Everybody is brewing Grisette, and that's just awesome.

I’m at a 21st party in Birmingham’s newest craft beer bar, Tilt – alongside a range of 8 fantastic keg beers, they serve loose leaf tea, fresh coffee, cakes – oh, and the place is full of pinball machines. Awesome. Towards the end of the night I always get bottle hungry, and scanning the list I find Brew By Number’s Lemongrass Grisette. It’s great – it’s light, refreshing, citrus infused without an insane dose of hops and a little hazy – I wish it was on tap and served in pints. An uncommon style gains a new fan.
 
Over the last few years we’ve seen a massive rise in the popularity of Saison in the UK. Saison is historically regarded as a farmer’s drink – the name literally meaning Summer - dry, slightly sour and usually utilizing wild yeast for a unique twang, a beer style open to massive interpretation went from almost impossible to find unless you know a guy who knows a guy, or happen to have a Belgian speciality bar in your town (thanks Cherry Reds!) to Marston’s mass producing a version for Tesco. Grisette is the little brother of Saison, originally (apparently) served to miners in the Hainut area of Belgium - true to form, the Mild Ale of Belgium - and boasts many of the same traits as Saison, but is often brewed with a decent portion of raw wheat and considerably lower in ABV. Think of it as a Table Saison with some spiciness and graininess from the wheat – nice.

Summer is coming, and it’s time to start thinking about session beers, so this is a great “lawnmower” style to drink young and serve cool and well carbonated. As with Saison, it’s open to interpretation – in fact, sources sometimes point to little more than “low-alcohol, light bodied, saison-like golden ales of no great distinction.”

Belgian beers usually rely on a base of Pilsner malt with Noble or English hops and a region specific yeast – with this in mind, feel free to experiment however you see fit. Listed below are two recipes, one with herbs and spices, the other with noble hops. Be careful not to over hop this beer – with a very light body and a very dry finish, you’ll want to dial back what you usually aim for a little. Fermenting at higher temperature ranges will kick out more esters, ferment lower for a cleaner beer. Raw wheat can come whole, terrified or flaked – flaked are the easiest to use. Trappist, Saison and Witbier style yeasts are all acceptable, so use what you can find. If you want to increase the body of the beer, add a cheeky portion of Carapils, Flaked Oats or Vienna malt, although this is not entirely true to style.

Lemon Balm & Orange Peel Grisette
Dry and refreshing with strong citrus notes
23L
1.030 OG – 1.002 FG
3.6% ABV
3.8 EBC
23 IBUs

All Grain
2.7kg Pilsner Malt (or 1.7kg Pilsner Liquid Extract)
0.45kg Vienna Malt
0.2kg Flaked Wheat
55g Bobek 4.1% Leaf @ 90 mins
20g Bobek 4.1% Leaf @ 0 mins
1 pint Lemon Balm leaves @ 0 mins (loosely packed)
10g Dried Orange Peel, Bitter (or peel of 5 large oranges, pith left behind) @ 0 mins

Ferment with Safbrew T-58 Yeast
Noble Hopped Grisette
Crisp and subtle, easy drinking

23L
1.027 OG – 1.002 FG
3.3% ABV
3.0 EBC
20 IBUs

All Grain
2.5kg Pilsner Malt (or 1.7kg Pilsner Liquid Extract)
0.5kg Torrified Wheat
20g Saaz Leaf 4% @ 90 mins
20g Saaz Leaf 4% @ 30 mins
35g Saaz Leaf 4% @ 10 mins

Ferment with Wyeast Belgian Saison #3724