I like to use seasonal ingredients. Especially if they grow on my land. I always make a nettle beer in the spring (they are almost ready) and my girlfriend and I make dandelion mead every year that we can get the timing right. (it requires quickly picking the blossoms on a sunny day and immediately ripping off just the petals into hot water to steep. It rains a lot this time a year so it often requires taking a day off on short notice if the weekend isn’t sunny. They need to be at peak blossoming to pick a lot fast).
I’ve been thinking of making a saisson soon and we have rhubarb about ready to pick and I have some rye malt so I was thinking Rhubarb Rye saisson. The combination of sour and spicy could work but I’m a bit concerned about the quality of rhubarb’s sourness: its pretty tart, which I believe is from malic acid. I thought maybe cooking it and/or making a syrup out of it first would give me a little more control. Any thoughts on this flavor combo?
I’ve seen other saison recipes with rhubarb. Give it a quick google search and I am sure you will find loads of winners and losers.
sounds intriguing. I love me some rhubarb. saison can stand up to some serious sourness in my opinion. I suppose if you wanted to get crazy you could pitch some malolactic bacteria in secondary to soften some of the malic. maybe with some nelson hops to accentuate the white wine theme or some pacific jade to try to get that subtle blackberry thing. That seems like it would go well with rhubarb. kind of making be drool at this point.
I like that idea. Hmmmm…
Do yo like the idea of this beer or googling? 
Should’ve been more clear :o The idea of a rhubarb saison is pretty interesting. A google saison, not so much.
Rye and rhubarb don’t seem like they would be a good mix to me, but I’ve never had it. Someone at HBT made a rye rhubarb beer and he liked it.
Strawberry rhubarb beer sounds more appealing.
I’m on the fence about the rye, probably not going to use it in this one. It might be one flavor too many. I would like to use it in another saison though.
I don’t really like strawberries in beer and they won’t be ripe around here for another month anyway.
I don’t know about that rhubarb is a subtle flavor aside from the tartness. The spicey rye flavor should go well. saison is one place whet I encourage complexity in the recipe. I think about early saison brewers using what ever sugar sources were in abundance that season. If that meant four our five different sugar sources so be it.
Good points. I probably will go back and forth until I actually brew. I think I’ll pick up a couple good saisons next chance I get for inspiration.
I always brew a spruce tip ale in the spring, since that’s when the tips are fresh and ready for picking. It’s odd to me that most spruce tipped beers are brewed as fall or winter beers. Obviously the spruce tips are vacuum sealed and frozen?
That’s funny. I just picked spruce tips and froze them for my ‘holiday ale’
That’s one I would like to try. I’m bottling the nettle beer today. best way to get your vitamins IMO and very refreshing and sessionable as the days get hotter.
I’ve had a rhubarb saison before from someone in my brew club and it was exceptional! I agree with majority and say forget the rye. I wouldn’t attempt to make a rhubarb syrup, I would simply start with a smaller amount and then pull a sample. If you want more tartness, add more rhubarb. I will say that it dri items added predominant tart characters, but it wasn’t out of style. That’s also controllable by the amount you use. Good luck!
I finally got around to making the rhubarb saison and went with the rye after all. I think the spiciness of the rye will complement the saison yeast. I used rye for 15% of the grain bill and the hydrometer sample seemed to have just what I wanted in that regard. My only regret is that this is the first time using belle saison and it might be hard to discern exactly what flavors are coming from the yeast for future reference given all that’s going on with this beer.