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Pierre-Alex Carlier and his wife Marie-Noelle Pourtois were schoolteachers when they founded the Brasserie de Blaugies in 1988, in southernmost Hainaut near the French border. These days the brewery remains a family affair, with their sons and daughters-in-law involved in brewing and running the business, which includes a rustic tavern that serves Belgian country cooking.
Carlier says the first beers they brewed were La Moneuse, their special strong ale, La Moneuse Spéciale Noël for the holidays, and the fig juice–fermented Darbyste. However, he says, “our goal was always to brew saison because it is the style of our area, because it is in our province [Hainaut] where you will find the most farms in Belgium. Saison means harvest time for a farmer and also the type of beer to be drunk on the field during harvest time, when all the job was done by hand. Of course, the density has increased. … A lot of customers told us saison was too old-fashioned and that production of saison was decreasing.”
At about that time, Carlier and Pourtois met Vincent Cassel, an engineer and specialist in mills and grains for bakeries. He also happened to be a saison fanatic. “We decided to brew a saison with malt and spelt,” Carlier says. “The first batch was very good. We did some little changes, and the second one was fantastic. And we never changed it.”