Saison sans spice
The saison has an unassuming nose and the first flavor term that comes to mind is weird. It’s acidic and just bordering on sour but not quite there. Rather than spicy I find it fruity. The finish is dry with a bit of bitterness but still nothing spicy. Otherwise there’s not much hop presence. I don’t think I’d identify this as a saison in a blind taste test, but looking over the style guidelines it might be my expectations that are miscalibrated. The pepper flavor I associate with the style is definitely missing, but the tart and fruit that I find weird is apparently appropriate. Perhaps a higher fermentation would yield more of the spicy notes.
The recipe is properly old world with a base of 8# 6oz pilsner. Ten ounces each of wheat and munich malts as well as 2oz caramunich round out the mashables. We also added 13oz of white sugar to the boil to encourage a drier finish. This one was a 90 minute mash and boil. The boil part is typical with pils but I was a bit surprised at the longer mash; normally that seems to go along with mildly flavored beers. An ounce and half of Hallertauer at sixty minutes and three-quarters more at flameout are in charge of bitterness. 1.064 OG was very close to target. We fermented with WLP565 Saison yeast and made a point of putting the fermenter in a warmer part of the house. FG clocked in at a nice dry 1.008.