Farm Beers. And Smoked Pig.

Farm beers. That's what we call a good many of our homebrews around here, even though we don't live on a farm. We do live near farms. Lots of them. We see the gardener across the road riding his mare to work. We see cows grazing in the ditch on the side of the road. OK, so we live in a condominium. Doesn't matter. We make farm beers. Since I'm in charge of the our homebrew marketing department, it doesn't have to make sense.

Here's the thing: As much as I love Belgian saison and French biére de garde, I'm neither Belgian nor French. Anyway, fancy French words sound pretentious to those with whom I share my beer. For that matter, even the term farmhouse ale is a bit uppity and unfairly excludes lager. Well, why not a farm lager?

What makes me think of all this is an announcement from Crown Valley in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri. Two new beers: a double IPA called Gunslinger, and a 4.7% abv Farmhouse Lager. See? Farm lager.

Maybe I'll be able to track those two down when I'm in Missouri this summer. If you're looking to try out Crown Valley beers in an appropriate setting, and you can't get to Ste. Genevieve, might I suggest Cuba?

Specifically: Missouri Hick BBQ in Cuba, Mo., right on historic Route 66. And if I'm going to get so specific, why not go on and specify Crown Valley's Black Cabin Smoked Ale with some pulled pork?

When we were there every bottle of beer in the joint cost $3 each. Options included several from Boulevard, Schlafly, Goose Island, New Belgium and Crown Valley. The barbecue itself is worth a long drive, but if you're trucking down I-44 between St. Louis and Springfield, well, it's right there.