More Roads: Rethinking Farmhouse Ales

I think any conceptualization of the history of farmhouse brewing in north western Europe needs to be broad enough to encompass beers of varying malt to beer ratios, i.e varying original gravities, and the brewing of young and old beers. The abv and dryness would be impacted by both the original gravity of the wort as well as the lenght of primary and secondary fermentation. And no doubt there are country/region/locality specific peculiarities to be discovered here in terms of brewing practises, as well as cultural differences with respects to drinking customs, holidays, the culture in general. His shorthand conceptualization strikes me as much too narrow, even as he makes allowances for a continued broadening of our understanding of brewing in the past.

The domestic Swedish beer since before the introduction of lager beer in the 1840s had been top fermented and using smoked malt. This type of beer became known as svensköl, or Swedish beer. Two representatives of this pre-lager era heritage of brewing which survived in Sweden up until the early 1900s was Christmas beer (julöl) and small beer (svagdricka). One was a holiday specific type of beer and the other an everyday type of beer. Both kinds were still being brewed by lager beer breweries who catered to the market which still existed for these kinds of beers. The Christmas beers of the early 1900s were high gravity, around 15-17% plato, and very weakly hopped. The small beer was around 6% plato and also very weakly hopped. They were typically top fermented, the small beer especially, but some breweries started brewing their Christmas beer with bottom fermenting yeast. When fermented with top fermenting yeast they were low attenuated, this was a defining feature of commercially produced svensköl according to governmental reports by the late 1800s, even compared to the relatively low attenuated lager beer and pilsner beer of that time (compared with the even higher attenuated English ales). No doubt a lack of long secondary fermentation/aging contributed to this.

Here we might interject that it is also important to take into consideration differences which may have existed throughout the centuries in drinking customs in different parts of the world. We have today the concept of a vodka belt and a wine belt in Europe, of heavy episodic drinking versus more moderate but frequent drinking. Based on my readings of historical brewing in Sweden and of the agricultural society which surrounded it, the brewing of weak beer was not an expression of temperance, but of poverty and frugality. Celebrations/social or community gatherings (weddings, funerals, harvests, house constructions) and holidays called for feasts, in food and drink, in stark contrast with the frugal existence that most people had to lead the rest of the year by necessity. Only the king and his court, the nobility, priests and peasants with large land holdings would have had the resources to eat and drink as they pleased.

To me it seems only logical that this would lead to immense problems once home distilling of spirits was popularized and a new and abundant crop was introduced of which to make it from (the potato), many farmers now had ready access to strong drink in vastly larger quantities and many made use of it in excess (mirroring perhaps today's abundant availability of fatty and sugary foods, allowing for feasts all year round, and the resulting obesity problems). It built on the culture which was already in place.

My point being that this dynamic of feast and famine in peasant societies, and the brewing of different beers for different purposes, needs to be taken into account when thinking about this topic.

 

Thanks for posting. I need to read this book.

 

I briefly talked to Phil Markowski about the book and it seemed like the thing at the forefront of his mind was how outdated it had become since the scene changes so rapidly. I like it just the way it is though. Nobody today would describe the aroma of Saison Dupont as “full of tropical fruits.” It’s a snapshot of that moment in time and not worse off for it.

 

Interesting article, I haven't read Mr Markowski's book but I will definitely be on the lookout for.the new book from.Mr Garshol.
"Farmhouse" is definitely such a loose.term that it doesn't convey much information as a category. This is an area that I'd like to see some usage of the various indigenous style names to convey the combination of techniques and ingredients. That obviously causes problems of needing to educate consumers before.the terms are.meaningful but I tend to think that if.you are going all in on these more esoteric styles.you need to accept that your audience is beer nerds who want to learn the history and lean into that approach to marketing

 

I actually own this book. I have not physically read it in about 3-4 years so I can not remember anything specifically remarkable. That being said though I would still recommend anybody read it. The history alone and terroir ( I guess you can say terroir) was and is still so drastic in the area where farmers are home brewing for their personal consumption. I do remember it being incredibly interesting and I love historical stuff like that as well. I’ll have to search for it. I’d buy it again if I can’t find it.

 

I kinda feel like that quote was cherry-picked. Farmhouse brewing existed throughout the beer belt of Europe throughout recorded history, and would likely have many different interpretations.

In the English countryside, they brewed 2 or 3 beers from the same mash, each weaker than the other. The stronger beer from the first running would also be sweeter than the weak beers from the 3rd running. Hell, they were throwing beans into the grist.

The pumpkin beers that are so popular nowadays have their origin in the fact that you couldn't get malt in the American Colonies. The famous George Washington Small Beer contains no actual fermentables from grain

Are the Zwickelbiers of the Germanic Alps less of a farmhouse beer because they use bottom fermentation?

If you read the whole article to get the context, it seems like Markowski knows what he's talking about and acknowledges that his book isn't the final word. There's a lot of new info out there, and remember, it wasn't that long ago that IPA and porter were considered dead styles. What some curmudgeons in Norway or Lithuania are still keeping alive isn't something that was in the discourse until recently.

That quote, I feel, is meant to describe the daily drink of folks on the farm as refreshment, since water was suspect as a source of sickness (remember, this is before Pasteur), and not a statement saying that sweeter, higher alcohol beers aren't farmhouse. Of course folks on the farm brewed bigger beers for celebrations, and he even goes into that somewhat in his book. Refreshing, low-alcohol beers meant for consumption by the gallon throughout the day were fairly universal in the beer brewing world until the industrial revolution.

 

Interesting article, for a guy that wrote the book on Farmhouse Ales he certainly doesn't make a lot of them! Its been about 4 years or so since I had their Worker's Comp Saison, I think that was when I first started to appreciate the style so I'll have to go back and retry it.

What makes Farmhouse Ales/Saisons interesting also makes them somewhat difficult to market (e.g. the wide variances). I've seen a few breweries re-name their Saisons to something like Farmhouse Pale Ale since people tend to understand what a Pale Ale is but don't really know what a Saison/Farmhouse Ale is or perhaps have different expectations due to the large variance in what they taste like.

 

Definitely want to get my hands on Garshol's book, though. Been using kveik yeasts for a few years, and brewed my first beer with a Lithuanian farmhouse strain a few weeks ago. I know a decent enough amount of homebrewers are trying out the no-boil method. More than one way to skin a cat, we all have to find the way that works best for ourselves.

 

It is an interesting article. I read the book a few years ago and its still a good book. Keep in mind that with a book you spend years writing it and then spend time selling it to a publisher and then it takes a while to get it into print and onto book shelves so it it pretty much out of date by the time it gets into the reader's hands. What is fun about the craft beer scene is that people are learning and experimenting and coming up with interesting beers all the time.