From Paul, our beer vendor [Ed.: ale-monger?] extraordinaire of Bury St. Edmunds, England, comes notes on a beer from Belgium's Brasserie de Silly Brouwerij called Silly Saison:

This very fine Belgium beer is a dark amber colour, with a creamy head. It has a malty, slightly sweet toffee flavour with only a slight bitter aftertaste. Callard & Bowsers in a bottle ! Very moreish. Don't be put off by the name. No sediment. 5.0%. As good, if not better than Innis & Gunn!

Saison is one of those styles you do not hear about every day. Pierre Rajotte in his 1992 book Belgian Ale indicates that saisons and Belgian ales can all be compared but that saisons may have an note of acidity about them and are certainly less hoppy than a British pale ale. The first sip, he writes, "fills your mouth with mellow, fruity, smoothness." Michael Jackson in the 1977 edition of his book The World Guide to Beers states that saisons are from southern Belgium, French Walloonia and that they are yeastier when compared to hoppier English pale ales on one hand and the clean malt profile of a German alt beer. Worth discovering.