Saisons varied around the region, their flavors altered to suit local tastes. Miners and smelters liked them rich and strong; farmhands, or saisonniers, preferred something light and dry. Those preferences split Wallonia’s beer, like its economic activity, in two: the malty Bière de Garde (“beer to store,” so called for its longevity) and its crisper cousin known simply as saison, for the seasonal farmworkers who most enjoyed it. Flavors
