One of the many things that sets beer apart as a beverage of choice is the vast variety of beers you can enjoy at any given time. I LOVE embracing seasonal beer styles, but not being necessarily bound to those strictures. If I want an Imperial Stout in August, I’mma drink one.

We’re right at the time where, traditionally, brewers in what is now northern France, Belgium, and the Netherlands would be brewing up a fairly unique style of beer known as the Saison. These wacky ales were made in the Spring (before it got too hot to safely brew without spoilage) for consumption in the Summer. It’s cousin, the Biere de Garde (beer for keeping) was brewed about the same time, but varied slightly in its character.

There are two things about these beers that stand out: The grain bill and the yeast.

As you might expect, most brewing back in the day was a local affair. There was no AB/InBev churning out Americo-Industrial Lagers for global export. If you were making beer, you were making it for folks around you, and you were making it with ingredients available to hand. Saisons typically used Pilsner malt, while the BdGs were made with maybe Pilsner or Base malt (what you might also call pale malt). Both might make use of adjuncts such as oats, wheat, spelt, or rye. All of this of course would have been locally available. Hops tended to be similarly sourced; Belgian-grown Kent Goldings, maybe Styrian Goldings or German Noble hops, or perhaps French Strisselspalt. These were used as bittering agents, nothing more. The body of these beers were the stars, not the hoppiness. Saisons tended toward the dry side of things, while traditionally Biere de Garde tended toward the sweeter side.

Both used very local yeast strains that, even though the goal was to avoid higher temps during fermentation, could stand relatively high fermentation temperatures. These yeasts tend to produce a lot of character and flavor in the form of esters and phenols. Sniffing a Saison might get you a nose full of pepper, honey, fruits of all sorts, or even clove. BdGs tended to slough those off during their storage (these were traditionally stored longer) and replaced them with more corky/musty/oxidized odors.

What I love about both styles is that they are both imminently refreshing and surprisingly versatile with food. After a long day, nothing quenches your thirst like a sparkling Saison. I’ve written a lot in this column about beer/food pairings, too, and I’ll tell you one of my secrets: When in doubt, go with a Saison (or a BdG). The subtle malt character is a great canvas for most foods, while the charming yeast by-products serve to compare and contrast successfully with almost anything, AND they’re high enough ABV (6-8ish) that you don’t have to worry about them getting over-powered. Almost always a double or a triple, if not a homerun.

As fantastic as these beers are, I’ll be willing to bet you don’t have one in your fridge right now. I will confess that I don’t, but I’ll remedy that shortly. Give ’em a try!

 

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