Brett aged Flavors

Most beers that I have aged with Brett in them have been saisons. With that style in particular they have become more tart. I actually prefer them about 1-2 years after their bottling date.

 

It's unpredictable. In general, the brett will just keep working, so the thing that is most certain is that the specific gravity will drop further, making the beer dryer. The specific flavors will depend on what the brett was digesting to get there.

 

Indeed. The SN/RR collab Brux was kind of a letdown fresh but it's doing great things now. On the other side, LA/NB's Brett beer hasn't really done anything in a year. Still boring.

 

Highly unpredictable, it's going to depend heavily on what strain (and in this case, even the species) of yeast in question. The only absolutely certain thing to happen is that the beer will get dryer and more carbonated, but even that has a level of organic randomness attached to it. The rate of drying out and getting more carbonated will vary, and the age at which they peak will vary. The maximum level of dryness and carbonation will also vary, from somewhat airy and spritzy to completely arid and gushing/exploding.

If there is a particular "house strain" of brett that a brewery uses, you might be able to guess after enough tries. For example, it seems that Goose Island's house brett strain really picks up the carbonation sometime between 12 and 24 months (I generally only do year intervals when cellaring).

Flavors will vary greatly depending on the type of brett. Expect everything from fruity (particularly lemon peels, apple skins, possibly pineapple) to sweat to earth, possibly even dirt. Leather is not unheard of. I have no idea what a horse blanket is or what it smells like, but I seem to be alone in that regard. Must will probably be low (if I'm not mistaken the really strong must/moldy flavors some beers get are from cork mold, not brett) but you may get some musty flavors.


-------


Sourness/tartness will be zero or close to zero. Brett alone almost never perceptibly increases the acidity of beer, particularly if it is used for bottle-conditioning. It might be enough to measurably alter the PH a fraction of a point, but too low of a threshold for most people to taste. And in any case, I'm pretty sure the acid that brett secretes is acetic acid, meaning even if it did cause your beer to sour it would taste more like vinegar/Flemish sour than lambic.

 

I've personally had good success aging Goose Island Sofie up to two years. That's pretty much my go-to "biere de brett." Fairly cheap and widely available. Fleur was equally great for the same reasons but it's all gone now.