The farmhouse ale phenomenon in the United States is a trend that many brewers predicted way back when it wasn’t as cool to seek out one-of-a-kind beers brewed in remote farmhouses in obscure corners of Europe. Interest in these import beers has inspired American craft brewers and homebrewers to take their own stabs at these provincial styles, too.
Shaun E. Hill
Brewmaster at Hill Farmstead Brewery (Greensboro Bend, Vermont)
My choice of farmhouse ales is Saison d’Epeautre, a beautifully dry, highly digestible beer brewed by my favorite little farmhouse brewing family (of mother, father, son) at Brasserie de Blaugies in Blaugies, Belgium. It is perfectly carbonated and highly attenuated—with complex minerality and their distinct yeast character. This beer and the Carlier family are an inspiration.