REVIEW #70: Saison Cazeau (Brasserie de Cazeau)

Pours a striking honey hued yellow with pure white head. Delicate estery yeast and fresh elderflower and lime in the nose. Lightly malty, with sweet cereal grain and citrus zest up front. It has a dryly aromatic grape-must and elderflower finish, with plenty of earthy hop bitterness and very light tartness. Light to medium bodied. The perfect thirst-quencher on a Summer's day.

Brasserie de Cazeau produce this saison as an aside to their Tournay brand of ales of which there is a Blond, a Classic, a Noire and a Noel. This is the first saison I've reviewed on my blog so I had better write a few words on the style: Its a traditional, rustic and complex Belgian style which is (or at least used to be) brewed in winter, lagered (matured) throughout spring and then consumed during the summer months. It was brewed at first by farmers for sustenance, hence its alias as a farmhouse ale. Saison Dupont is arguably the archetypal / best known saison outside of Belgium but there are many equally brilliant lesser known examples out there if you look hard enough. Saison Cazeau has been brewed with elderflowers, giving it a floral and refreshing edge. I have a bottle of St. Feuillien Saison waiting in the wings too.

• MALTS: ?

• HOPS: ?
• IBU: ?
• ABV: 5%`
• BOTTLE-CONDITIONED, brewed with elderflowers

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