Beer Styles

Saison is a top-fermented beer with 5 to 7 percent alcohol, golden to orange in color, highly carbonated, with a dry finish. It smells of fruit and pepper, and the head holds for a long time. How much alcohol a saison contains depends on the brewery, since the guidelines only give a range.

The difference from a tripel lies in weight. A tripel is stronger, more drinkable, and rounder; a saison is leaner and drier. Both are golden, but a saison tastes of the farm, while a tripel tastes of the monastery and candi sugar.

Chimay brews several styles. The Rouge is a dubbel — a dark, fruity beer with raisin and caramel notes. The Blanche is considered a tripel. There's also a Patersbier for the monks, a simpler beer that otherwise never reaches the market.

Trappist beer, in this sense, is not a style but a mark of origin: it means a beer is made within a monastery under the monks' supervision. Mont des Cats, a Trappist beer from northern France, has been brewed at Chimay since 2011 and does not carry the ATP logo.

Bière de Garde, the neighboring beer from northern France, is stronger and rounder, and may be either top- or bottom-fermented. Like saison, it is unprotected. The line between the two lies more in style perception than on any map. Anyone comparing a saison with a bière de garde should pay attention to the yeast: the saison smells fresher and peppery, the garde earthier and rounder.