I doubt there was any standardisation of yeast either. Again they'd have used whatever was to hand.McMullan wrote:In terms of 'recipes', any notion there was any standardisation, traditionally or otherwise, is bollocks. Brewers made do with whatever they could lay their hands on locally. The yeast is the driver for the Saison style. Fermented properly, it transforms the blandest of bases into something pleasantly 'Saison'. The genuine yeast strain(s) adds most of the character for this style.
It's a beer made for storage and from what I've read higher hopping was the common factor not the yeast.
Yeast is now the benchmark but that's quite recent.
I think that's down to dupont being one of the last remaining beers called a saison when the Americans found out about it. That made them think of it as the definitive product.
As i understand it the brewery was about to can it. Many of the new saison brewers like Fantome and blaugies export nearly all their beers. You don't see them in Belgium.
In a way the US craft beer movement saved saison as we know it now but has also changed it into something completely different.
Brewers are well served in Norway these days. The only thing I struggle to get hold of is leaf hops. (I’d recommend Malt Miller to any Brewers in Norway wishing to use leaf hops.) There are some great breweries in Norway, Nøgne Ø, Haandbryggeriet, Ægir and, one of my latest favourites, Eiker Ølfabrikk. All evolved from home brew. Even the traditional ‘commercial breweries’ (pils brewers), like Aass and Hansa piss all over Fosters. Paying for beer in Norway is pretty crap, though, regardless of what’s printed on the bottle!
Did you let the temperature rise after vigorous primary?