Saison ( French, "season," French pronunciation: [sɛzɔ̃]) is a pale ale that is highly carbonated, fruity, spicy, and often bottle conditioned. [1] It was historically brewed with low alcohol levels, but modern productions of the style have moderate to high levels of alcohol. Along with several other varieties, it is generally classified as a farmhouse ale. I like yeast-centered beers where the fermentation is the king. Some kveiks and Lithuanian yeasts are very good for that. Take for example your favorite saison or blond Belgian ale recipe and ferment the beer with kveik or Baltic yeast. It probably doesn’t taste like Belgian but I’m pretty sure that you’ll like beer. We’ve sung the praises of Homage Brewing in the past, but it bears repeating that Homage makes stellar Belgian-inspired ales. Founders Matt and Lauren Garcia have taken notes from some of the best natural wineries in California, imbuing their base saisons with lovely acidity and terroir evocative of our favorite Piquettes or Sparkling Zinfandels. Most all our saisons are pretty low in alcohol, have lots of European hops, and are mildly funky and acidic,” says Owner Gerard Olson. “But beyond that, they seem to have a personality that wants to hang out in the sun with some pals enjoying a slow afternoon.”

Modern saisons are not exclusively brewed seasonally anymore. Generally they are highly carbonated, fruity and spicy — sometimes from the addition of spices. Saisons to Try From Suarez Family Brewery: Big Night, Postscript, Slow Bustle, and Triangular Nature

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The great thing about Belgian beers are their simplicity most use just a handful of ingredients and the hard part is getting the right balance of malt and hops. The one thing you will need to consider though is your yeast strain that you use. This is something you don’t want to save on as the yeast plays a huge part in the Belgian styles. Homebrewers are also passing on the original non-lab cultures. They brew with the mixed culture, harvest the yeast, and then deliver either wet slurry or dried yeast. Especially dried kveik flakes are easy to send in a letter. A knowledgeable brewer can do this well but the chain from brewer to brewer can also change the yeast. For example, the yeast behavior can change from the original, or bacteria that weren’t originally there can be introduced.

Fermentation Characteristics: Mild carbonation traditionally characterizes draft-cask versions, but in bottled versions, a slight increase in carbon dioxide content is acceptable. Fruity esters are low to medium. Diacetyl and DMS should not be present. Alan H. Varnam, J. M. Sutherland (1994-04-30). Beverages: Technology, Chemistry and Microbiology. Springer, 1994. p.323. ISBN 9780834213104 . Retrieved 1 May 2011.This guide was much needed. Thank you! I’ll withhold the many questions and comments that are popping up for now but I do have some brief thoughts. I have brewed a few batches with Stelljen and Geiranger kveiks that you were kind enough to send me. The beers have tasted excellent but I must admit I enjoyed the beers made from both the most when I drank them within a week or two of fermenting. They fermented fast and clean over just a couple of days. The beer was malty, fruity, and quite delicious. Very nourishing with a smooth mouthfeel. I’m about a month into bottling some from each and, while I enjoy the beers bottled (stored in my cool cellar), they just don’t quite give me the same pleasure as the fresh brews. They’ve still got hints of fruitiness, the malt flavor has diminished a fair bit, and there are bits of tart and (very subtle) sour flavors. All in all, they’re well-balanced and pour clean, and clear. Some I did with aged hops with a very brief boil and one I did with yarrow and no boil. The raw yarrow ale seems to be smoothing out with age more so than the others so far. Definitely has more maltiness. Anyway, those are my observations so far. I don’t necessarily have any questions, unless you have some tips on bottling and still keeping that amazing malty, fruity viscous flavor profile. Reply

The Casey team is patient; they allow fermentation to do its thing over extended periods in open-top oak fermenters. Whether fruited or not, the end product is luscious and communicates the care of making each beer. Color, body, malt character, esters, alcohol level and hop character should harmonize with attributes from special ingredients in a typical saison farmhouse style beer. Traditionally maintained farmhouse yeast cultures work surprisingly well but using them is always a risk. If you can store the beer cool or consume it soon the risk is very small. If bottled or canned beer needs to sit at warm for weeks, I would be hesitant to use the original cultures.

Now, the actual brewing tips start from the part II: Guide to Kveik and Other Farmhouse Yeast: Fermentation. Farmhouse Yeast Descriptions lists my experiences with various kveiks and Lithuanian yeasts. Burial Beer Co. is among the many North Carolina breweries producing exceptional farmhouse ales. Although where others might lean into the delicate side of saisons, Burial is rough and metal. That doesn’t mean they take any less care in presenting their beer. On the contrary, Burial can and bottle designs are iconic and evocative. And the liquid inside is gorgeous. These are homebrews of regular farmhouse folk. The brewing heritage stems from tried-and-true folk wisdom rather than professional brewing knowledge. Entries in this subcategory exhibit hop aroma and flavor attributes typical of traditional English hop varieties. Documents reveal comments on different local brewing methods or ingredients. Pliny the Elder in his Naturalis Historia wrote about Celts brewing ale "in Gaul and Spain in a number of different ways, and under a number of different names; although the principle is the same." Anglo-Saxon laws reveal they identified three different ales, while the Normans mention cervisae (ale) and plena cervisia (full bodied ale) in the Domesday Book.

Phil Markowski (9 Sep 2011). The Oxford Companion to Beer. Oxford University Press. p.711. ISBN 9780195367133 . Retrieved 27 November 2012. Steam beers were invented by German immigrants living in California and are made with a type of bottom-fermenting yeast that can ferment at warmer temperatures. The name "steam beer" is a trademark of the Anchor Brewing Company, though other brewers brew this beer under the designation "California common". Sugar: Sugar plays an important part in Belgian brewing. Some of the styles are brewed to high gravities and the addition of caramelised sugar is used to make it easier to achieve these high gravities. It goes to show that using sugar in brewing is not a bad thing, which some people seem to think. Some home brew shops sell candi sugar but I would discourage you to buy this, ordinary sugar will have the same effect. Something like turbinado or piloncilo sugar will add their own twist on the final beer , plain white sugar will work but make the beer thinner and cidery. You can make your own caramelised sugar and I will shortly post up how I make my own. Saisons to Try From TRVE Brewing Co.: A Present For Those Who Are Present, Melissa, and Seven DoorsBière de saison' is first mentioned in the early 19th century. It was most widely known as a beer from the industrial city of Liège, where it was brewed by professional breweries as a keepable version of the city's spelt beer that had been produced for a few centuries. It was made with malted spelt, unmalted wheat and only a small amount of barley malt. It was typically brewed in winter and drunk after four to six months. [2] Color: The color of a common saison beer is from straw to dark brown. However, it commonly takes on the hues of fruits, darker malts, or other ingredients as they are added to the brewing process.