Welcome to Our Online Beverage Guide For Saison

Saison

Saison (French, "season," French pronunciation: ​[sɛ.zɔ̃]) is a pale ale that is generally around 7% ABV, highly carbonated, fruity, spicy, and often bottle conditioned. As a beer style, saison began as a pale ale brewed in the cooler, less active months in farmhouses in Wallonia, the French-speaking region of Belgium, and stored for drinking in the summer months. These farmhouse beers would have been of a lower ABV than modern saisons—around 3 to 3.5% ABV on average, rising in the early 20th century to between 4.5 and 6.5% ABV. The type of malt determines the colour of the saison, and although most saisons are of a cloudy golden colour as result of the grist being mostly pale or pilsner malt, the use of darker malts results in some saisons being reddish-amber. Some recipes also use wheat. Spices such as orange zest, coriander, and ginger may be used. Some spice character may come through due to the production of esters during fermentation at warm temperatures. Modern examples brewed in the US tend to copy the yeast used by the Dupont Brewery, which ferments better at warmer temperatures like 29 to 35 °C (84 to 95 °F) than the standard 18 to 24 °C (64 to 75 °F) fermenting temperature used by other Belgian ales.