Funky, Non-Sour Beers

Are we talking about Brettanomyces versus lactobacillus?

 

I was going to say Victory Helios, but when you mentioned the two beers listed I got the impression that I'm not exactly clear on what you are asking.

 

Beatification is one of the sourest beers out there - I think I saw a list of popular sours that had been pH tested and it was around 3.1, but still funky as hell. Love that beer.

 

For reference, had Cascade Elderberry and Bruery Rueuze the other day. Both were very sour and hit 3.2 on our pH meter. For funk & less sour id look to Anchorage, Crooked Stave, Jolly Pumpkin (certain beers), and many belgians like a well conditioned Orval.

 

Im drinking a Fantome Chocolat right now and im getting alot of cheesy funk with this one. Nice and tart but not overly sour at all.

 

Steer towards genuine Belgian options like Drie Fonteinen, Cantillon, Tilquin, Etc. Fantôme saisons are funky, too.

American brewers, most of them anyway, have not quite mastered balancing their sour beers, in my opinion. I'm not sure why this is, but I chalk it up to inexperience. The funkiest American wilds I've had are Lost Abbey Duck Duck Gooze, Allagash Coolship Red, Russian River -ations, OEC anything wild, some Jester King stuff, a very select few Side Projects, and all of Funk Factory's stuff.

Even those are not on the funk level of the real Belgian McCoy.

 

It tastes like band-aids (think some Islay scotches without the peat smoke) and I LOVE it.

 

This.

 

Orval, ************.

 

3F Golden Blend is much more funky than sour, even compared to their regular offerings. Boon and Hanssens have some serious funk going on in their regular gueuze. For American stuff, Jolly Pumpkin and Crooked Stave bring the funk. The Allagash Coolship beers are legit too.

 

Looks like I was wrong, here's the article I was referring to: http://embracethefunk.com/ph-readings-of-commercial-beers/
Surprised to see New Belgium taking the crown for sourest beer. Beatification B5 was awesomely funky though!

 

I had this last night and it did not taste anything like band-aids. However it was still delicious!!!

Also I had Consecration and Beatification tonight and Consecration seemed quite a bit more sour.

More to the point of this thread, Logsdon Seizoen Bretta has a ton of "funk" but isn't really sour at all, one of my favorites.

 

Definitely Orval Trappist. That was the first beer I had that made go "wow, beer can be so much more than I ever imagined!"

 

Brett can exhibit a lot of the same flavors as lacto if its "young" for brett. Brett is a SLOW beast, going from good to bad back to good, back to bad a couple of times.

 

In my opinion the vast majority of sours---including the Belgian imports---have a serious imbalance towards sourness (lactic with possible acetic acidity) at the expense of "funk" flavors from brettanomyces. Yes, this includes Cantillon. The only deviation here seems to be with heavily fruited sours, but those still often have a dearth of brett; they just aren't as sour either.

If it's funk you are looking for, snag up oldish (6 months) bottles of Jolly Pumpkin Oro de Calabaza, Jolly Pumpkin Bam Biere and Jolly Pumpkin Weizen Bam. Maybe Calabaza Blanco too. For full-blown sours that still have a decent funk, look for Girardin 1882 and Tilquin Gueuze. Tilquin used to be more balanced with a more complex brett profile but it's still great.

 

There's a scientist who posts here who had some interesting observations about such beers not too long ago. When he looked at cultures from some of these beers under a microscope, there was obvious bacterial growth in addition to the yeast (brett) growth. I don't think he had positively identified the species when I last looked at the thread but he surmised it was likely one which produces lactic acid. I'm on mobile now and can't deal with the hassle of searching for the thread but I'm sure a few of the other users will remember what I'm talking about and find it.

In any case, brett does not and cannot produce lactic acid in any appreciable amount, only acetic acid. Even there it won't produce a perceptible amount of acetic acid unless you seriously overexpose the beer to oxygen.

 

this:

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/35016/123419/?ba=Premo88

That might be the only beer I've had that fits your funky/non-sour description. I say it tasted "sour" in the review, but it wasn't nearly as sour as it was funky.