American-Style-X on label

You're over thinking this.

It's meant to brewed in similar fashion/taste to a belgian farmhouse ale, but not brewed in belgium. Therefore Belgian "style".

The other stuff is just added on top of it.

 

if you took out the strawberries, honey, and pepper. What would you have?

 

ISO: American-Style-X! FT:Belgian-American-Style-DIPA.

 

Isn't that what the labels display along the side of all the sisters?

 

So if they use a Belgian yeast strain and brew a saison, you are saying they should add "American-Style" before it all the time?
I think that's overkill and not necessarily needed.

 

There's absolutely no need for U.S. breweries to label their beers "American" unless the style of beer they're making usually originates from somewhere else (it would be redundant). Saisons/farmhouse ales are originally from belgium using belgium yeast. Stillwater called their beer "American farmhouse" because they probably didnt use any belgian yeast and therefore want to differentiate it from tasting like a traditional farmhouse ale.

 

If I read Belgian Farmhouse Style Ale on a label, what I take away from that is that it will be Saison "like" in flavor or brewed in a similar manor to a Saison. So I guess I don't see the problem.

Does it also bother/confuse you when a non west coast brewery brews a west coast style IPA?

 

Pretty Things does this with their Jack D'or saison. Nice beer.

 

I'm in favor of setting things up in the following way.

Two examples:

First a Saison..

If the beer is brewed in Belgium it should say something like Saison/Farmhouse Ale.
If the beer is brewed in the US and has a target or goal of being like a Belgian Saison the label should say Belgian-style Saison.
And if the beer is brewed in the US with the inspiration for the beer beginning in the Saison/Farmhouse Ale but then involves exploration/experimentation/innovation the label should say American-Style Saison/Farmhouse Ale to alert me to the fact that what I'm looking at isn't one of the other two and is an attempt to do something unique or different. In this case, if the beer has, say, strawberries or raspberries in it I'm happy to look that up or find it for myself, but I want to know that without doing so I'm gambling, and that in whether I gamble or do my homework I should not expect a classic verson of a Saison.

Second a Dopplebock (with much less verbiage)...

If a Dopplebock is brewed in Germany I'm fine with it being labeled Doppelbock.
If the beer is brewed in the US and shoots to be like the German Dopplebocks it should say German-style Doppelbock.
And if it the beer is brewed in the US and uses, say American C hops, the label should say American-style Doppelbock

 

I think part of his his point is that you shouldn't have to guess or assume that they "probably didn't use any Belagian yeast." You should be able to find that out from the label or with a wee bit of homework.

 

Perhaps you haven't made a clear and distinct enough statement of the purpose of the thread then? Because by reading your initial post I don't exactly know what you want or are getting at.

 

What I read him saying or asking for is something like the categorization/lableing scheme I proposed above. It respects both style and location. E.g., Sparking wine can be made anywhere. Champagne only comes from a region in France.

An extension of this exists in that some American brewers call their beers Wild Ales rather than Lambics, leaving that designation to a particular region in Belgium.

 

Do I think a beer that tastes like Strawberry's is a saison? No I don't but I do think a saison that tastes like Strawberry's is.

Do you think a barley wine that tastes like bourbon (say BA old knumbskull for example) is still a barleywine?

Just too be clear on my stance and the stance BA holds currently is that adding adjuncts to beers does not change the style descriptor. HotD Otto is an American strong ale despite the fact its barrel aged and had two different kinds of fruit in it. I can name a million examples but basically if you put a monkey in a tuxedo its still a monkey.