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
Rail Ale Ramble Rail Ale Ramble Sometimes now used as a generic expression in the United Kingdom for a day tour of pubs and/or breweries by train, in search of "real ale" (cask-conditioned beer), the marketing name "Rail Ale Ramble" was originally conceived by Gerald Daniels, who runs an English tour company, Crookham Travel. In October 1977 he ran the first "RAR", a chartered train with 596 passengers from London to Bath, Somerset and Oxford. At that time traditional cask-conditioned beer was rare in London, but the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) was beginning to have more impact in regional centres where there