A Question About Funk

To me, really funky beer smells like a musky barn. A delicious, wonderful barn

 

Funk de-emphasizes melody and chord progressions used in other related genres and brings a strong rhythmic groove of a bass line played by an electric bassist and a drum part played by a drummer to the foreground.

 

Funk usually describes flavors that are derived from bacteria or wild yeast, but is not totally limited to that. Belgians and saisons can also have funky flavors. Funky flavors can even come from hops. Common funky flavor descriptors: horse blanket, musty, barnyard, hay-like, basement, onion, garlic, BO, sulfur-like, Clove, vinegar/acetic acid, and many more.

But in the end, funk is whatever you perceive to be funky.

 

Let me be the first to post: "sweaty socks"!

Cheers!

 

Mushroom, wet hay, damp cellar Orvall is a good starting point. http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/37/129/?ba=mudbug#review

 

Remember how your bedroom smelled when you were a teenager?

 

So... for the most part of my experience... the sour beers are the ones with funk. There is a spectrum though. On one end you have the ones that are quite sour but not at all funky, like some goses tend to be... just nice and crisp and tart. Then on the other end you have the ones that can sometimes be more funk than anything else.... like some oude bruins tend to be. Go buy beers that say "brettanomyces" or "brett" on them. Or go buy beers that are "brewed with sour cherries" ... such as those by Jolly Pumpkin. You'll get the idea pretty quick.

 

I think the best example of "funk" is what takes place when you make a saison (farmhouse ale) sour.

 

Well worn saddle leather, forest floor, compost (organic), lots of animal smells, earth, spicy like mild pepper, early floral decay........My favorite experiences with funk have been Southern French reds, with clean ripe fruit underpinned by earthy, horseblankety crushed white pepper.

 

A ball of old musty cheese stuffed into a stinky sneaker wrapped in a wet horse blanket sitting atop of a pile of damp stable hay. That's funk to me, and it's glorious. Try a Victory Helios, funky but not too funky.

 

To me funky taste is what the smell of a blend of manure/straw that is wet while composting is like, which is on one end of the spectrum, or the taste of what a sweaty horse blanket smells like is on the other end of the spectrum. Or pick any place in between those two descriptions and you've got funky barnyard.

 

I agree with @mudbug , Orval is the place to start. Go buy 6 bottles. Drink one now, and take some good notes. Then, try another one every 2-3 months, taking good notes each time. The Brett in Orval changes the beer, and this will be a good experiment to find out how you like those changes.

 

Plus a 4-pack of Goose Island Sofie; that one also evolves in amazing ways.

 

A lot of funky beers taste like a barn smells, but I like it.

 

I once asked a friend what "dank" meant when referring to beer. He said the same way you would refer to anything else as "dank", flavor wise that is. Then I got it. Funk is funk.

 

old cat piss on wet hay

 

Beer doesn't get funked, it just changes...

 

How old does Orval have to be so that it tastes like a cider.

 

The barnyard thing is a bit trite. It's more like sweaty sex with a beautiful woman who farts in bed but you love the entire experience anyway.