A saison pours pale gold to amber, sometimes pale orange, often a little hazy, under a dense, rocky head. It tastes dry, almost bone dry, because the yeast ferments nearly every sugar away. That yeast brings pepper, spice and fruit; the hops add a firm bitterness; the grain stays soft in the background. The bubbles keep it lively to the last sip.
Where it comes from
Saison started as a provision ale in Wallonia, the French-speaking south of Belgium: a low-alcohol beer brewed for the farm workers in the fields, though taverns sold stronger ones too. Saison Dupont, the best known today, dates from the 1920s; Dupont added a stronger version in 1954 and a brown one in the mid-1980s. Fantôme began its seasonal saisons in 1988. The rustic image stays, but large breweries make most saison now.
Brewers start from pale malt and add other grains, such as wheat, oats, spelt or rye, and sometimes sugar. Spices are rare. The style covers three strengths, table, standard and super, in pale or dark versions.
How to serve it
Pour it at 7–13 °C into a tulip glass, with care, since the high carbonation lifts a big head. It suits mussels and other seafood, and a Brie.
Next to its neighbours
A pale, standard saison resembles a Belgian Blond taken drier, hoppier and more bitter, with more yeast character. A super saison comes close to a Belgian Tripel, with a grainier, more rustic taste and often a spicier yeast.
Saison in numbers
- Classic example
- Dupont
- Strengths
- Table 3.5–5%; standard 5–7%; super 7–9.5% ABV
- Colours
- Pale 5–14 SRM; dark 15–22 SRM
- Gravity (standard)
- Original 1.048–1.065; final 1.002–1.008
- Food
- Mussels and other seafood; Brie; lemon ginger sorbet
- Classic examples
- Saison Dupont; Saison de Pipaix; Lefebvre Saison 1900; Ellezelloise Saison 2000; Saison Voisin; Boulevard Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale
- BJCP style
- 25B Saison
Sources
Checked .
- 25B. Saison, 2021 Beer Style Guidelines — Beer Judge Certification Program
- Belgian-Style Saison — CraftBeer.com, Brewers Association
