Dark Farm by Asheville Brewing Company

Dark farm by Asheville Brewing Company

Dark Farm, an imperial saison style farmhouse ale is sweet when brought to the nose and reminds me a lot of scotch ale.  It’s pleasant, but makes me think this will be too sweet of a beer.  But what life is worth living only drinking beer your familiar with. So I dive in. Instantly, I notice the carbonation.  It’s not frothy but roles around the tongue, like beauty streams from a waterfall. Then I notice the malt, that sweet backbone of great beers. It’s honestly almost too much to recognize anything else but softens quickly enough to reveal very light hints of banana and plum, the plum more so.  Then, there is the spice, and the sweetness again.  This is a good beer. Its definitely of Belgian ancestry with the fruity notes but its not over powering and in no way boring.  Although, it could lay you down at 8%. The color comes from beet and date sugar, its darker then an amber but not quite a brown.  In other words, you look like you know a thing or two when drinking it, not to encourage any big heads in the room.  The hops are bitter enough to balance out the sweetness but comes nowhere close to biting your tongue off like so many IPA’s.  Like myself, this beer is born and bread in Asheville.  Rumor has it that it was originally a homebrew that was brought downtown to test at the brew and view (Merrimon) before coming to Coxe Ave to show the world.  Poured by half pints. Delighted we are and drunk we will be if we have more then a few. Cheers.

Dark Farm. 8% IBU 43 color 21
Aroma   6.5 Appearance 7.0.  Flavor 6.0   Mouthfeel 7.5.  Finish 7

Overall, I give this beer a 7.0. It’s good and stands out enough from a traditional Belgian, which tells me they weren’t trying to copy someone but trying to give new life to an old beer.