The mining and farming communities of Wallonia were home to a number of farmhouse brewing operations. During winter and spring months, the farm staff would turn the harvest into beer. The beer served as refreshment for the field laborers during the hot days working the fields. Today the leading producer, Brasserie Dupont, brews out of a working farmhouse and dairy in the village of Tourpes.

The hallmark of the style, the summer saison (été in French) is a dry, spicy, orangish beer with a hop-accented spiced nose. Dry, earthy flavors are propelled by forceful carbonation (3.5-plus volumes).

A new category of “super saisons” has arisen with higher alcohol levels pushing above the 6.5 percent norm of traditional saisons. Dupont brews their Avec Les Bon Voeux de le Brasserie at 9.5 percent with a brisk hoppy bite. A newer saison brewer in Soy, Brasserie Fantome, breaks even further with liberal use of local crops, chocolate, and dandelions.

If you cross the border to France you'll discover a similar farmhouse tradition called bière de garde. Like saisons, these light, grainy beers were brewed and stored for the summer months. This garde period led to the style name. Bière de Gardes tend to rounder malt flavors with low esters and little in the way of hops.

Working with saison yeasts requires contradicting proper fermentation practices for other beer yeasts. The Wyeast Saison and White Labs Saison I strains need to ferment hot in order to achieve the hallmark low terminal gravities. Start fermentation cool, around 65°F, and allow the natural heat generated by the fermentation to raise the temperature into the eighties or even the nineties. It takes a while to get used to, but it works for these strains. If you find your yeast quitting too early, be patient and give it some time. If it still doesn't drop further, pitch a second strain of yeast to finish the job.