Beer Style: Wheat Beer Family
American Wheat – Style Profile
The overall impression for the style is refreshing, often dry and somewhat crisp, highly carbonated, with a bready wheat flavor and a complementary hop character.
A Beer to Guard
Recipe author Horst Dornbusch states of the style, “The brew is not refined, but it is not coarse either. Instead, it is full-bodied and hearty, slightly fruity, unabashedly strong in alcohol and has a medium hoppiness — but with a powerfully malty, almost Port-like, finish. Bière de garde is clearly a sipping, not a quaffing, beer. I simply love bière de garde . . . but when it comes to beer, I’m a hopeless romantic!”
Petit Saison
The inspiration for this beer was a play on De Baets’ remarks that traditional saisons were low gravity and heavily hopped. When it was still brewed with the Rodenbach strain, De Ranke’s XX Bitter was a rough approximation of a traditional saison, but with its cleaner character today you’ll have to brew your own for a taste of history. This recipe makes for a refreshing summer beer with the gravity dialed down and aromatics pushed to the fore.
Summer Cellar BdG
Biére de Garde’s are a remarkably flexible beer that can be brewed as a pale, amber, or brown, depending on your preferences, pairings, or the season of service. This recipe aims right down the middle in terms of the style and its color/flavor options, and is a gold-medal-winning amber Bière de Garde (at the 2012 BUZZ Off, hosted by the BUZZ Homebrew Club in West Chester, Pennsylvania).
Rustic French Ale
This recipe will create a French-style ale that is similar to Brasserie Thiriez’s Blonde d’Esquelbecq. Brewer Daniel Thiriez recommends using French Pilsner malt if you can source it.
Bière de Garde
Jamil Zainasheff provides readers with a recipe to brew a classic Biére de Garde farmhouse-style ale.
What Gose Around
A Gose recipe utilizing freshly cracked coriander to provide citrus/herbal kick. Recipe from professional chef and culinary consultant Mark Molinaro.
Saison of the Season
Horst Dornbusch’s final Style Profile recipe for Brew Your Own magazine. This version is a bit darker and medium-bodied than the straw colored light-bodied that many come to expect from a saison. Utilizing a healthy pitch rate will assure brewers that it will not end up sweet though.
Saison Ale
Jamil Zainasheff states “The characteristic fruity/spicy flavors and aromas of this style come from fermentation, although some brewers do add spices. While some brewers may add spices, I prefer the more subtle and complex spiciness that fermentation develops.”
Belgian-Style Saison
This saison is very dry, with a balanced lemony tartness from the yeast. Flaked wheat adds complexity, body, and smoothness. Rye adds complexity, mainly in the form of spiciness. No aroma hops are used in this version, which focuses on the yeast and grains. For more hop character, I would recommend dry hopping with a noble hop variety or a moderate amount of Motueka and/or Nelson Sauvin.
Saving Saison
While saison is a Belgian beer style, it is rarely brewed there. Explore the history of saison and get tips to brew your own classic saison from a Belgian brewer who is trying to restore its popularity in Belgium.
Ricey Saison
A saison made with rice malt or dry rice extract.
