Farmhouse ale Farmhouse ale Farmhouse ale is an ancient European tradition where farmers brewed beer for consumption on the farm from their own grain, hops, and yeast. Most farmers would brew for Christmas and/or harvest time, but in areas where they had enough grain farmers would use beer as the every-day drink. This was in a time when it was safer to drink beer than water. Farmhouse ale has enormous variation in the ingredients and brewing process used, both of which follow ancient local traditions. Today many microbreweries make beers they market as farmhouse ale, but in most cases the connection with
Ale-8-One product, in 1906. In creating the formula for Ale-8-One, Wainscott drew upon his knowledge of ginger-based recipes acquired in northern Europe. Wainscott began bottling Ale-8-One in 1926. To choose a name for the drink, he sponsored a name-the-product contest; "A Late One" was chosen as the winning entry. The "Ale-8-One" logo is a pun of the phrase suggesting that his product was "the latest thing" in soft drinks. In 1935, Wainscott purchased a livery stable in Winchester and converted it to a bottling factory to expand his operation. Upon Wainscott's death in 1944, half of his company stock went to