Traditionally brewed during the colder months, saison is a farmhouse ale that was stored for summer drinking by the seasonal workers, saisonniers, in Wallonia, the French-speaking part of Belgium.
In the eighteenth century, when this style emerged, clean drinking water was in short supply and beer was provided to the workers to slake their thirst under the hot summer sun. Therefore, it’s likely that they weren’t that strong – about 3% to 3.5% ABV – and, due to brewers having access only to local ingredients, would come in as many varieties as there were farms. As water became cleaner, so saison ales became scarcer, but breweries managed to keep them going, eventually amalgamating them into a more or less unified style.
Our farmhouse saison, Infinite Improbability, is a very English take on this Belgian classic. While it uses Belgian Belle Saison yeast to give it the peppery notes that are characteristic of the style, this is paired English ale yeast and B.claussenii for a fruitier body. The English twist continues with English malts and a dry-hopped finish of archer hops.
The ale retains the slightly cloudy, golden hue typical of the modern saison, but has a rounder mouth feel than its Belgian relatives and, at 6.7% ABV, it’s more in line with its modern counterparts than the original water substitutes.
Because it’s a farmhouse ale and we only produce a small amount each year, we label it up with our farmhouse-style labels and let the beer speak for itself. If you’d like to get your hands on some (in KeyKeg or bottle), please Contact Us.
That is not to say brewing is not a physically and mentally demanding job, but our task as brewers is to herd our microbes of choice – and let them do the hardest work in the brewery, munching on sugars to produce the alcohol in our beer. In the video above, Beerblefish owner, James Atherton, shows us how different microbes do this job (while the video is generally accurate, it’s fair to say it might not be entirely serious…)
Most brewers choose to use a single culture of Brewer’s Yeast, often from the Saccharomyces genus, while some making sours will use Lactobacillus and Saccharomyces together; people who are gluttons for punishment, like us at Beerblefish, will use a varied mix of yeasts (and occasionally blends of bacteria). As you can imagine, herding one invisible fungus can be challenging, herding up to five in a single brew requires a little more attention to detail, but that’s what gives our heritage beers their distinctive flavour and character.
Different yeasts produce different flavours, work at different rates and will consume different sugars/dextrins. Saccharomyces will usually start consuming simple glucose before turning their attention to other monosaccharides or longer chain sugars. Lactobacillus will rapidly multiply and chew through glucose, fructose, sucrose, lactose and galactose in that order – but they are not able to metabolise long chain dextrins or starches. Brettanomyces tend to work a little more slowly than brewing strains of Saccharomyces in an aerobic environment then, slow down considerably to about half the metabolic rate in an anaerobic environment.
An interesting thing, if you are herding your microbes, is that placing saccharomyces and lactobacillus in the same environment causes Saccharomyces strains to abandon their usual preferences for simple sugars for more complex sugars. The presence of Lactobacillus in a Saccharomyces culture causes them to rapidly metabolise all the sugars they can pull in. This can lead to more off flavours and is why many brewers these days will kettle sour with Lactobacillus rather than allowing it into primary fermentation.
First, let’s look at the differences you’ll notice when you actually drink them. The amount of hop bitterness is a big differentiator. IPAs are often highly hopped (more than40 IBU and commonly over 60 IBU), whereas lagers are generally far more subtly hopped (around 20-40 IBU). IBUs are international bittering units, a standardised way of quantifying bitterness in beers.
Traditionally Lagers would have used Noble Hops (Saaz, Hallertauer Mittelfrüh, Tettnang, Spalt), whereas an IPA would have used Goldings and Fuggles. Modern IPAs, such as the west coast and east coast styles from the USA are often more bitter than the traditional British variety and use newer hop varieties, including Simcoe, Amarillo, Mosaic and Citra.
These days any beer can use any hop – we have more hops and world trade means we can get some hops from Germany, New Zealand or the USA just as easily as we can from local hop growers, but it is unusual to find a very hoppy, bitter lager or a subtly-hopped IPA.
Now for a science lesson, as we look at the technical differences.
The main difference is the yeast. Ales are typically brewed with a top fermenting yeast, S.Cerevisiae whereas lagers are brewed with a bottom fermenting yeast, S.Pastorianus.As a result of the different yeasts used, ales are fermented at higher temperatures (14-20℃) than lager(10-12℃); the ranges can be larger but these are a rough guide. Some steam lagers are fermented at ale temperatures but with a lager yeast.
A lager would typically be allowed to warm towards the end of the primary fermentation for a couple of days diacetyl rest but this is not always required with an ale. However, if your ale has fermented at the lower end of the yeast’s preferred temperature range, it may benefit from a diacetyl rest.
Lager fermentation usually takes longer than ale fermentation due to the lower temperatures. Steam lagers can finish just as fast as an ale, reaching final gravity in four to five days.
Lagers should, according to their name, be stored for a period of time in secondary/lagering vessels: lager means storehouse or larder. This is not always required and a drinkable lager can be produced in under two weeks, but we would question if it should be called a lager if it has not been stored at 0-4℃ for a week or more.
Now for a short history lesson: how did lagers and IPAs evolve?
Lagers were first made in Bavaria and later in Bohemia (with pilsner) in the early nineteenth century. IPAs started out in London, then production moved to Burton upon Trent. Both these paler varieties of what had gone before were made possible by new indirect kilning methods that allowed for the production of lighter malts.
This little bit of history is important, as lager is usually made with a double or triple decoction mash, whereas IPAs are generally made with the British-style single temperature infusion mash. There are no hard and fast rules though. You could technically make either with either method, and these days many lagers are made with single infusion and, although we’re not aware of any IPAs made with decoction, it can be done. We know a few German brewers who would be horrified to think of a Lager made by British and, therefore, incorrect methods.
There is a very long and complicated explanation for this, but the short answer for our purposes is: in a single temperature infusion mash, the water (liquor is heated to about 75℃ and all the grain (grist) and about a third of the total liquor are mixed together, creating a mash at about 65-67℃. This is then allowed to stand for an hour for the enzymes in the grains to convert the starches in the grain into sugar. You want the lovely sugar as this is what the yeasts will eat and turn into alcohol and other delicious flavour compounds.
The other two thirds of the water are used to shower (sparge) the grain to wash out the remaining sugars.
This method is only possible due to thermometers. Without the ability to accurately measure temperature, single infusion would be highly error prone. The evolution of well-modified, consistently malted barley strains has also helped the reliability of this method.
Decoction mashing, on the other hand, is a far older method, in which you do not need a thermometer. You just need a way to measure time and to boil a mixture of grain and water (the mash). In decoction mashing, grain and water are mixed and then portions of the resulting mash are pulled out of the mash tun, brought to the boil and then returned to the mash tun. This way, even without a thermometer, the malt can be taken through the acid rest, protein rest and saccharification rest consistently – no modern technology needed.
The major downside of double or triple decoction mashing methods, we think, are that they take much longer than single temperature infusion mashes; but the purists would argue they are the one true way to make a lager.
In these enlightened days of brewing, where methods and ingredients travel so easily, the remaining hard and fast differentiator between IPAs and lagers is the different yeasts used to produce them – they are the little ones that do all the work and we brewers just have to keep them warm (or cold) and feed them sugars so they can do the important bit!
Liz told us that her life before The Hackney Carriage was a calm, organised, normal family life. Having visited a micropub, she spotted the opportunity to offer others a safe place to catch up with a friend for a drink. As Liz had been an estate agent for 18 years, she knew how important the location was, so she did some demographic research before settling on Sidcup.
Deciding on a name was easier – Liz’s husband, Mark, is a black cab driver, so The Hackney Carriage Micro Pub was born.
Liz said there were plenty of challenges in setting up: at first, the locals didn’t understand the micropub concept, and it took them a while to realise that Liz was trying to create a quieter, more inclusive environment than they might find in a larger venue.
Liz also encountered sexism along the way, telling us, “People automatically assume that it’s my husband’s business, so they ask to deal with him.” The new venture also turned her week on its head: “You can’t just meet friends at the weekend, as this is now the busiest part of the week!”
Spotlight on… Community
On the micropub’s success, Liz said, “I truly believe that the success of the pub is the community. My husband and I are always around to meet customers and interact with them.” Liz even occasionally drives a customer or two home. “We have one customer who is elderly and gets the bus to us when he can, and I often will take him home. We appreciate everyone, as this is a community pub and we support each other.” The Hackney Carriage’s regulars describe the pub as a community hub; many have found new friendships and met neighbours who they never knew before.
Liz is proud that the pub is there for the community, no matter where they are in life. They have welcomed many newborn babies since opening, and new puppies get a treat on their first visit. Liz said, “I recently agreed to close for our first wedding, as they are regulars and have asked to hold their reception here, which is an honour.” The pub has also opened up for local community network and workshop events and, sadly, also hosted family funerals for regulars.
Spotlight on… Beer
The micropub is a real ale haven, particularly since bar manager Ben is a strong beer connoisseur. This led to the team creating “Strong Beer Thursday”, which has been very popular with customers.
The Hackney Carriage has stocked most of Beerblefish’s beers in the three years since it opened. Liz said, “They are always of the best quality, and we have also asked them to do a house bitter, which our customers love!”
Spotlight on… Romance
As it’s Valentine’s weekend, Glenn asked Liz whether romance had been in the air at The Hackney Carriage. She said, “Over the last three and a half years we have had one couple meet and move in together. Now I’m waiting for the wedding so I can buy my Cilla hat!”
Spotlight on… Success
Liz has a few words of wisdom for anyone thinking about starting a micropub: “It may look fun but it’s not easy; a busy micropub consumes most of your time and energy. I truly believe my success is due to the time and devotion I invest in my community hub/pub.”
Many thanks to Liz for taking time out of her busy day to talk to us!
Valentine’s Day is just around the corner and, whether you’ve been loved up for decades or you’ve got a new paramour in mind, you might be thinking about a way to spoil them. If they’re a beer drinker, there’s no better way to surprise them than with a bottle of delicious beery nectar – but what if you don’t (or can’t) drink beer yourself and don’t know where to start with selecting something your Valentine will love?
The path of least resistance would appear, at first glance, to be to get them a beer that you know they’ve enjoyed before. This is a perfectly valid course of action if you’re certain you know which one to get. However, many beer lovers these days are adventurous and want to try new things, so you might want to think a bit outside the box.
We often get people coming to us at fairs and markets wanting to buy something for their significant other, but not knowing which beer in our range they would enjoy the most. The first thing we always ask is, “What colour is the beer they normally drink?” Now, to be fair, the answer they first give is usually, “Er, brown…” (which is a completely reasonable thing to say!), but after a little bit of further digging, we can usually get to a colour that falls into one of the following:
Really dark, almost black: in this case, they are probably fond of stouts and/or porters. Slightly less likely is mild, and there’s an outside chance that they’re really sold on black IPAs. Our 1820 Porter, Blackbeerble Stout, Imperial Mild and Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout fall into this category.
Dark/mid brown: this one’s trickier – lots of beers are brown! We’ll hazard a guess, though, that their tipple of choice will be a bitter. Bitters are having a resurgence right now, although we don’t think they ever really went away. Our 1853 ESB and Edmonton Best Bitter are in this basket.
Reddish brown/red: there are a few possibilities here. Some reddish beers are red ales, others get their red colour from added fruits (such as cherries), and yet more will be traditional IPAs or slightly red bitters. Beerblefish 1892 IPA has a lovely red tint to it.
Amber/Golden: many beers this colour are actually called amber ales or golden ales, which is really helpful!
Yellow: This is probably the hardest, because there are so many different kinds of pale beer. Broadly speaking, these are in two camps – it’ll either be lager (which would also encompass, for our purposes, pilsner/pils and kölsch) or it will be a pale ale (which we’ll say covers modern IPAs and American Pale Ales). Wheat beers are also typically straw-coloured (and cloudy). Our Pan-Galactic Pale Ale, our Hoppy Pale series and our CashmereBrut IPA are pale ales, and our Lager is, well, a lager…
Once we’ve nailed down the colour, the next thing we ask about is whether the lucky recipient of the gift likes their beers to be hoppy – you might not know right now, but you could take a look at a bottle they’ve got in the fridge or cupboard. If it says it’s hoppy or hop-forward, then it’s hoppy. If it doesn’t say, but has a long list of types of hops on the label, it’s most likely hoppy. If it says something like “malt-forward” on the label or there’s a longer list of different types of barley or other grains than there is of hops, then it’s less likely to be hoppy. Sometimes beers claim to be balanced – that means that they are neither too hoppy nor too malty.
In the Beerblefish range, all our pale ales are hoppy. Our 1853 ESB, Edmonton Best Bitter and 1892 IPA are, we think, balanced. And all our dark beers and our lager are malt-forward, and so less hoppy tasting.
There are plenty more factors you can take into account when choosing a beer or beer style – whether the hops are fruity or floral, whether it’s made just with barley or with other grains added, whether the finish is dry, whether it is sour and what the mouthfeel is like, among others – but focusing on the easiest and most differentiating elements should help you to get something your loved one will like.
At the end of the day, if you still can’t decide which beer your Valentine would like the best, there’s no shame in judging a book by its cover – choose the one you think looks the nicest on the shelf and we’re sure they will be thrilled with your thoughtfulness.
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