Folly Brewpub Launches Invented Tradition Barrel-Fermented Farmhouse Ale Series

TORONTO, ON – Folly Brewpub has announced the release today of the first in a new series of barrel-fermented farmhouse ales.

The Invented Tradition series takes its name from The Invention of Tradition, a book by E. J. Hobsbawm and T. O. Ranger that defines invented tradition as a term for “traditions which seem to have long lineages or historical ties, but are in fact constructed for either commercial or nationalistic ends.” According to Folly, the name was chosen to “celebrate the irony the ‘farmhouse ale’ tradition (a downtown Toronto farmhouse?) within the imagined community of ‘craft beer.'”

Invented Tradition #1 is a 6.8% abv ale with the following description:

Many barrel aged beers have the beer fermented in stainless before being transferred into an oak barrel. For the Invented Tradition series we are fermenting 100% in oak barrels (kinda like a mini foder) for two months to provide a light oak character and a robust mixed fermentation. This version was brewed with oats and rye and fermented with a saison yeast and several brettanomtces strains. It has a bright lemony acidity, with hints of soft oak, vanilla, earthy funk, and stone fruit. The finish is dry and peppery from the rye with a hint of oak tannin and bitterness. Ideally this is a complex but understated beer.

Folly Invented Tradition #1 will be released at the Folly retail store today (May 13th) at 4:00 PM in an edition of 200 bottles, selling for $8 per bottle with a limit of four per customer. A single keg of the beer will be tapped at the brewpub bar at the same time.