Farmhouse Ale Style Guidelines. Thanks to Garshols work the terms farmhouse beer or farmhouse ale can now be used for brews that sound very little like traditional saison or bière de garde. Related to the Belgian Saison style the main difference is that the Bière de Garde is rounder richer sweeter malt-focused often has a cellar character and lacks the spicing and tartness of a Saison.
The following beer recipe is featured in the JanuaryFebruary 2005 issue of Zymurgy magazine. They are primarily cozy and comfortable and not at all stuffy or formal. Farmhouse style is very approachable and comfortable.
Its a flexible term that points to a brewing philosophy rather than a specific style of beer.
Lager or ale yeast fermented at cool ale temperatures followed by long cold conditioning. Instead it is full-bodied and hearty slightly fruity unabashedly strong in alcohol and has a medium hoppiness but with a powerfully malty almost Port-like finish. Most commonly a pale refreshing highly-attenuated moderately-bitter moderate-strength Belgian ale with a very dry finish. The term Farmhouse Ale is an overarching classification encompassing and unifying many unique substyles of beers including funky styles like Saison Sahti Gotlandsdricka Biere de Garde and others.
