Every year, we strive to make your December the most memorable month of the year. To achieve this, we pour our energy into creating the most exciting beer advent calendar: Beery Christmas. If you’re reading this, it means you’ve already got your Beery (or maybe not—but you might regret it!) and you want to learn more about your beer of the day. So let’s skip the small talk and dive straight in, because your first beer of the adventure has plenty to reveal: Saison Sur Mer by Dois Corvos.
Dois Corvos
To launch Beery Christmas, let’s leave the winter chill behind and head to sunny Portugal. There, in Lisbon’s coastal suburb of Marvila, we meet Dois Corvos, an innovative brewery that has quickly become one of the most respected on the Iberian Peninsula. In fact, it was crowned Best Brewery in Portugal by RateBeer in 2017. With its close and symbolic connection to the sea, it feels only natural that they would present us with Saison Sur Mer for this year’s Beery Christmas. After acclaimed creations like Into The Woods, Finisterra, Metropolitan, and Creature, we didn’t hesitate to include this special brew in the calendar—especially since we needed something truly unique to start this journey in style.
Saison Sur Mer
Saison Sur Mer is an extraordinary oak-aged beer, matured first in red wine barrels for four years, then in Moscato white wine barrels for two more years, creating a refined and layered blend. Pouring a golden-yellow color with a thick, fluffy white head, this Saison bursts with aromas of spices, pepper, herbs, yeast, and plum. Its smooth texture and moderate carbonation bring balance to its complex flavors, which are at once woody, spicy, sweet, and rich.
Brewed with traditional Belgian yeast, it reveals those intriguing aromas sometimes described as “farmhouse-like,” offering subtle notes reminiscent of leather or even medicine—but in a perfectly controlled way that adds character. This makes Saison Sur Mer a beer that rewards exploration: you may need more than one tasting to appreciate all its nuances, but every sip expands your understanding of what beer can be.
The Saison style
Historically, Saison beers were brewed during the colder months in Wallonia, the French-speaking region of Belgium. They were designed to refresh farm workers in summer, who were once allocated up to five liters of beer per day. Since that quantity of beer required moderation, early Saisons had a very low alcohol content—around 3%. Today, the style has evolved with higher ABV, more hops, and bottle refermentation for added depth and complexity.
Tasting advice
Best served at around 10°C in a tulip glass.
Food pairing: excellent with seafood or a refreshing lemon sorbet.
Alcohol abuse is dangerous for your health. Please drink responsibly.
Discover other beers and breweries : The White Hag, the supernatural Irish brewery, René, a historic beer from Armentières in northern France and Brett Extravaganza Farmhouse Beer from the Danish brewery Amager.
