Tradeship
Funk Factory Geuzeria

 

This has a consistently foggy dark amber-orange look to it with a thick, foamy off-white head.

Sharp funk and grapefruit with a high malic acidity pair with light bright oak that's simultaneously walnutty and dusty, kind of almost hickory-esque, with a note of blue cheese. Quite sour.

We just did a side by side with the full collection, and found they all basically shook out to damn near identically the same, with the fruit and dry hopping on the other entries having fallen almost completely off. They were at least all solid and very well planted in old world characteristics, but we should not have sat on these so long.

 

750ml bottle, O'so and Funk Factory Collaboration Label, Blended American Sour also on the label. Poured into a Funk Factory Geuzeria stemmed wine glass.

The beer pours a hazy amber color, copper and orange hues with a foamy white head, about two fingers tall that has excellent retention and yields large swatches of soapy lace. The aroma is nice, lots of funk, nice and dry, dirty leaves, earthy citrus peel, oak barrel, mineral water, a touch of vinegar with lingering fruity esters. The flavors are good, loads of funk that is well developed, dry and earthy, barnyardy with some nice citrus and fruit flavors, smooth oak barrel, lemon peel with a hint of vinegar and pale grain. The mouthfeel is good, lively, crisp, medium body with plenty of carbonation that coats well with a creamy but tart finish.

Verdict: A nice American Wile Ale from Funk Factory/O'so. The funk profile is well developed and offers a nice range of complex flavors and it's not overly sour or acidic, a bit of vinegar but not distracting in any way.

 

 

 

A big thanks to Jeff for delivering the gems. 750ml corked and caged bottle into a Surly teku. Shared with schen9303.

Dare I say... Gueuze? Hints of wet wood, musty funk, lemon tartness, cobwebs, hay and a subtle touch of vinegar. Pretty amazing. Beer opens tart lemon rind with a touch woody bitterness. There's a touch of creaminess also mixed with hay, barnyard and cobweb funk. Great complexity. Body is light with ample carbonation. Prickly and lively in the mouth and dry and puckering going down. Fantastic!

Not quite Tilquin, Cantillon and Drie Fonteinen but given where this is made, its pretty amazing. Definitely worth trying and truly an eye-opening beer!

 

Another killer beer from Levi. So much complexity - tartness that isn't overwhelming with a strong funk to compliment and just enough bitterness to balance everything's out

 

 

Golden orange color. White head.

Very nice American style gueuze. It is the closest thing to a gueuze from the states. Lemony. Funky. A bit dry in the finish. Light acidity. Sour. Tart green apples.

Light bodied. Easy drinking. Very complex. Digging this one.

On tap at Funk Factory Guezeria. Pours a mostly clear medium brown body, one finger white head, good retention, bits of lacing. Smells of deep oak, a bit of lemon and leather, but for the most part it is huge on the wood. It is damp, sort of an earthy cedar aroma, but not quite spicy cedar, if that makes sense. Flavour is huge on the oak, and while it is a pleasant taste, it overwhelms quite a bit of the beer. Small amounts of leather and lemon rind dance around a bit on the palate, but it is predominantly oak. So there's that. Mouthfeel is medium bodied, appropriate carbonation, as above it is heavy on the oak as far as the finish goes. An overall very different blend of sour ales that seems to bring out the oak barrel quite a lot; a different drinking experience for me but nevertheless an interesting one. I will be looking forward to the other blends.

 

 

 

Deep amber color in the glass with a fingers worth of snow white head. The nose is glorious, oak and funk for days. If I was blindfolded and you told me it's 3F i'd believe it. The taste is all oak/funk/lemon sour goodness. Dry and crisp just as I was hoping for, keeps you coming back for another sip. It's not quite White Lodge, but certainly gets very close. I can't wait to try the fruited versions next. Funk Factory is making my favorite beer on the planet right now, well done!

 

Funk Factory Geuzeria Tradeship (Blended American Sour)

A: The base beer for the Tradeship series pours a brilliant-yet-somewhat-hazy golden orange and about two fingers of dense, creamy, perfect head that remains throughout and despite consumption. FFG seems to have the appearance of their beers locked in, as the effervescent carbonation, billowy head and retention (with requisite lacing to match), and gorgeous color are exactly what a sour should be. Other American wild producers should take notes considering the abysmal head retention many disappoint with to the point that this reviewer sees it as so commonplace to the style that docking points is unnecessary. 5/5

A: Tons and tons of lemony sourness followed by a near equal amount of oaky vanillin woodiness open fire on the olfactory senses. A mild amount of vinegar comes in with the second salvo accompanied by a definite Bretty, barnyard funk. It really smells quite sour, very in line with its "American sour" tag, though it might be just a hair too much for some. There also is not really much complexity going on here, but what is present is appealing and well-above average. 4/5

T: The heavy lemon sourness carries into the taste with as much oak as anticipated. More funk than in the nose is a welcome addition, but there is also more white vinegar present as well, making for a much more sour beer than any that FFG had produced to this point. The lack of balance hurts the beer, though it does not stray into undrinkability. A touch of woody bitterness brings an abrupt end to the flavor, however. Again, more complexity would be nice, like the stone fruit from the other simple blended sours FFG has released. 3.75/5

M: Here, again, FFG shows the build quality of the beer on a brewing and blending level. Perfection in feel saves this beer from being simply above average and makes it almost a joy to drink despite the borderline extreme sourness. Creaminess reigns over soft, perfect carbonation to such a pleasing degree that one can almost stand the pucker that wants dearly to make a Warhead mascot out of the drinker. The oak brings moderate dryness that washes away any excessive sourness and beckons for another sip. In a word: masterful. 5/5

O: To be clear, this is not extreme sourness akin to Upland, Almanac, some Pizza Boy, some Side Project, and far too many American Berliner Weisses that many Americans seem to really enjoy. This is still a tasty beer that just gets a little out of its own hands. Think Russian River Beatification rather than Allagash Coolship Resurgam, or Cantillon rather than Drie Fonteinen (note that this is not better than either of the latter by any stretch). What we have here is an exceedingly competently brewed and blended beer that strays just a bit. With a little more care, it could be truly great, but as it is it seems to be a great canvas for experimentation given the rest of the series, so maybe just fruiting and hopping is the answer in the future. This is Dissection showing so much potential on "The Somberlain" before churning out the masterpiece that is "Storm of the Light's Bane" (or at least we can hope for what's to come). 3.75/5