Grizzly Growler

Big Sky Brewing Co. released it’s newest beer recently. It’s a saison, and besides having a lot of history behind it, this beer has a great flavor profile, an uncanny pairability with food and an easy going disposition.

Here’s a few words from head brewer Matt Long about Big Sky’s new saison:

Our new brewer, David Malcolm, wanted to brew one, (a saison) so he came up with the recipe. We exclusively used Castle pilsner malt from Belgium. That contributes a nice light body and grainy flavor that really comes through on the palate. That light body is offset by the fact that the beer is unfiltered. We hopped it with a very low profile Glacier hop and you get a bit of that hop flavor in the finish. The yeast was the DeDolle strain. DeDolle is a brewery that we all love (Dulle Teve, Mad Bitch, Oerbier, etc.), and I think that Dupont strain that is often used throws off too much bubble gum flavor for my tastes if you don’t use spice in the recipe. We didn’t spice this one.

So, in essence, to brew it well, you need to start with authentic ingredients including the yeast.

The other key is to get a complete fermentation so the beer is not too sweet. This is something that is often overlooked and starts with having the right parameters in the brewhouse. We pay close attention to this with all of our beers, especially the big ones. This saison started at a 14 Plato and finished at a 1.7 for 6.5% ABV. Complete attenuation is the key to just about any good beer. Even at 6.5%, this beer seems very sessionable and we drained a keg the first day that it was in the taproom (yesterday). 22 kegs to go, so we should have it throughout the month of January.

Prost,

GG