What is this Craft Beer? Farmhouse Ales
Farmhouse Ales seem like a very nebulous category to many, and rightly so. Even the BJCP and Brewers Association descriptions vary widely in color, alcoholic strength, and flavor profile for Saison, Grisette, Bière de Garde, and other Farmhouse or Rustic beer styles. To truly understand this, we need to look back and understand what Farmhouse ales truly are.
Farmhouse ales are called this because they were initially brewed on the farm. They were brewed to slake the thirst of the farmworkers after working out in the fields. Even the name “Saison” (which means “season” in French) invokes the time of year where the harvest needed to be brought in, which is when Farmhouse ales were traditionally served. Because the beer was brewed on the farm and not necessarily in a traditional commercial brewery, this implies two things:
1. Whatever grains were available were used in the grist of the beer. Other grains like wheat, oats, spelt, and rye were used to supplement malted barley because they were available on hand and didn’t necessarily need to be purchased elsewhere. These adjuncts not only added different flavors to the beer, but also varying levels of body, mouthfeel, and color, as well as a hazy appearance.
2. They did not have the same brewing technology that commercial breweries typically employed, which affected many characteristics of the beer. Even after the invention and development of mechanical refrigeration and the use of pure yeast cultures, most farmhouse brewers employed open fermentation with no temperature control. This allowed wild yeast and bacteria to ferment the beer, creating funky, leathery, and tart flavors. Even the non-wild yeast seems to be unique as they tend to prefer much higher fermentation temperatures compared to common ale strains. Lack of modern equipment also forced Farmhouse brewers to create equipment based on the equipment they already owned for farming or cooking, or from what they could create by hand. This also influenced how they milled, mashed, boiled, and fermented their beers.
Because there were no set styles or even a common list of ingredients, this group of styles has a lot of overlap and can be hard to define.
Saison
Saison is the most well-known of the farmhouse ales and traditionally centered around the southern Wallonia region of Belgium. These beers were meant to refresh farm workers after bringing in the harvest with their refreshing tart acidity, dry finish, and high carbonation.
Color: They are typically pale in color (5 to 14 SRM), though darker versions (15 to 22 SRM) do exist
Strength: Range from table strength (3.5% abv) to “super” levels (9.5% abv)
Bitterness: Low to Moderate bitterness with an herbal and/or earthy hop profile
Grain: Typically uses non-traditional cereal grains like wheat, oats, spelt, and rye, in addition to malted barley
Fermentation: Typically fermented with multiple strains of yeast. These typically include Brettanomyces (a common wild yeast strain that creates notes of leather and “barnyard”) and/or souring bacteria. Non-wild yeast creates fruity flavors of apple, pear, and banana with a slight black pepper finish. The beer should finish dry with high carbonation and not be sweet at all.
Bière de Garde
What Saison is to southern Belgium, Bière de Garde is to northern France. Bière de Garde was originally very similar to Saison, as the areas are close geographically, and was initially described as an acidic vat-aged beer (“Bière de Garde” literally means beer to keep). But their combined history began to split after two World Wars decimated French brewing. When the style was revived in the 1970s, it was closer to a cleaner, dark, malt-forward beer, as it had been heavily influenced by lagers of Europe, sometimes even using lager yeasts.
Color: Can be pale to amber to brown colored (6 to 19 SRM)
Strength: Moderate level of alcohol, but should not come across as “hot” (6.0 to 8.5% abv)
Bitterness: Low to moderate bitterness as the malt is the key element for this style.
Grain: High malt flavor with notes of toast, caramel, and/or toffee. Malt flavor should be lightly sweet, but not cloyingly so.
Fermentation: Though initially brewed with ale yeasts, some versions now employ lager yeasts. Either way, the beer should have a clean fermentation profile.
Grisette
Grisette is another style from the same Wallonia region of Belgium as Saison. What Saison was to farmworkers, Grisette was to the miners of the region. The style is practically extinct, but old records indicate that it was refreshing like Saison, but was lower in alcohol and had a more clean character than the funky and tart flavors of Saison.
Color: Typically were blond or gold in color, but some historical versions had an amber-colored beer as well, resultant of long boils.
Strength: Typically low abv (3.0 to 5.0% abv)
Bitterness: Likely a moderate amount of bitterness as the beer was described as refreshing like Saison but without any lactic acidity
Grain: Similar to Saison in that it typically uses non-traditional cereal grains like wheat, oats, spelt, and rye, in addition to malted barley
Fermentation: Clean fermentation character, as opposed to the funky and tart character of Saison.
Others
Though most modern Farmhouse beers are associated with Belgium and France, other countries around Europe have rich histories of Farmhouse-style beers too, especially in the Northern regions. Even unique yeast strains have been rediscovered, including the Norwegian Kveik yeast, a high-temperature-tolerant ale strain that creates a neutral fermentation profile without lagering.
Sahti (Finland): A high strength (7 to 11% abv) beer brewed with rye and juniper with a banana-clove fermentation profile, similar to German Weizen yeast.
Gotlandsdricke (Sweden): A smoky beer from the Gotland island of Sweden made with birch-kilned malt, juniper, and home-grown hops.
Kvass/Kali/Kalja/Gira (Northeastern Europe): An extremely low abv (or no abv) beer made with rye bread and baking flour. The flavor profile can range from sourdough-like acidity to sweet if anything has been added to tone down the flavor.
Keptinis (Lithuania): A deep brown raw ale with no bitterness, made by baking the mash at high temperatures into loaves. The loaves are then broken up and rinsed with water before separating the liquid prior to fermentation.
Koduõlu (Estonia): A dark brown, hazy ale, similar to Keptinis, made with baked rye malt bread loaves.
Sur (Northeastern Russia): Typically brewed by the Komi people of Russia, an ale similar to Keptinis, as the mash is basked in loaves and then rinsed with water prior to fermentation.
Saura (Western Russia): A dark roasty ale made by the Chuvashian people (women were typically the brewers) using a combination of rye, barley, millet, and/or wheat, typically oven-dried during the malting process.
Gammeltøl (Denmark): A high-strength “old ale” brewed in the Spring and kept until harvest-time. Typically more bitter than normal ales.
Størdalsøl (Denmark): A fairly sweet, malt-forward, dark-colored ale made with alder-smoked malts and a clean non-Kveik yeast. Typically 6.5 to 8.5% abv in strength with light natural carbonation and low bitterness.
Heimabrygg/Vossaøl (Western Norway): A dark red to brown ale flavored with juniper branches and colored caramelized wort from long boils. Also utilizes local Kveik yeast for a clean fermentation profile.
Kornøl (Norway): A pale, hazy, raw ale made with juniper-infused water and Kveik yeast, sometimes with smoked malts.
At Funky Picnic, we have only brewed a handful of Farmhouse ales (all Saisons) and will be brewing another for our beer dinner on January 24th with chef Victor Villarreal from La Onda. Since we will be pairing it with seafood, we needed a beer that was less intense and lower strength, not to overpower the more delicate fish dishes. We landed on a table-strength Saison, since it was not too strong in alcohol or too intense in flavor, allowing the lighter flavors of seafood to shine through the pairing. We also wanted to add a soft subtle citrus note to the beer, so we added charred citrus fruit to the boil and used German Mittelfruh and Herbruscker hops for a slight herbal and stone fruit character. Towards the end of fermentation, we pitched wild Brettanomyces yeast to give it a traditional funky dry complexity, common in most Saisons. This result is a light, dry, fruity, sessionable beer intently designed to perfectly pair with seafood.
Make sure to get your tickets now, because it is not guaranteed to last long beyond the beer dinner!
For more information on Farmhouse-style beers, read Phil Markowski’s book, Farmhouse Ales: Culture and Craftsmanship in the Belgian Tradition, and Lars Garshol’s blog, Larsblog at www.garshol.priv.no/blog.
Author: Collin Zreet
Collin Zreet is a native Texan and is a founding member and co-owner of Funky Picnic Brewery and Café. He is a Certified Cicerone and Certified BJCP Beer Judge, specializing in beer and food pairings. When he is not thinking about beer, he enjoys spending time with his wife, Taylor, and dog, Rocco.