Saison is a style of beer that is reputed to originate from Wallona which is in the south of Belgium. It’s also known as Farmhouse beer, brewed in fairly variable conditions to quench thirst, not knock you out after two pints.
As with other Belgian beers, the defining characteristic is the flavours from the specific yeast rather than the trend these days towards hoppy pale beers. The Belgian yeasts tend to generate spicy / peppery flavours, described as earthy. So this will be an interesting journey for us as too as our standard beers are defined by the hops, the oak or the malt, the
Journey #1 is expected to be 4.6% ABV with an OG of about 1.046 – medium body – and an IBU of around 25 Not massively bitter – Explorer is 35 IBUs for comparison. Noble hops, Perle & East Kent Goldings to extenuate the earthy, spicy flavours. Possibly some Cascade to give it a bit more fruitiness.
The colour is an EBC of 10 – about the same colour as Explorer. Malts used are UK Pale, Pilsner, Munich & Wheat possibly a small amount of Special B.