The first rule of saison is that there are no rules.
Okay, maybe that’s an oversimplification. But if we think of modern beer style guides as canonical coloring books for grownups, then saison is the devil on our shoulders inviting us to venture outside the lines and use all the crayons in the box. Nobody has to know.
Perhaps more than any other beer style, saison embraces brewing that is at once primal, playful, and pernicious. Once widespread in Belgium, saison overcame an uncertain future on the Continent when American craft brewers rediscovered and revived it with characteristic gusto.