Back at the start of the year we brewed Le Chaleureux Rivage Saison for the Wellington Brewday Festival. Le Chaleureux Rivage balanced the Belgian spice of the special saison yeast with coriander seed and black peppercorns and the exotic fruit of New Zealand hops.
The beer turned out pretty good and was very well received so I decided we would add it to our list of seasonal brews under the simplified ‘Saison’ brand. Le Chaleureux Rivage involved a healthy dose of Riwaka hops late in the boil. Riwaka hops have become increasingly hard to source and by the time I wanted to brew a large batch there were none to be had. So a month ago we brewed 1800L of Saison with Motueka substituted for Riwaka. The change has given the beer a big lemony hit instead of the tropical fruit of Riwaka and a slightly more voracious dose of yeast has resulted in a drier more hop accented beer. Sitting somewhere between our White IPA, Blanc de Houblon and Le Chaleureux Rivage , Saison is dry , hoppy and spicy. The beer has already debuted on the taps at Regional and featured at the Regional Beer and South East Asian food tasting and will be included in two very special beer and food events we have planned for a fortnights time. More on that later.