A while back, I wrote an article about saisons and used an image of a farmhouse. In that article (which you should read if you didn’t already), you might have thought to yourself that saisons are farmhouse ales.
If we start to bucket saisons and farmhouse ales as the same type of brew, then we need to ask ourselves: what is a farmhouse ale? What’s the difference between farmhouse beers and saisons? What’s the meaning behind naming these beers? What’s the point of anything?
Before we tread down that existential path, let’s start with the basics: creating an arbitrary definition for farmhouses. And no, not that the big red kind that you find on farms, though we should sit down and do that sometime.
What Makes a Beer a Farmhouse Ale?
Farmhouses are ales, as opposed to lagers. Back in the day, hundreds of years ago in Europe, farmers would have tons of grain. Instead of using all of that grain just for bread, farmers decided to make beer, too.
Farmhouse ales came about as the beers that farmers would make in their farmhouses. But why would farmers go through the effort of making beer? Well, aside from the obvious reason (to enjoy alcohol), check out this spicy nugget from Wikipedia:
“This was in a time when it was safer to drink beer than water.”
Woof.
So, farmers from countries like France and Belgium would brew farmhouse beers to stay alive. And now we get to meticulously judge the quality of their farmhouse descendants!
Ok, back on track. We know what made beer farmhouses, but what currently makes a beer a farmhouse ale? Like most things in life, the answer is open-ended and largely unsatisfying: the brewer calls it one.
Sure, brewers can adhere to traditional farmhouse brewing methods like using wild, tamed, and even feral yeasts, and they can even brew their beers in beautiful red barns. But at the end of the day, farmhouse ales generally just have a common profile with each other.
It’s sort of like when you drink an IPA and say, “Oh ya, that’s an IPA.” Then your girlfriend says, “How do you know it’s an IPA?” and you reply, “Because it’s more India than a pale ale.” But also because it has strong hoppy notes and flavors and appeals to people all over, as an IPA does.
What Does a Farmhouse Ale Taste Like?
Farmhouse ales tend to be more bitter and tart than a traditional ale, but without being as sour as something like a sour ale. The flavor comes from the hops, but malt flavor in farmhouse ales is pretty common. The yeasts in farmhouses tend to eat lots of sugar, so these beers don’t have many sweet flavors. They can also be really fizzy thanks to increased carbonation.
More often than not, a farmhouse has a crisp, blonde-looking color to it. Some darker farmhouses exist, but expect a lighter-looking beer.
The farmhouse style essentially owes much of its style to the yeasts. Again, farmhouses come in many shapes and sizes, but these traits are more common than not.
Is a Farmhouse the Same as a Saison?
A saison is a traditionally French or Belgian farmhouse ale. It’s sort of the square-rectangle thing in that all saisons are farmhouse ales, but not all farmhouse ales are saisons.
Answer not satisfying, you say? Well, what if I told you that the terms “farmhouse” and “saison” are primarily American terms and don’t mean the same thing in other areas of the world?! Yes, the terminology is that arbitrary.
- What makes a beer a farmhouse ale: It follows farmhouse brewing methods. It also tastes, smells, and looks like a farmhouse ale should. Farmhouse envelops various types of beer, including saisons, biere de gardes, and grisettes.
- What makes a beer a saison: A farmhouse ale brewed to match the profiles of traditional Belgian and French-style farmhouse beers.
Saisons, Biere de Gardes, Grisettes, and So On
Here’s the bottom line: beer isn’t something you create and slap a box label on. What’s the difference between a saison and other farmhouse ales? What’s the difference between a pale ale, IPA, DIPA, and the curse triple IPA? What’s the difference between a porter and a stout?
To regurgitate perhaps one of the best legal quotes of all time, “I know it when I see it.“
Good brewers have a handle on what they’re trying to make. If their goal is a farmhouse ale with wonderful lemongrass notes, that’s probably what they’ll end up with. Could we call it a light and lemongrassy pale ale? Sure, if we really want. Hell, we could call it boozy lemongrass water.
But the more beer you try, the more you notice the differences between, say, an IPA and a farmhouse ale. Yes, the yeasts are different and the hop profiles vary, but there’s no “perfect” way to differentiate the two.
The same goes for different farmhouses. I have no doubt that saisons and biere de gardes are different. How can I tell they’re different? Because when I order a saison I expect different flavors and notes than when I order a biere de garde.
So, the best way to determine what is a farmhouse ale is by drinking farmhouse ales.
- What Is a Farmhouse Ale? - October 31, 2025
- 5 Main Beer Ingredients: Breaking Down Beer - September 26, 2025
- What Are Fresh Hop Beers? - September 6, 2025