Saison Season: Beer Guy

We’ve had winter, fool’s spring, second winter, false spring and third winter. Now, it’s finally saison season.

by Peter Bailey

It’s time to return the porters and stouts to the back of the fridge, break out the shorts and sundresses and reach for saisons and other patio-friendly beers. Saison means season en français and refers to a style of beer originally brewed seasonally in Hainaut, a province of Wallonia, the French-speaking region of southern Belgium. Just across the border in France’s Nord-Pas de Calais region a similar style called bière de garde (beer for keeping) is brewed. Together the two styles are known as Farmhouse ales.

They’re called Farmhouse ales because historically they were brewed in farmhouses over the cold winter months and then released in spring and consumed over the summer by thirsty farmhands. Being regional and rural beers, the history of Farmhouse ales is a bit murky. We do know the beer was rough and rustic warm-fermented ale, made from whichever locally-grown grains were at hand—barley, wheat, rye and spelt, probably matured in wood. Both were highly carbonated and dry, with saison hoppy and fruity, bière de garde malty and yeasty. As the years went by, tastes changed with urbanization and commercialization and the popularity of saison waned. In the tiny Belgian village of Tourpes, farmhouse brewery Brasserie Dupont kept the faith, shifting their saison recipe in the 1940s to accommodate modern tastes and bumping up the alcohol to 6.5 per cent. Praise from beer writer Michael Jackson helped make Brasserie Dupont’s Saison Dumont the model version of the style. Writing about Saison Dupont, brewer Garrett Oliver said, “If I were forced to choose one style to drink for the rest of my life, saison would have to be it.” In the 1980s Saison Dupont began export to North America, where it inspired craft brewers to reinvent the style.

Today it is North American brewers who are defining what a modern saison is, just like they did for British IPA.

Blindman Brewing co-founder Hans Doef agreed with my suggestion that saison is a blank canvas for brewers. He noted that “it is a style which is so broad: fruity, hoppy, dark, malty, sour and everything in between. The yeast character of saison is the connecting point.” Trial & Ale Brewing co-founder Ryan (surname withheld by request) agreed, noting saison is an anything goes style with saison yeast being the common thread. Ryan identified New World saisons as very dry, hoppy, highly carbonated with a yeast-derived flavour that can range from super fruity to super spicy and anywhere in between. He also noted that “there’s nowhere to hide with a style this dry, so it’s a more difficult style for brewers to maintain.”

Hans Doef talked about being inspired by Belgian beers “in all their variety and complexity”. Blindman even went to the trouble and expense of importing white oak foeders (giant oak barrels) from France in order to brew Belgian styles authentically. Blindman brews in town, but one can easily see the link back to those farmhouse breweries in Flanders many years ago. It all comes back to the land and the people who farm that land. As Doef notes: “We are very connected to our local farmers in Central Alberta. We’re trying to marry our local flavour and history with the Belgian local flavour and history.”

Saison Season six pack
Sample these seasonal sippers at brewery patios (they would love to see you!) Or pick them up at quality beer shops like Sherbrook Liquor, Color De Vino, Keg n Cork and Liquor Select.

Click images to zoom

Saison Dupont, Belgium The classic old world saison against which all saisons are measured, still inspiring new world brewers today. Made with pilsner malt, house saison yeast and Goldings hops. It pours like spring morning sunshine, orange-golden in the glass, with a bright white head. Fruity, earthy nose and then bitter, soft and dry on the palate. A world class beer worth seeking out.

Blindman Dwarf Sour Cherry Saison, Lacombe Blindman co-founder Kirk Zembal wrote on this beer’s label, “this is my favourite beer we’ve ever made.” This is indeed a special saison—brewed in 2018, spent a year in foeder, then another year in conditioning tanks with Prairie-grown dwarf sour cherries. This is a fruit bomb of a saison, exploding with tart cherry taste.

Trial & Ale A Saison Apparent, Edmonton Trial & Ale call this beer “an ode to saison”, bringing to mind the long ago days of working the Wallonian fields. This outstanding beer is barrel fermented with a careful blend of yeasts, using a mix of malts, including Pilsner, rye, wheat, Munich and oats plus noble hops Hallertau and Saaz. Funky, earthy and deliciously dry.

Sawback Wild Sour Saison, Red Deer Winning a silver medal at the 2020 Alberta beer awards for an earlier saison, here Sawback kicks it up a notch. This is a complex sour saison aged 406 days in a white oak foeder, soured with lactobacillus brevis. A crisp, tart, highly carbonated, refreshing saison.

Situation Afternooner Tea Saison, Edmonton One of Situation’s early innovations, brewing a saison and then infusing tea post-fermentation, plus a selection of fruit that changes seasonally. It really is a classic summer patio beer, tannic-dry but fruity.

Rural Routes Happy Travels Lemon Chiffon Saison, Leduc Very much a New World, non-traditional saison here, with actual lemon chiffon cakes added during the boil. Highly carbonated, funk on the nose, a bit of peppery spice with a super dry finish.