Farmhouse Ale & Cider
farmhouse ('fa:m,haus) ale (eil) n 1. The very model of farm self-sufficiency and productivity. 2. An exceptionally nutritious beverage brewed from farm grown, foraged and/or naturally present ingredients (cereals, hops, microflora and water) by the farmhands, on the farm, traditionally in the cooler months of the year when the demands for farm labour were at their lowest ebb. 3. Brewed to feed, slake the thirst and entertain these same farmworkers during the labour intensive warmer months. 4. Matured for many months before consumption, fermented with naturally occurring yeasts and bacteria, often sour, exceptionally flavoursome, wonderfully digestible and always unique to the property. 5. Some would say these ales are the very essence of what beer should be.
Two Metre Tall Wild Farmhouse Ales
Our Range includes;
A Tasmanian Wild Ale 5.2% alc. vol. | This is the product you may have seen us referring to on various social media as ‘The Future’. Yes, “The Future” is finally here! Sure, it looks very much like “A Cleansing Ale” used to. And that’s the whole point!
This has all been made possible by the slow, experimental learnings of a dedicated 18-year journey of exploration culminating, over the course of the last 4 pandemic-corrupted-years, when on each occasion we brewed a batch of ‘A Cleansing Ale’, we separated a volume of the base wort and allowed it to spontaneously wild ferment. The oak barrels accumulated in our cellar, growing numerically such that they began to populate all available floorspace & sheds, eventually, and recently, spilling into the rows between our hop bines. In August 2022 we siphoned an aliquot from each barrel, blending the pieces of this time-puzzle onto hop flowers in a tank and then, in September, we bottled it.
Not only spontaneously fermented, but spontaneously bottle conditioned! Be in no doubt about this whatsoever, this is magic! The original witchcraft in fact!
The River Series Farm Ales | Four rivers, four regions, four distinctively different farm ales.
Derwent Wild Farmhouse Ale 5.2% alc. vol. | An ale, naturally soured by the microorganisms present on the raw spelt and completed by the aromatic complexity of whole hop flowers from the Derwent Valley. Now 100% spontaneously fermented.
Forester Wild Amber Farmhouse Ale 5.2% alc. vol. | A rich & complex ale featuring the Pride of Ringwood whole hop flowers from north east Tasmania's Forester river region. Developing brettanomyces complexity as it ages.
Huon Wild Farmhouse Ale - Dark Apple 5.6% alc. vol | Freshly pressed whole apple juice from Tasmania's Huon Valley is added to a spontaneously fermenting rich dark ale. An incredible blend of grains and fruit with resulting delicously light acidity.
Forth All Grain Farmhouse Ale 4.2% alc. vol. | Brewed with quinoa, buckwheat, rye, oats & barley malts, this brew showcases grains grown in the Forth River Valley in northern Tasmania by the Damen family. The bitter saponins on the unwashed quinoa deliver a subtle bittering structure and surprisingly, no hops are used at all.
Visit our online SHOP now. *Alcohols listed here are indicatve only & may vary from brew to brew.
Huon Farmhouse Wild Cider
7.5% alc. vol.
When we discovered the Griggs family at Lucaston Orchards in the Huon Valley were still growing the famous old English cider variety, Sturmer Pippin, that was all the motivation we needed to produce a traditional, unfiltered, bottle fermented farm cider made using only apples and wild microorganisms.
Current release is from the 2019-20-21 harvest.
A little note on ingredients; Our farm cider is made from whole apple juice and wild microorganisms. Nothing else. We use NO sulphur dioxide and NO preservatives.
But you like sweet cider ...
Yes, our cider is very dry. That doesn't mean you can't enjoy a sweet beverage more to your liking. The Europeans have been adding their own sugar to dry cider for centuries. Why not follow their tradition and add sugar to taste?
Special Releases - Barrel Aged
Our special release ales, ciders and meads are available in very limited quantity and released from time to time during the year.
Current special releases -
ORIGINAL SOURED ALE | 20th Anniversary Edition 5.6% alc. vol.
The 2019 edition, the 4th and FINAL Original Soured Ale to be released by TwoMetreTall. We say the final as, whilst this beverage concept was unique for Australia in its day, what it stands for has been effectively absorbed by the progress of our project. Back in the beginning, the Cleansing Ale was the “beer-in-progress” of a wild fermentation (generally released at around 6-months of age and constantly changing for the next 2-or-so years post release) and the Original Soured Ale, which was bottled at a minimum of three-years-old, was the flag-in-the-sand showing what depth & complexity could be achieved in beer once the complex and years long processes of naturally occurring fermentation had finally run course. People had to be shown this basic fact as they had, certainly in those early days, no inclination whatsoever to age beer!
Our project has now evolved such that our base ale – A Tasmanian Wild Ale (which replaced A Cleansing Ale when this brew moved from “yeasted” to spontaneously wild fermentation with the November 2022 release) – is now a solera blend of 20 separate spontaneously wild fermented ales spanning an age range of 5-years and has, in many senses, surpassed what the Original Soured Ale was put in place to communicate on behalf of our project.
But this in no way denigrates nor renders inferior what this ale is and represents. Much like what happened to a Cleansing Ale, the time for Original Soured Ale has moved on and, both because of this AND because of its fundamental role in the early days of our project it is, in fact, the obvious and most appropriate choice of beverage to be placed in a commemorative, anniversary bottle as we take this year – 2024 – to celebrate achieving twenty years in business.
SOUR CHERRY ALE | Barrel Aged 2019
Only our fourth release of this beloved and anticipated product. Derwent Valley grown morello cherries, spontaneously wild fermented ale and 4-years of maturation in neutral, old oak barrels. Everything about it suggests summer & celebration!
This one is set for delivery in January but we are taking your orders now!
Sparkling MEAD 2020 6% alc. vol.
Just whole hive honey from our farm and water from the River Derwent flowing around our farm. Nothing else added. Not even yeast! No filtration. No preservatives. Nothing but honey and water … and the magic of time!
An incredibly slow bottle fermentation means that whilst not yet as sparkling as it will be into the future, we are very happy to release this now as it is probably the quintessential summer aperitif that you’ve never previously thought to reach for. And for those who already know this, welcome back!
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