Farmhouse Ales: Culture and Craftsmanship in the Belgian Tradition

by Phil Markowski

Farmhouse Ales defines the results of years of evolution, refinement, of simple rustic ales in modern and historical terms, while guiding today's brewers toward credible--and enjoyable--reproductions of these old world classics.

Genres: Brewing, Beer, Nonfiction, Reference, History, Alcohol

198 pages, Paperback

First published November 17, 2004

Reviews

[Rob · Rating 5 out of 5]

In a nutshell: a great history of the bière de garden and saison styles, and lots of interesting information about both historical and modern brewing ingredients and techniques, and I feel pretty confident saying that it may have changed the way I think about brewing.

[Craig Evans · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pleasant read, with a bit of history and a bit of current brewing technology.
Makes me realized how little I really know about the process and chemistry of brewing.

[Padraic · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful read. A book about the beers, styles and brewing traditions of Belgian and French farmhouse ales and lagers.

It covers the history of farmhouse brewing and delves into the specificities of Bierre de Garde and Saison, seeking to disentangle commercial marketing from brewing tradition whilst understanding that styles have not frozen in time and change with innovations in brewing and refrigeration technology.

An excellent and inspirational book to read if you are trying to brew any of these styles yourself. Yvan de Baets essay on 'A history of Saison' is especially good.

[Ash · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book with good history and brewing advice, but a little short.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good informative read.

[Josh Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Learned a lot about saison & BdG

[Greg Sheppard · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my favorite styles of beer. Bought this to improve my home brew game which became a small rural microbrewery - Crooked Rooster Brews.

[Lana Svitankova · Rating 4 out of 5]

Не те, щоб розважальна, але дуже пізнавальна книжка, присвячена історії, особдивостям, рецептурам, комерційним зразкам і практичним порадам про два стилі - bier de garde i saison. Чтиво для тих, хто цікавиться історією поглиблено і варить.

[Flávio Sousa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Even before i ever got a taste of it, the idea of a light and spritzy brew that could flaunt complexity and idiosyncrasy akin to that of a rich white Burgundy has always intrigued me. Farmhouse ales / Saisons are not rigidly defined styles of beer, but rather a multitude of practices, ingredients and processes splashed across (and in some cases, specific of) different geographical and cultural spheres of influence.

What this gives rise to, is a wide range of loosely tied organoleptic profiles under a single cryptic category, that frustrate beer drinkers as much as it fills them with reverence.

On the very quest of enlightening myself on all things Farmhousey, i decided on buying this book and in retrospect while i feel the author(s) did a decent job at illustrating the essence of Saisons and other Farmhouse Ales, the book does come across as unfocused, disjointed and at times poorly written.

Taking a broad undefinable style and try and define it while at the same time constantly assert why such isn't possible makes for a tiring and frustrating reading experience. Some chapters (most notably the last) are filler at best, with little to no relevance as far as understanding the style is concerned.

On the upside, there are some spectacular tidbits of historical information and insight into the many different interpretations of the style not only throughout different countries but also regionally between different brewers.

I hate to rate this so (relatively) poorly because to be honest the writer couldn't have done that much better of a job. I just can't shake the feeling that something more meaningful could have come out of all this research. If you're going to cover styles that vary greatly across regions and aren't rigidly defined why not go the extra mile and just cover all long gone styles of Belgium/France even if generically?

Having said all that, it's still an affordable book that pontificates on a topic seldom referenced in brewing / beer literature.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book found my radar when I was looking for a grisette recipe to make myself in an effort to replicate the beer Sly Fox started making a few years back. Someone on a message board contributed a recipe from this book along with the recommendation. It's not only a good brewing book, but it's a good read. It gives ample historical, cultural and tasting notes on the beer styles examined, not just a set of mash temperatures and hop schedules, which means it might be of interest to you if you like reading about beer even if you don't brew yourself and it's well enough written to keep all of that interesting (those two things are the mark of a superior BA publication in my opinion). My small quibble would be that there isn't a lot of book here- my edition is 198 pages and it takes an ample use of illustrations to stretch it that far. The illustrations are wonderful and appropriate (with the possible exception of the fact that the same Brassarie DuPont image was used three times throughout the book). The other quibble I'd make would be with some of the units in the recipe section that slide between barrel and homebrew sizes and between English and metric units, but don't always include both on every conversion and sometimes drift into the nonsensical grams/liter ratio. An astute reader might see some things that have changed in craft and home brewing since this book was published in 2004, among them a welcome return of interest in session beers, which these farmhouse ales often are at heart.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

I give this book a 3 because it is hard to give any reference book anything else.

It has a lot of good information in it. I really liked hearing about the rural practices of farm brewing, where a farmer gave liquid refreshment to his seasonal workers in the form of beer. Liquid bread that, due to its boil time greatly decreased the risk of common waterborne pathogens, while maintaining crispness that refreshed and fortified.

Damn, but I could use that at work now and again.

The only thing that I was not entirely engaged in with the book was its repetitively. The basics were driven into the ground relentlessly. Perhaps it was because there is very little else to say on a subject that has very little written record and was passed down between generations like a cooking recipe.

Ultimately though, I learned a lot and am glad that I have added this book to my library.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super fun, if you're into saisons. Definitely enjoyed this, and will go back to it. Great tips/hints, not too technical but not beginner-level. Also no ulterior motive, no agenda, just here's the facts, here's the history. I wish the book would have been longer, but I guess there's only so much you can say about saisons? One thing that might have been cool would have been more American examples, though the book's pushing ten years old . . . whatever. Great for anyone into brewing beers, and specifically saisons.

[Doug · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick but interesting read. To me, the most interesting parts were the histories of bier de garde and saison, as those were as much a history of farmhouse brewing in Belgium and France as a story of the development of the styles. The technical sections are interesting as a source of suggestions, though with loosely defined styles such as these the authors would be hard pressed to put forth anything but a set of general guidelines.

[c wylie misselhorn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Phil Markowski does a fine job of covering two of the most popular Belgian/French beer styles in this book at a level that is not only informative but also entertaining. Being a homebrewer, I am fascinated by the history, tasting notes, and brewing recipes provided, and cannot wait to look for some of the varieties mentioned, as well as attempt to brew my own.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really good reference on French and Belgian Farmhouse Ales. There are some minor editing problems, and an occasional tendency to mix metric and English measurements, but these are just quibbles. I'd like to see an updated version, particularly with some newer beers listed as more American brewers are making these styles of beers.

[William Graney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another level deeper into brewing madness. Helpful for me as these styles are a direction I plan on taking in my home brewing. There's a lot of info on water chemistry, yeast strains, etc. so probably not of much interest to the more casual beer aficionado.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this was a informative book on the topic of both Saisons and Biere de Garde. I really enjoyed learning the specific details on the history and brewing techniques of the two styles. The book is relatively short but covered a lot of topics.

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author noticeably favors, or is at least more knowledgeable on, biere de garde vs saisons in this assessment of farmhouse ales, but I still found it a fascinating and enlightening read. A must for home brewers undertaking farmhouse styles.

[Paul Klammer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Looking forward to applying what i learned. Good reference/guidance re spirit of these styles. Info tree fermenting and DuPont yeast will be very helpful. I may look into red wine fermentation as a result of reading this.

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's great content in this book about brewing Saison and Biere de Garde but its organization leads to some redundancy.

[Michael Florez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Belgian/French beer made easy.

[Gabriel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Focuses on basically just two beer styles - Biere de Garde and Saison. Excellent resource for history and brewing techniques for more traditionally rustic beers

[Diego · Rating 4 out of 5]

yes, well done. learn more about culture e brewing the farmhouse ales, interesting stuff in this book.

[Jeremy Mitchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

nice look at the history of farmhouse ales with good information. on how they may be brewed and have been brewed in the past.

[Andrew]

If you plan on brewing Biere de Garde or Saison you definitely should be reading this book.

[John Hubbard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as the Monk book from this series but good.