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In this episode we drink Ploughshare Saison from Strange Land Brewery.
While drinking we discuss farmhouse ales, easy-living country life, pouring beers, the disassociation of the common man, and why we don't drink beers over 6% on the podcast.
Music for the show:
Evil Eye/ The Stranger Rides Tonight by Daddy Long Legs is under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.
Bottle of Beer by simon_mathewson is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License.
Show Notes:
Hello everyone,
Thanks for joining us on 3 Beers In. The accessible craft beer podcast.
Strange Land Ploughshare Saison
ABV 6.2% IBU 27
The can describes it as crisp, fortifying, and bucolic. And why would a can lie to a person?
The website describes is as refreshing and invigorating. That it is light and dry with a subtle sweetness from the malted wheat. It is perfect to slake your thirst as you com in off the field.
Saison
Saison is French for season. It is not to be confused with a session beer. A saison can be a session beer but it is unlikely that a session beer is a saison. However saisons were historically brewed with lower alcohol levels but now a days they tend to have a moderate to high alcohol level. And at 6.2% the Ploughshare has an elevated alcohol content.
Saisons are typically a pale ale that is highly carbonated, spicy, and often bottle conditioned. I say typically but for a beer that has been brewed for centuries can be anything but typical. Saisons don’t share enough identifiable characteristics to pin them into a specific style.
Saisons, also referred to as farmhouse ales were first brewed in 1700 in Wallonia, the French speaking area of Belgium. They were brewed on pretty much every farm during the colder months when there wasn’t a lot of work to do on the farm. Then they were stored during the winter and spring so they would would be ready for the saisonners in the summer. The saisonners were migraine workers that would work on the farms during the busy months.
So every farmer brewed their own beer every year. And they most likely used whatever grain they had on hand. So you have hundreds of farms in the area so you also have hundreds of different recipes. Probably the only thing in common was the water and the yeast, probably local/wild yeast.
The name Strange Land was inspired by a collection of essays written by Walter Percy titled Sign Posts in a Strange Land. They say it reflects to the way they look to history to orient themselves in their journey to create a superior craft beer. Which is supported by the fact that the first words you see on Strange Land’s website are roots, history, and tradition. The founders look to history and are passionate about following a traditional approach when it comes to brewing.
Strange Land has five flagship beers including Alemmania (an altbier), Entire (a porter), Austinite (a pilsner), IPA (and IPA), and Ploughshare. All canned. They also have a few beers in bottles such as a bourbon porter, a belgian tripel, a barleywine, a Scotch ale, and a Welsh braggot.
Something unusual that they do at Strange Land is that they keg, bottle, and can condition their beers. So no matter how you drink it it’s been naturally carbonated. Many people feel this gives the beer a much better taste profile. It takes a bit more time but they feel that it’s worth it.
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