Saison time.

A couple of years ago, we were driving home from a day in the mountains and there was a ute in front of us with some buckets of something in the back. As a curious and somewhat nosey creature I wanted to know what it was so next opportunity to pass, I took a closer look and saw it was a couple buckets of grapes.

I wondered where he got them and how I'd get some. He was probably going to make some home made wine, I don't know why I wanted them as I had no use for them at all.

Years passed, as they do.

Jen is a member of our favourite winery, cellar door , luncheon spot, Dryridge Estate in the Megalong Valley. Recently the lovely owners Emma and Simon offered their members an experience of a day picking grapes, their latest harvest. Having never done this before and always up for a new experience we jumped onboard. Needless to say we drove home down the mountain that afternoon with our own bucket of grapes fresh off the vine, hand picked, my hand, and sweet as strawberries. Tempranillo, a Spanish red variety.

I had a quickly concocted plan to introduce them to a beer I know, of course.

A little research latter and a Saison was in planning.

Saison is a southern Belgium style of beer originally produced on farms to quench the thirst of the farming workforce known as Saisonneers. Usually produced with whatever was available on the farm including the wild yeast floating in the air of that region. Large amounts and lowish alcohol beer is the Saison brief, as refreshed and quenched farm workers are better than pissed ones.

There are now many commercially available strains of cultivated Saison yeasts that are much more predictable in their fermentation and finish than the wild farm yeast lucky dip.

Brewing is a dynamic ever evolving sport, and experimenting with whatever goes, is something that soothes my appetite for creativity. Saisons are an ideal style to experiment with as they can be made session able, imperial strength, light, dark , hoppy, malty or spicey without feeling guilty that we have gone outside the style brief. Stuff style brief. Brew what ya got, drink what ya brew. I made one years ago with Lavender as we had plenty in the garden and mixed it with white pepper. This time its a Tempranillo infused Saison.

A standardish ale recipe predominately Pilsner malt with some Wheat, and Vienna, fermented for a week on Fermentis yeast Safale Be 134 ( a Belgian one I had in stock ) then raked onto a kilo or two of grape must ( that's vigneron speak for crushed up grapes including seeds and skins. ) First I soaked the grapes in Meta Bisulphate to rid them of anything wild and yeasty, then froze them to break down the structure a bit, crushed them hygienically, not with feet. Hopping is Magnum for bittering about 30 ibu's and some Tettnang and New Zealand hop, Nelson Sauvin at 10 minutes and whirlpool to compliment the spicey note expected from the yeast.

A second fermentation starts as soon as the wort hits the must, I don't know how to do that calculation, so the abv will be somewhat different to what was expected and measured , especially as this yeast usually ferments pretty dry, maybe about 6.5% ish or so. Most of my beers are 'ish' in their alcohol content . It's still in secondary and looking interesting.

Half will be kegged and the rest will go into champagne bottles to condition, I haven't bottled for a while so we'll see what happens there.

I promised Simon a bottle if it turns out ok, so fingers crossed.

Brew Love Andrew.