
Silo | Hedgerow | Grindstone
Silo | Hedgerow | Grindstone Farmhouse ales have always been a favorite style for us around Penrose, and we recently got to spend some time in the cellar, crafting some rustic saisons with some fun techniques and unique ingredients. Saison is a broad style that really allows a sense of time and place to shine through in the finished beer. The methods we employ and the ingredients we use lend to a unique fermentation and conditioning, which provide a sort of personality to the beer that your olfactory senses can truly interact with. For our base saison, Silo, we wanted to employ some techniques used by some of our favorite farmhouse ale brewers in Belgium. Firstly, we chose to ferment using a yeast similar to that used to ferment Saison Dupont, a benchmark of the style. With the potential for fruity ester production and mildly spicy yet balancing phenolic compounds present in the finished beer, we allowed this fermentation to “free-rise” in a rectangular stainless steel fermentor. The geometry of the vessel as well as the ability for the temperature to increase as heat is produced during primary fermentation lends to that classic saison character we are looking for. Modest