Welcome to part two of our Magical Brettanomyces Tour. In part one we introduced the project and our format for tasting. Here in part two we will dive into the beers individually and share are notes with you.
No.1 B Drie
The flavors in number one produced some green apple notes, was kind of sweet and has a dryness that made it crisp in refreshing. Although the flavors were a little basic. It was one of our favorites.
No. 2 B Bruxellensis
Number two had some nice flavors going on. The most prominent was this leather phenolic that stayed with you the whole glass from cold to warm. We also found it to be on the fruity side and was a nice pairing with the sandwiches that were on the table. We felt like a few farmers on a lunch break.
No. 3 B Bouckderett
This had to be one of the coolest strains used in the series as it came from Peter Bouckderett and a passion for hunting down one of his favorite Berliner’s from Germany. After three seperate trips, Peter found one of the original brewers that had some bottles on stash from years past. From those bottles he cultivated this fantastic strain.
This one was found to be very tart and has some of those berliner qualities we all know and love. Not only that but it smells like a straight farm. One sniff of the glass makes you picture a belgian farmer tilling his soil with a horse and plow.
No. 4 Afro Brett
Number four is one of the coolest in the series. Using a unique blend of brett called Funk Weapon from Jeff Mello at Bootleg Biology. We found this one to be more on the fruity side with some slight hints of horse blanket and believe it or not, manure. These are farmhouse ales after all. We liked that it was bitter and dry but as it warmed we got whiffs of alcohol. Given the low abv of the beer, we thought it was strange.
No. 5 Naardenensis
This was the most beer smelling one out of the bunch. It was like someone poured us a glass of old lager but an interesting one at that. With little to no sweetness, it was clear, dry and almost reminded us of champagne. This one was so good we had to grab a second a bottle for future consumption.
No. 6 Farmhouse Brett
Number six almost reminded us of a pale ale. That said this one was a little on the boring side but not in a bad way. It was Dry, crisp and a little citrusy. We thought this one to be a very approachable beer for those that want to try a brett fermented ale.
No. 7
Last but not least. Number seven. This one was very enjoyable as it was probably the most simple of the bunch. It’s light and crisp and would be the perfect day ender to a day on the farm.
Seven beers, two sandwiches and guts full of brett. This wraps up our Magical Brettanomyces Tour. This was a fun learning experience and I hope we can do something like this again in the future. I don’t think we have ever had that much brett in one sitting before but it was well worth it for this fact finding mission.
If you have access to these beers, I would suggest grabbing them yourselves and doing your own vertical. It is a great way to learn about these brett strains all while consuming a tasty saison. A big thanks to Jason over at Trinity for chatting with us and helping us understand this wild project, we hope to see you soon. Cheers.