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er for New Belgium sour beers] is a master of what she does. Every year she says it’s a little unique, and she has a philosophy for it but is open to the variability year to year.

With sour beer, there’s a lot more rolling the dice, waiting on things, and tasting things. You can’t really engineer a sour beer—you do everything you can to nudge it in certain directions, but at the end of the day it’s going to be what it will be. You just need to know what the barrels want to do, know what the microorganisms want to do, and go in the direction they’re going.

Saison Dupont

Brasserie Dupont (Tourpes, Belgium) When we were first starting, we messed around with a lot of different ways to make our saison—with spices and multiple yeasts for example—but ultimately decided we wanted to pare it down to the bare essentials of a saison, and for us Saison Dupont captures the essence of saison. It’s so complex and interesting. And if you look at the base recipe, it isn’t that complicated—there’s no spice, it’s a very simple grain bill, simple hops—but the way they’ve managed their fermentation is what makes that beer special.

We emulated that in our philosophy for our beer. Not that the ingredients in our beer are exactly the same as what they do, but I really wanted to focus on the fermentation for our saison and have that be the defining thing. For me, saisons really need to be dry. The characteristics we find most appealing that Dupont has is that dryness and that estery, fruity quality they get from the fermentation.

To get that, it’s pretty basic. We step mash, which a lot of people don’t do—either they can’t do it, or it’s faster not to. I find you can get a dryer beer if you go through the steps. For fermentation we knock out at 67°F (19°C) and let it free rise to 80°F (27°C). I know Dupont goes as high as 90°F (32°C) or Asor,ebyuot Iu’mneawlittloe bmroerwe isnkgit,toisrhd. o you wfaonrtmtoei,mit’splruocvkey ydouupronbtrewwasinongeskofills? Cthrealftasbt eheolrd&oubtsre[owf itnheg’saniseown sotnyllei]naend learningbecame the platform benchmark can for help the you style. There are plenty of other brewers pushing other become a better brewer, one video variations with spices—fantôme does some lpersesttoynwailtdathtiimnges.,canladstsheesn, lethderbeyacrebb&rebtt staaisffonosr—brbeuwt aesrsfafr oasmhorenninogwitndeodwn to bjursetwtherbieasre,aersesennotiwalsa,vdauilpaobnlet ifsotrhe one I purchase,go to. There eitherare a lot as of individualwild and out-there classes saisons, but I always come back to Saison or through a low monthly subscription Dupont to get my grounding again. price that gives you access to eovuerdytehgingu!feour Drie Fonteinen (Beersel, Belgium) This is one that’s more a result of personal experience. I’ve had Cantillon and others,

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