Saisons are more than a beer style or a beer recipe, they're a beer story. Tales of ghostly rustic “saisons” fill our imagination with images of farm workers drinking their beers under the golden light of the sun setting over a wheat field. It’s an illusion, but man, what a pleasant one. And because the history of saisons is so blurry, sketchy, and sometimes contradictory, this illusion is all we have.
A saison I brewed for the early summer
Lets face it, nobody knows what “saisons” were back then. It's a story, or a tale, about a beer that farm laborers drank during the harvests in the summer. But there were lots of farms in southern Belgium and northern France, each one of them had different grains and each one of them would have a different recipe that would probably change every year according with grain availability. None of these farms kept a written “brewlog” and the few recipes recovered are sometimes contradictory. We can guess some common grounds, like the use of barley malt, wheat and wheat malt, a top fermenting high attenuation yeast, and some local hops, probably the early ancestors of varieties now known as ”Barbe Rouge” or “Strisselspalt”. But as the history fades and tales prevail, all we can do is to imagine how would be those rustic, low abv, thirst quenching pale beers.
What's in the sink? Honey, coriander seeds and orange peel
Nowadays saisons, try hard to keep close to the illusion of an ancient rustic beer. Du Bocq is an independent brewery, created in 1858 and owned by the same family for 6 generations. They won the 2013 World Beer Awards in the Saison category, and their beer is a perfect example of the style. I've been challenged by @detlev to make a post for #beersaturday, so, in this #beersaturday 237 week, I bring you the Du Bocq 1858 Saison!
Tasting Notes
Standing at 6,4% abv, this beer is on the upper limit for the style. I hardly believe that the beers poured to farm laborers during the harvest days would have such high alcohol percentage. The purpose was to keep them hydrated, not drunk. However, this alcohol percentage is pretty common in nowadays saisons.
The beer itself has a beautiful bright yellow color and the typical haziness of the style.
A tale in liquid
The beer is well carbonated. The foam is white as cotton with a good head retention. The aroma brings some notes of black pepper, oranges, lemons and licorice, almost like a witbier on steroids.
At the first sip, you’ll get all those bitter and peppery hops, balanced by rich, slightly perfumed malt and spice. The finish is dry, bitter and spicy. In the after taste, it’s all about lemons and licorice.
I’ve paired this beer with some shallow fried scallops. I know that it should have been with the typical Belgian fried mussels, but this was the closest thing I had in my freezer!
Overall Rating: 9/10
Du Bocq 1858 Saison
Brewery: Du BOCQ
ABV: 6,4%
Bitterness: 28 IBU
OG: 1070