Brewer's Brain Blog

Ferme De La Ville Provision, a taste of history

Today we realased Ferme de la Ville Provsion, or The City Farm. This ale has been over 15 months in the making, our nod to the Belgian Farmhouse ales of yesteryear. But before the brew, before the aging, there was the research.

You would be hard pressed to get me to read a fictional book, but throw down some good old beer history pages and I become mesmerized. I love to crack open an inspirational brew and pull out the old brewing books, talk with beer enthusiasts or spend time deep searching the internet.

Farmhouse ales were brewed on the farms of the French speaking Wallonia region of Belgium. It is said that the farm hands were allotted up to five liters of beer per day! The beer was brewed with malted barley and other various grains lying around the farm. Hops from the region were used as was the local yeast. It was common for farms to share yeast and brewing equipment. Traditionally the beer was lower in alcohol, hoppy, spicy from the yeast, and refreshing. As the farms were frugal, left over beer from the previous season was blended with the young beer of the current season. During this storage time undoubtedly wild yeast and bacteria from the area found their way into the barrels. Over time notes of the wild yeast and bacteria transformed the ale, sometimes to the point of being referenced to a gueze.

Our nod to this style began in the spring of 2009 when we stored a barrel of our farmhouse ale and introduced wild yeast isolated from Belgium. Over the next twelve months the yeast slowly transformed the hoppy farmhouse ale to a wonderful tropical, funky, dry, and tart beer.

This past spring we brewed a young batch and blended with the old barrel. The young farmhouse ale was brewed with malted barley and other grains left around our brewery; malted rye, wheat, golden naked oats and local honey. Farmhouse yeast fermented the beer and the addition of noble hops provided a nice crisp refreshing finish. The blend at first was nice crisp ale, hoppy, with just a hint of wild yeast character. Now, three months later, the ale has transformed to a whole new experience. I can detect notes of tropical fruit, honey, and light barnyard in the nose. Lightly tart, the ale is very refreshing and dry yet complex and vinous with subtle hop presence.

Originally, we were going to bottle a portion of this batch, though the bureaucratic bullshit wheel for label approval has turned much slower then anticipated. Next years barrels are aging and the plan is to have bottles ready in July. Until then swing by our pub and enjoy this glass of history. Also, I am taking a small amount to Portland (Bailey’s and Saraveza ), and Eugene (The Bier Stein ).

Fun With Cherries

A huge benefit of living in the Valley is the abundance of amazing fruits. We always have light fruit beer on tap, refreshing and quaffable ale. As time goes on I find our brewery using more fruits for different styles of ales. Some beer people scoff at the idea of adding fruit to beer, pointing out that it becomes a “chick” beer or desecrating the sacred beverage. To those I say take a look at history. Fruit has found its way into beers for centuries. In Belgium, Lambic blenders often added fruits to create a diversity of different beverages. I had an epiphany the other day while snacking on some beautiful locally grown raspberries; fruits are simply another form of sugar that packs wonderfully natural aromas, flavors, and character. Yes, I will proudly state that I love (some) fruit ales!

A couple weeks ago we received buckets of locally grown late harvest tart cherries. These beauties are a brilliant deep red with a wonderful aroma and a sweet tart taste. We are using the fruit in three distinctly different beers.
Forbidden Orchard, a strong Belgian Wit inspired brew. We have omitted the traditional spicing, keeping the orange peel, wheat profile and have introduced cherries in conditioning. Late August/Early September release.

Ferme de La Demons, strong black farmhouse ale aged in pinot noir, Oregon oak, and bourbon barrels with Brettanomyces. The first batch we used Oregon cherry juice, this batch we are adding whole cherries. Mid October release

Oude Friek, a Flanders inspired bruin or brown ale. We brewed this beer back in March and it has been aging with Lactobacillus in Bourbon barrels. In late July, pictured right, whole cherries were added to a couple barrels along with Brettanomyces. Sometime in the fall of 2011 this beer could be ready.

A Special Cask

Brewer’s Note: My Editor (wife) is out of town. This post will most likely have several grammatical errors. Also, there is some debate on wheather a beer produced outside of the Senne Valley in Belgium should be called a lambic. I feel that “lambic inspired” is an appropriate description of this beer and honors the tradions of lambic breweries, noted as lambic in my post as not to be redundant.

One of most fond memories of visiting Belgium was enjoying a lambic served from a gravity flow cask. This lambic was a virtually uncarbonated, cellar temperature blend of one year old ales. Complex aromas and flavors; port, tropical fruit, tart apple & plums a bit sweet and sour with distinctive hops; amazing! Quiete similiar though quite different than older lambics and blends.

In our cellar rest four barrels of lambic inspired beer brewed in July of 09. I followed traditional production methods a portion of unmalted wheat, turbid mash, extended boil with aged hops. The unfermented wort journeyed straight from the kettle into oak barrels and was inoculated with wild yeast & bacteria from a Belgium lambic brewery. It has been very interesting and educational to taste the progression. The first couple months the beer was very Brettanomyces influenced with prevalent hop character. At six months the barrels began to show their individual character. A couple began producing nice sour notes and fruit. Others more hop character and sweetness. And then, I forgot about the barrels.

Upon my return from Belgium, in June, with the memory of Lambics consumed still dancing in my head, I tasted from our barrels. Wow, our lambic presented many of the wonderful characteristics found in Belgian lambics; tropical fruit, plum, port, hop, fresh cut hay, and gentle sour notes!

I was asked if we could provide a barreled beer for Baileys Taproom Anniversary party. The line up at the Anniversary party consists of all barrel aged brews. I decided to take a leap and offer a blend of our one year old lambic. Being blown away by cask lambics in Belgium I decided this would be a unique way to serve the beer.

#181 is a special blend casked exclusively for Baileys Anniversary party. The blend consists of two barrels from the same batch. One barrel shows more tight sour and tropical notes, the other more hop, wheat and horse blanket. We primed the cask gently to create just a touch of carbonation, allowing the full throttle lambic character to shine. My aim in blending is to show how unique a one year old lambic is compared to two, or three year old blends. The beer is sour but not mouth puckering. The hops are noticeable and refreshing, as is the wheat. This beer should challenge beer enthusiast to stop and reflect on what is in the glass, how it was brewed, fermented, cellared, served and its age. As it is the only cask of its kind I will be making the trip up to Portland on Saturday to enjoy a glass, along with other beers from the stellar line up.
Happy Anniversary Baileys!

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