History
Saison’s history is shrouded in mystery; some say it evolved from the farms of Hainaut in Belgium, prized for their use of farm grown ingredients, brewed during colder months, aged, and given to hired farmhands during the warm months of the laboring season. Others maintain that much of Saison’s production was brewed in the industrialized city of Liége, where breweries imported much of their ingredients from as far as the Netherlands.
Basque style cider originated in the Basque region, a little slice between Spain and France in the Western Pyrenees mountains, where cidermaking is a centuries-old treasured tradition. Local cider houses (sagardotegi) make cider (sagardo) using local high-tannin, high-acid apple varieties, like Andoain, Gorri and Burgo. The juice is fermented using native yeasts, and it is aged in large chestnut casks or barrels; the resulting cider is sharp, dry and wild. It’s usually bottled still and then poured from a height to aerate it, and slightly carbonate it, as it hits the glass.
Combining beer and cider isn’t a new idea, but generally it’s blended in the drinker’s glass and referred to as a snakebite. Blending them in the tank, however, is a fairly new concept. Blending barrel aged saison with spontaneously fermented foeder aged Basque style cider? This might be a first…
Tasting Notes
Aromas of apple skins, white peach and milk bread. Flavors are soft and bright with notes of green grapes, apple galette and white peppercorns with a firm tannic finish.
Food Pairings
Spanish Tapas of course! Patatas bravas, pan con tomate, gambas (prawns), croquetas or a nice grazing board with Spanish cheeses, almonds and olive tapenade.
