Farmhouse Ales vs Saisons?

I was under the impression a Saison was a Belgian Farmhouse. (roughly)

 

As near as I can tell whether it's labeled Farmhouse or Saison depends on if the brewer already has a Farmhouse or Saison in their line up. If they have both then it's labeled a Grisette.

 

Saison is a "Farmhouse" style.
Brew beer with the grain and hops and yeast that is available.

Other farmhouse beers can be:

• Biere de garde
• Sahti/ Gotlandsdricka

And with many beers you have offshoots like the Grisette ( lower abv lighter body cousin of the Saison)

 

I consider them to be the same general style... Perhaps I'm wrong? I know I love them....

 

Saison and Farmhouse Ale are the same thing, two different names. https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/style/129/

Styles with two names: Milk/Sweet Stout, Scotch/Wee Heavy, California Common/Steam Beer, Bière de Champagne/Bière Brut and others.

 

Saisons of course were beers brewed to be drunk in quantity at harvest time,typically around 3% ABV.

 

I do enjoy this beer style! When I find one that isn't overly boozy it's a real treat. I really enjoy Michael Jackson's writings on beer here's a Saison story

If I'm not mistaken the Saison style almost died out when the birth of microbreweries helped revive it. When that happened though the ABV shot up to the much higher 5-8% which in my opinion is too strong for this beer. I prefer the I just finished doing yard work and it's hot refreshing dry beer style of saison.

 

I agree with @Relik that Farmhouse Ale is a superset of beers while Saison is a subset of the Farmhouse Ales. So, in other words a Saison is a Farmhouse Ale but there are other beer styles that are Farmhouse Ales.

Cheers!

 

From December '12: https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/are-saisons-and-farmhouse-ales-the-same-thing.54338/

 

if there is a difference, I'm sure it's negligible

 

I love saisons but I agree the ABV has become too high generally. I struggle to find decent saisons under 6.0% ABV.

 

You may enjoy reading possibly the best thread on BA from 2016, https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/the-750-saison.429632/
Lots of education here.

 

You can get an overall sense from the forward/intro (which you can get most of as a freebie Amazon preview) to this book:

https://www.amazon.com/Farmhouse-Ales-Culture-Craftsmanship-Tradition/dp/0937381845

The book itself is a decent, if a bit convoluted, read that delves deep into the history. It follows a few too many tangents for my taste, but it is informative. I don't know if there is a full copy in an on-line format.

For all intents and purposes, the interpretation that Farmhouse Ale is the "superset" or family category and other things fall into that category is correct and seems to be generally agreed upon. Kind of like taxonomy where common genera of organisms are grouped under a family.

 

@zid your being paged for your expertise and comment!.....

 

This is just opinion, but I don't think there's a right or wrong here.

People shouldn't over-interpret the slashes in the BeerAdvocate style listings. You can't apply a universal logic to these. Note that "Saison / Farmhouse Ale" is a style here but "Biere de Garde" is solo... even though some subscribe to the idea that saison and biere de garde are both types of "farmhouse ale."

You'll see "farmhouse ale" used as:
- another word for saison
- a top category that includes saison and biere de garde
- a term for any beer brewed on a farm
- a term that signifies very traditional or pre-industrial techniques

Which is correct? I don't know of anything saying one way or the other.
Note that some people might use the term in one of the ways above, but would never use it for one of the other ways.

For me, I use the term "saison" as a style term.
If I say "Farmhouse Ales," I'm referring to the title of a book. That's just me.

Just to make things even less definitive, if I was hypothetically gonna use the term farmhouse in reference to specific beers, I'd say "farmhouse beers."

 

IMO the term "farmhouse ale" just markets and sells really well. It gives one the image of a beer made with well water in the country, organic/fresh ingredients and from a process and recipe from a simpler time in the past. Saison is a foreign French word and sounds like a snooty high-brow beer. Sure, there is a demographic that is attracted to that as well, but just a smaller demographic.

Wondering if "Industrial Park ale" will ever become a thing? :-)

 

There are a wealth of farmhouse type ales in other places besides Belgium. Even here, saison is the classical, but not really the only type of, farmhouse brew. Some saison-making farms would, and do, make other beers besides that for the harvest season (a.k.a. la saison). It's funny to hear it described as snooty and high brow because in its home market, it's the most workaday of beers.

To me, both terms suggest a sort of rough-hewn and wholesome beer, and saison specifically a light and quaffable one. But the Belgian makers I've heard on the topic (a decently representative sample) all allow for a wide variation of materials and flavors.

 

Probably just my perception, based on beers I've had and whether or not they were labeled as Saison vs Farmhouse, but to me a get a more "any-thing goes" feeling from beers labeled farmhouse, at least in the todays market.

I tend to notice more "basic" flavors with beers labeled Saison. Yeasty, bready, grainy, and dry. Maybe some spice qualities, be it phenols or added spice. Think Saison DuPont type beers, or a drier more robust witbeer. Whereas with farmhouse ales I noticed they tend to be a little funkier, might feature dark malts and the associated flavors, more commonly brett spike (though not always). More of an umbrella.

As a disclaimer, I am not saying this is a hard definition or anything, just a generalization or a trend. Obviously there are brett beers labeled as Saisons, there are farmhouse ales with no brett, but just my perception of tendencies based on my experiences.

 

Much like the RIS vs. American Imperial Stout debate, there may have once been a difference but now it's mainly a matter of marketing.