Food & Beer Culture

What food pairs with saison? The dry, lively beer cuts through fat, which is why it suits poultry, cheese, fried potatoes, and vegetables fresh from the farm. On the farms of Hainaut, the beer was simply the natural companion to simple cooking anyway.

Around Chimay, people know Escavèche, cold fish preserved in a tangy broth. The abbey also makes its own cheese, and cheese and Trappist beer are considered a classic pairing here: the rind is pungent, the beer fruity and soft.

The tavern of Hainaut is a café or simple inn on the village street, where the beer is served by the bottle and time is taken over it. Chimay bottles come in 33 and 75 centiliter sizes, and the larger one is shared at the table.

In Ath and Mons, festivals are part of beer culture. The Ducasse d'Ath in August and Mons' Doudou, with its dragon fight and giant figures, are listed as UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage. Regional beers are poured at these events, small cafés around the market squares fill up, and processions wind through the town.

Anyone who thinks of saison as a summer beer is close to the tradition. It was the beer of harvest time, drunk out in the fields, and after the celebration came rest, not excess. Fittingly, the Trappists see their beer as the livelihood of their community rather than a pleasure for its own sake: the proceeds support the abbey and its charitable work.