THE WORKINGMAN’S BEER

The saison beer style is one of the widest styles that I have enjoyed brewing. These beers vary in colour, alcohol content, ingredients, and even crossover between an ale and a sour beer. To understand how we got to this, it’s important to look back to where saison beer originated.

The ‘saison’ is a type of farmhouse ale originating from Belgium and northern France. In the 17th and 18th centuries, farmers in this largely rural region brewed ales for their workers who laboured in the heat of summer. Often there was an allocation of beer to each worker as part of his or her wage. This is