Farmhouse ales are less of a style and more of a loose branch on the beer family tree, originating in the agrarian borderland shared by France and Belgium. When farm owners needed to provide nourishment and compensation to seasonal farm workers, beer was an obvious part of the package, since they were already growing many of the ingredients. The humble origins of these beers meant that they were brewed with whatever ingredients were on hand. This lack of convention has lead to a wide range of expressions of the style and even breweries that specialize in or brew saisons exclusively, like Oxbow in Maine and Fantome in Belgium. Smuttynose has tweaked the recipe for this Farmhouse Ale a little bit this year, adding a small amount of pineapple sage. The result is slightly amplified fruit character, that really adds to the flavor (but don’t be afraid that they have completely recreated the beer). Cheers!