Impromptu Tasting: Orval

Jack,
I had some Brett fermented Hop Devil that got lost in the fridge for about 15 years. I had one of them last year and the funk had completely disappeared. It reminded me of the Golden Ales that were popular in brewpubs back in the 90s. The same thing happened with Sierra Nevada Brux, most of the funk is gone.
I will be interested to hear about your homebrew a few years down the road. My understanding is that Brett will “clean up” the funk in the same way that regular yeast will consume diacetyl at warmer temps.

 

You (and others) might be interested in reading about Jeremy Danner’s vertical tasting of Boulevard Saison Brett over four (years) versions:

https://www.boulevard.com/2017/07/26/saison-brett-vertical-tasting/

An interesting observation in his tasting notes (and I have read others state the same) is that aging beers that were fermented with some Brett (e.g., secondary fermentation) is that the flavor profile may vary more like a roller coaster vs. a straight-line evolution.

Cheers!

P.S. Brett can sometimes be a mysterious beer yeast.

 

For the real geeky, Ron Pattinson lays out the case for why Orval has more in common with the virtually extinct English Pale / Stock ales of the 19th and early 20th century.

Now if I could just find an imperial stout with secondary Brett aging, I wouldn’t have to break out the home brew equipment and make my own.
http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2011/04/brettanomyces-and-pale-ale.html

 

Thanks for the Boulevard link, Jack, I have not seen that before. I thought it was interesting that the long-term aging of the Saison Brett was at 35°. Even at that cold temperature, the Brett. was able work its magic. That was about the temperature I kept the Brett Hop Devils at, so I guess it makes sense.

What a hardy yeast!

 

But it makes you wonder, huh!?!

What if those four vintages were stored at cellar temperature (e.g., 55 - 60 degrees F) instead? How would Jeremy's tasting notes read in that situation?

Cheers!

 

On a separate but related note, I took a bottle of homebrewed Saison (clean, not Bretted) out of my cellar and placed it in the refrigerator to enjoy later today while watching the Clemson - Baylor game.

 

I’m pretty certain that the results would have been different based off of my experiment. My guess is that the beers would have a similar long term trajectory, but the 35 degree bottles would take longer to get there.

What gets me is that you and I both learned a long time ago that even lager yeast goes dormant that close to freezing, but that’s obviously not the case with Brett.

 

Lager yeast will operate slower at lower temperatures (e.g., 35 °F) but they do not completely go dormant. One aspect that occurs during the lagering phase is that the lager yeast will slowly ‘process’ sulfur compounds.

I question whether Brett is actually active at cold temperature like 35 °F (1.7 °C). Below is an extract from the Milk the Funk website:

“At 20°C (68°F) fermentation rate is about half as slow. Brettanomyces will still grow at temperatures as low as 15°C (59°F) with about a third of strains being able to grow as low as 10°C (50°F) [110][111]”

https://www.milkthefunk.com/wiki/Brettanomyces

If you have any information from a technical journal about Brett still being active at temperatures below 40 °F I would like to read it.

Cheers!

P.S. How a beer evolves over time at a given temperature is not just due to biochemistry.

 

Bottled on 03/02/2022, so just past 2 years, most of that time sitting in my fridge.

This is big on the apple fruit flavors. Like caramelized apples, baked bread and hay in a basement (I guess that is my description of "funk" ha). The grassy hop character is all but gone, still love it. Noticeable, but ultra fine carbonation that becomes so smooth, not a hint of oxidation. I can drink this all day.

Too bad its a gloomy day, and its going to rain soonish. I would be out in the courtyard again with this, but oh well. Still a fantastic way to start a lazy Sunday afternoon.

 

Joining with an Orval at the pub:



Bottled 03/11/2022. Spicy fruit. Peppery. I believe I’ve had this beer years ago, but I can’t see where I checked it in anywhere. Tasty but not what I normally like to drink. A good change of pace.

Cheers y’all!

 

Yup! An alternative descriptor is barnyard!

FWIW, my wife calls my homebrewed Orval: horse piss!

Cheers!

 

I looked in 3 stores stores today that have decent import selections, no luck, so; I'm throwing some likes. Cheers.