked. “I don’t remember,” said Prignon disarmingly. Some are sweet (Saison de Silly seems to have swapped the deep tones of a Burgundian earthiness I noted in 2005 for high, shrill sweet notes in its current incarnation) and others are bone dry.

A Summer Beer with Seasonal Roots

At Brasserie de Cazeau I discover another interpretation, this time with elderflowers. The village of Cazeau is north of Tournai, and close to the French border. Just like Dupont, the brewery is situated in the midst of a rural heartland, on an eighteenth-century farm complete with arched gateway. Fields of maize, wheat and potatoes (and elderflowers) surround the brewery/farm, and there are long-term plans to grow hops and barley. Until the late 1960s it was the home of a brewery run by the father of founder Laurent Agache.

ﾒMy father said I was crazy when I restarted brewing,” says Agache, “but now he is very glad I did.” His regular beers are Tournay Blonde and Noire, but for three weeks of the year, between May and June, he produces the 5 percent Saison Cazeau, a sprightly brew with real elderflower character. “The flowers are cut on the morning of a brewing day,” he says, “and then put in at the end of the boil. We use two hops which work well together with the elderflower.” I ask him why he calls it a saison. “Because it is brewed for summer,” he replies. “It is different from other saisons because it is only done seasonally, which in my opinion is what a saison should be. It would be better if saison went back to its traditional seasonal roots.”

Given the global nature of craft brewing, it is no surprise that saison is no longer confined to Wallonia. Take the vibrant and experimental craft-brewing sector in Italy. A visitor to the Piedmontese village of Piozzo, where Teo Musso weaves his magic at Le Baladin, will encounter Wayan, his light and subtle take on the style. This has 19 different ingredients, including various spices, and Musso tells me, “I make a different one every two years and contaminate the beer with lacto-bacteria and then bottle and secondary ferment.”

Further north, on the Swiss border, the restlessly experimental Beppe Vento makes Saison du Bi-Du: lemon grass, juniper berries and coriander seeds go into the boil. In Switzerland itself, Brasserie Trois Dames brew several saisons on a theme, including one that is dry-hopped and another with raspberries.

What is a Real Saison?

The saisons of American craft brewers naturally follow their own path: Victory’s 2008 V-Saison was reminiscent of a dessert wine kept in line by hops, while Boulevard Brewing’s Saison-Brett lets Brettanomyces strut its funky stuff. Such developments suggest that saison is a moveable feast, a beer style without boundaries. “That’s the 10 million dollar question: what is a ‘real’ saison?” asks Phil Markowski, author and Southampton Publick House’s brewmaster.

His Saison Deluxe is a close cousin of Dupont (pineapple and pepper on nose, flinty, creamy, honeyed and dry on palate, Long Island meets Hainault). “You could argue it is a special brew, perhaps brewed on a farm, made for a particular season, perhaps with ingredients that echo a particular time of year. They are hard to define and that is essentially the point. Saison is loose, full of individual expression, the ‘anti-style’ beer style.”

Or as Bob Sylvester at Saint Somewhere considers saison more of a brewing philosophy or process than a style. He explains “Saison Dupont has come to be the standard-bearer for saisons and while I enjoy it, I am really drawn to the more rustic and spiced versions from Pipaix [Vapeur], Fantôme and the like. These breweries were the inspiration for our Saison Athene. Is it authentic? I’d like to think so, although we get a lot of criticism here in the US for the use of chamomile, rosemary and black pepper.” He insists that the amount of spices added to the kettle is minimal and complement the esters being produced by the yeast.

“To truly grasp the spirit of Belgian brewing is to stretch the boundaries, break them even, he continues. “Most Belgian brewers scoff at brewing ‘to style.’ If everyone brewed to style there would be only one beer: bland!”

Boulevard’s Steven Pauwels broadly agrees with this philosophical approach. “We started brewing Saison-Brett out of respect for a ‘lost’ beer. Having said that, I agree that the term saison is used very loosely both in the US and in Belgium. Line up the Belgian saisons and you get a wide range of beers—sweet caramel forward, low in alcohol, to dry, spicy, fairly high-in-alcohol beers. My idea of a saison is a dry, earthy, thirst-quenching beer that you can enjoy on a hot day. Just like the traditional beer would, or could, have been.”

The Minority Brew

All this activity on the saison-brewing front is heartening, given that in the mid-1990s Michael Jackson thought that saisons might become extinct. However, the beer is still very much a minority brew in its home country. Dupont’s bestseller is its blonde ‘super saison’ Moinette, though Saison Dupont sells well in the United States, as does Brasserie Blaugies’ Saison d’Epeautre which is brewed with the spelt.

This hasn’t kept newer breweries from brewing their own adaptations. Jandrain-Jandrenouille’s IV Saison goes U.S. craft with Cascade hops, while Saison de la Senne blends a low-alcohol saison with lambic, a process that Pauwels points out would have been very traditional on farms. “I don’t think that there is any authenticity in brewing a saison with Brett as we do, but I wouldn’t be surprised if some had a tart or sour finish given that they were brewed on a farm with a high probability of Brettanomyces being present.” There are even Flemish interpretations: for instance, Glazen Toren’s magnificent Saison d’Erpe Mere.

Twenty-five years after it was first brought to the attention of the wider beer-drinking world, saison, whether Wallonian, Flemish, Piedmontese or American, remains an elusive beast. It has its perimeters, seemingly wide and forever shifting, something which allows brewers to make their own mark. However, the most heartening thing about it is that nearly 15 years after Jackson’s gloomy thoughts on its future it is very much alive. As Dedeycker remarks when I ask him about the prospects for saison’s future, “I believe that within two years the public will be interested in it again. Saison is typical for this part of Belgium and people are becoming more aware of it as more brewers join in.”

Saison: a beer for our times?

92 Hennepin Farmhouse Saison Ale, Brewery Ommegang (NY). 7.7% ABV (5/07)
golden color. Lavender bath soap aromas follow through to a fruity medium body of tangerine, toasted wheat bread, honey and spice flavors. Finishes with a mandarin orange, spice custard and talc fade. Interesting, and quite lively and refreshing. Very wine-like.

88 Heavy Seas Red Sky at Night Saison, Clipper City Brewing Co. (MD). 7.5% ABV (4/08)
Copper in color with a fluffy white head. Aromatics consisting of orange peel, melon and hints of citrus zest and bubble gum. Spritzy mouth feel showcasing nice caramel, sweet cream nougat and slightly almond/filbert-like malt character. Finishes dry with hop notes of pine, grass and lightly cheesy notes. A balanced brew to pair with a farmhouse cheese plate or try grilled veggie skewers.

88 Fille Du Fermier, Grizzly Peak Brewing Co. (MI). 6.1% ABV (4/09) %{Brewpub}
Hazy copper color. Aromas of anise seed, spearmint leaf, orange pekoe tea and peach marmalade follow through on a round entry to a dryish medium-to-full body with good integration and a tangy, tangerine, celery seed, nut and toast accent on the finish. A solid food beer.

82 Saison Du Bastone, Bastone Brewery (MI). 5.5% ABV (5/07) %{Brewpub}
Lightly hazy golden amber color. Coriander, cardamom, caramel and prosciutto aromas follow through to a fruity, medium full body of aggressively spicy, white toast, lemon soap and rendered duck fat flavors. Finishes with a malt vinegar and sour milk fade.