Midwest Legend

Brewer's notes:

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Pro brewers and homebrewers are a collaborative bunch. We don't keep many secrets from each other and if someone asks for help or advice, they'll typically get more than a few eager volunteers. That spirit extends into the community as well. So when my friend and fellow brewer Glenn said he was working with Carson King on a collaborative "charity beer" that would aid farmers impacted by the derecho, I signed up right away.

Brewers understand that beer is a food product and without farmers growing our grain and hops, we wouldn't have any of this delicious liquid food. The derecho was a totally unexpected and devastating event in a year already filled with terrible events. I got off lucky with just a few missing shingles, no power for a few days, and a tree that was pushed over and didn't hit anything. Many farmers weren't so lucky with most or all of their crop destroyed within minutes. Glenn did a better job explaining all of this over here.

Glenn provided a recipe and encouraged participating breweries to put their own spin on it. Coincidentally, I had been in contact with a local farmer on trying out some of his malt and had a lead on some locally grown hops. This was as good of an opportunity as ever. These same farmers were likely affected by the derecho. As for it being a Saison, there's a little history there. Saison is French for "season" and the story goes that farmers would brew a beer with whatever crop was in abundance that year to give to those working the field. These weren't professional brewers so the beers tended to be a little... rustic, and they were never brewed the same way twice due to variations in crop and fermentation temperature. This style is the ultimate expression of terroir.

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Carson King and Glenn came out to Twin Span to help me brew this beer. So we have a beer brewed in a style created by farmers using local crops by Iowan residents using Iowa crops to provide aid to Iowa farmers. Pretty cool... maybe even legendary ;)