Funk

I'd agree but the issue I have sometimes is that I don't have anything to compare it to. Some funk is just to unique.

 

What kind of funky smell are you looking for?

 

Some people don't have the palate to discern gym socks from horse blanket from musty cellar from cheesecloth. It's no different than those who just taste generic pine or grapefruit in IPAs or coffee and chocolate in stouts/porters. Not everyone is a master cicerone with a super palate. It's not a matter of laziness but a matter of capability.

 

Don't hate on the Funk.

 

What were the beers you had that were wet dog and rotting vegetables?

I'll give you two.

De Garde Deux Tetes. This beer is phenomenal. I'll do my usual gnashing of teeth dialogue and ask why the FU$K all us beer advocates act like lemmings and seek out the variations on the same themes ... adjunct stouts as a whole, or fruity bu in the case of De Garde. There's so much more out there and, in the case of De Garde, I'd say we're looking at perhaps the most experimental brewery in the US. If people disagree with this, I'd love to hear their candidates. Anyway, Deux Tetes is a collaboration with a cider brewery called Revered Nats. The intention was to riff on funky Spanish ciders but with a definite De Garde / PNW twist. It has a whiff of sulfur, and then a lot of hay / pasture / manure following. Maybe you get some rotten apple? The taste, however, is excellent - apple, but no sweetness, with a lot of new oak / vanilla / wine buttery-ness (not diacetyl - think chardonnay). Just a totally fascinating lambic / cider hybrid. Also in the De Garde realm, see out Loak. Can smell really cow farty, plum, tobacco.

Cantillon Vignerrone. This might be my favorite Cantillon. Granted, I haven't had the crazy rare varieties, but I've had the LPs, Fou, etc. The aroma is of dried flowers ... but slightly damp so an element of rot sets in ... unripe stone fruit ... so unripe that they're hard, green, acidic ... fruit seeds that are acrid, almond-like ... spilled perfume (and what I mean here is the overwhelming smell of perfume - not the scarcity that it's intended to have), vanilla and wood from a barrel creep in, laquer and varnish slickness are in there. In many ways, I felt like the smell was almost like a sweet toxin, a poison, the mysterious and undescribably assymetry that makes something endlessly fascinating. Not sure I'd call it "funk" but it was definitely something else.

 

idk if i could ever get past the smell to enjoy the beer. Like if i was told that Heady topper would not change it taste or mouthfeel in any way shape or form but the aroma would be like what you described i don't think id be able to drink it again and i love that beer. Maybe I'm just new to this scene and the longer I'm at it ill crave the aromas cow farts and dirty socks in my beers, but for now 1) i think you two are insane and have a couple screws loose 2) I applaud you at being able to trick your brain into not tasting those aromas, and am very envious of you. Cheers

 

Too be fair, the sulphur aroma faded really quickly with a few swirls.

And ... c'mon - you've never farted under the covers and then thought "that's kind of an interesting smell ..." ;-)

I grew up in the country and I think piles of hay and animal stalls have an appealing funky smell. Yeah, they can get rancid - but there's a median between dirty and clean that is enticing. Almost sexual. Yeah, I'll go there. Body odors, crevices, etc. There's some similarity between smelling a funky lambic or brett saison and the intoxicating smells of sex that you just can't analyze rationaly.

 

Lol are you sure you like drinking beer??

 

the thing is, generally speaking, we try not to smell funky things, so there really isnt alot to compare funky smells to, when you smell cow shit, you just think, man thats nasty, but you most people don't keep trying to catch another whif and dissecting it more and more to be able to describe something else that smells similar. just my opinion, i like funky, but i am not capable of describing what kind of funk a beer smells like. just can't do it

 

Well there's cheese funky and BO funky and wet cardboard funky and barn funky...

 

I have no idea what a dry horse blanket smells like, much less a wet one.

 

Ok, in the same sense, what does "bread" smell like? Surely you have smelled different breads. Do they all smell the same? Not at all. So when you use "bread" as a descriptor, is it any different from someone saying "funk"?

 

We were drinking a Saison the other night and my buddy says this smells pretty funky, and I respond it smells like a horse blanket. He agreed and we kinda laughed at the thought of a beer smelling like horse blanket, but it is a pretty common descriptor.

 

You just kinda blew my mind with the De Garde funk thing. I've enjoyed (albeit it a limited number) of Bier De Gardes where the only funk would have been if I pumped some George Clinton while imbibing. I can't stand barnyard at all (my bad for not being specific?) and wouldn't have enjoyed the ones I had if they had it. So the style typically has funk? Please help me understand if I'd just gotten lucky or bamboozled or if there is a De Garde sub-genre that is separate and funky.

 

Here's some funk

 

It would seem that there are more beer drinkers who know what a wet horse blanket smells like, than actual farmers/ranchers.

 

I guess when you live around farm land/ know people with horses you know what it smells like.