Who, other than U.S. craft brewers, would dare take a light, refreshing ale, originally meant to sustain farm workers through warm summer days, and then boost the alcohol so much as to promote more snoozing than sowing?
Well, the Belgians, for one. From Belgian super saisons to American imperial interpretations, a stronger farmhouse ale is emerging: a saison that delights modern palates as much as its forebearers fortified farmhands.
Imperial Saison by the Numbers
If saison is difficult to define, then imperial saison is even more so. Neither the 2008 Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) nor the 2013 Great American Beer Festival (GABF) beer style guidelines include descriptions for imperial saison. However, categories 16C and 69, respectively, characterize normal-strength saison, and from these numbers we may estimate numbers for imperial saison.
See the chart below for what the two style guides have to say about the everyday saison we all know and love.
It’s clear that the standard saison category is broad enough to accept a wide range of interpretations, and this breadth may explain, in part, why imperial saison is less common than other imperial styles. Nonetheless, brewers who aim for the upper end of the recommendations, or slightly higher, tend to call their brews “imperial saison.”
Super Saison
While term imperial saison might sound new, the idea is anything but. In the seventh chapter of what remains the definitive guide to saison and bière de garde, Farmhouse Ales: Culture and Craftsmanship in the Belgian Tradition(Brewers Publications, 2004), author Phil Markowski describes a class of saison that’s stronger and higher in alcohol than the standard farmhouse ale, the so-called “super saison.”
When Brasserie Dupont first began exporting Saison Vieille Provision to the United States in the late 1980s, the brewery’s best-seller wasn’t its now-ubiquitous saison, Markowski notes. No, Dupont’s most popular product at the time was Moinette. At 8.5 percent ABV, and brewed in both blonde and brown varieties, it’s not the sort of thing you’d keep in your flask for a day of productive work in the field.
But Moinette is far from unique in its strength. Other Belgian examples of super-strength farmhouse ales include
- Avec les bons Vœux de la brasserie, Brasserie Dupont, 9.5% ABV
- Bière de Beloeil, Brasserie Dupont, 8.5% ABV
- Fantôme De Noel, Brasserie Fantôme, 10.0% ABV
- Fantôme Saison, Brasserie Fantôme, 8.0% ABV
- Vapeur Cochonne, Brasserie à Vapeur, 9.0% ABV
Imperial Saison
As saison gained popularity in the United States, American brewers, as they are wont to do, pushed the limits of the style further and further north. And because American craft brewers prefer to bestow the appellation imperial on beers that go above and beyond, imperial saison was born. It remains an uncommon style, but a few domestic examples you may have encountered include the following:
- Matt’s Burning Rosids Imperial Cherrywood-Smoked Saison, Stone Brewing Co. (Escondido, California), 10.5% ABV
- Tropic King, Funkwerks, Inc. (Fort Collins, Colorado), 8.0% ABV
- Unplugged Imperial Saison (not currently produced), New Glarus Brewing Company (New Glarus, Wisconsin), 8.7% ABV
- Zaison, Brewery Vivant (Grand Rapids, Michigan), 9.0% ABV
Overseas readers may also have run into Double Saison, brewed by Stoombierbrouwerij De Keyzer in Maastricht, The Netherlands. At 6.5 percent ABV, however, the beer is more a typical saison than its name suggests.
Learn more about homebrewing saisons and bières de garde.
Learn more about the practical considerations for homebrewing imperial saisons.
PHOTO: MATT GRAVES