saison

Saison (French, "season," ) is a pale ale that is highly carbonated, fruity, spicy, and often bottle conditioned. It was historically brewed with low alcohol levels, but modern productions of the style have moderate to high levels of alcohol. Along with several other varieties, it is generally classified as a farmhouse ale. History 'Bière de saison' is first mentioned in the early 19th century. It was most widely known as a beer from the industrial city of Liège, where it was brewed by professional breweries as a keepable version of the city's spelt beer that had been produced for a few centuries. It was made with malted spelt, unmalted wheat and only a small amount of barley malt. It was typically brewed in winter and drunk after four to six months. While Liège's saison disappeared after the First World War, it continued to be brewed, generally as a barley-only beer, by professional breweries in the province of Hainaut, who sold it as a 'cuvée réservée' luxury beer, which was 'to be served at room temperature like a good wine' and 'to be poured with care'. In the late 1980s, American importer Don Feinberg was urged by beer writer Michael Jackson to import Brasserie Dupont's saison to the United States. It was Feinberg who re-styled saison as a 'farmhouse ale': 'People asked: is it a wheat beer? Is it a lambic? I told them it was a hoppy farmhouse ale.'