Beer · Style · Short entry

Saison

Saison grew out of the farmhouse breweries of Hainaut, in French-speaking Belgium: beer brewed in the cool season to be drunk in summer. Modern saisons are dry, highly carbonated and fruity.

Location: Hainaut, Wallonia, Belgium

Character

Very dry, highly carbonated, fruity and spicy from the yeast; usually bottle-refermented.

Contested

The story that saison was brewed for the 'saisonniers', migrant harvest workers, is a legend. Historical farm saisons varied widely and probably differed from today's beers.

From farm to style

Saison is French for "season". Farm brewers in Hainaut brewed in winter, when fermentation was easier to control, and stored the beer for summer. The usual story makes it the drink of the saisonniers, migrant workers who came for the harvest; it is told as legend. Brewing guides describe it as a provision ale, originally of low strength so as not to tire field workers, though stronger tavern versions existed.

The best-known modern example, Saison Dupont, was first produced in the 1920s. Most saisons are now made in large breweries, and brewers in the United States have taken the style in new directions.

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How it connects

Region

produced-in Belgium