Wet horse blankets

I prefer "petting zoo".

 

To each his own of course. I'm not trying put anyone down or change anyone's mind. I'm just genuinely curious what people see in this because I don't get it and most likely never will.

 

Lots of great explanations, but how about some great examples of beer that have this sexy aroma?

 

Coliform bacteria contamination. It happens, and can smell like a used diaper.

 

Sometimes a paragraph is needed because a sentence will not do...

 

I've only licked dry horse blankets, so I can't relate.

 

Go to your nearest horse breeder, barn, race track, trail ride, or carnival pony ride on a rainy day. Bring your nose with you. You got it.

 

Based strictly on my age (ugh!) and experience and having been, and being, very active in the wine community for longer than most of you have been alive, the descriptors of "wet horse blanket," "barnyard funk," and "horse shit nose" were all descriptors used when describing a red Burgundy wine (generally pinot noir) that was "infected" (for lack of a better word) with brettanomyces. And, wines, like beer, can be "infected" in different degrees.

I've heard those descriptors since the mid sixties when I first became interested in wine and almost universally in connection with French Burgundies. (Interestingly, while brett in a wine is a defect, and while most Americans do not like brett in their wine at all, many people in Burgundy find a little brett in their wine somewhat appealing. I fall into that camp. I like a little brett in my wine which is probably why I love a lot of brett in my beers!)

In any event, about 10 years ago, as more and more Americans got involved in craft brewing but also more appreciative of wild ales, saisons and other beers that may have/or have brett as a "wild yeast" these descriptors started being used. Remember, Synergy and Isabelle Proximus were among the first beers to have brett in them and it took a while for beer drinkers to catch on! Synergy is still an almost unknown beer and Isabelle was not the "whale" and "collectible" that it is today. And, of course, there were a lot of brewers experimenting. I mention those as examples only. Anyway, now of course brewers are using brett on purpose and brewers are very knowledgeable in these yeasts and about using them.

Bottom line: I remember the origins of the use of these great terms in wine circles and, without question, these terms are a carry over to the beer world the past several years.

 

As an English major, I live this every day.

 

Same here. I really hope I don't have a beer that tastes like a barn yard or a wet horse blanket.

 

The weathered wooden floor panels of an old hay wagon parked in a chestnut barn.

 

I know, right? It's actually listed as an example of an aroma in the article on how to review beer. I have yet to get an explanation from anyone on that one.

 

MMmmmmm... Belgian Draft....

aauugghghghgh..... (drools)

 

Reply #44 in this thread.

 

I could have sworn this forum has been done before. It's always fun to reignite it though.

 

You can 'hope' all you want, but curiosity has killed the cat many times. Someday you will get far enough along in your craft beer journey that you'll buy a wild ale, not thinking what you could experience when drinking it, and then you'll discover it. You might not like it (I don't either), but you will discover it.

 

These. The team averaged about 2500 lbs.
Belgian Draft Horse Corp. of America - Home Page

To keep it beer related, those are much more brawny than Clydesdales, not not as showy. Even bigger are the Shire horses used to pull beer wagons in England.

 

It do.

 

This is the truth! The open minded shall indeed find these things during their quest - no doubt. The first time you just think "hell's bells...am I really gonna drink this?" I worked with horses for a few years and while I can't say any funkified beer I've tried to date specifically smells of wet horse blanket, my mind makes the association with those memories of what the barn was like. I've had beers that remind me of a fresh cut hay field or a meadow of wildflowers - that mental connection happens. And I hate to say it, but I've smelled various sanitation products usually found in bathrooms and thought "wow...that'd be an awesome IPA..." The mind tends to fill in the blanks - sometimes the connections make sense, sometimes not so much.

I enjoy a moderate level of earthy funk factor in beers intended to have those aromas/flavors, but suspect like anything else it could be way overblown and unpleasant. I'm reading American Sour Ales by Michael Tonsmiere and just beginning to develop an understanding of the wide array of flavors different microorganisms can produce. I sorta had yeast figured out - or at least enough to get by. Now reading about Brett (and Pedio and Lacto), and how in different combinations, methods/timing of addition, with/without/before/after regular yeast, and levels of addition they all do different things - it's awesome, but man it's complicated.

 

Looking into this a while back, I learned that phenols are the culprit here, specifically 4-ethylphenol. I agree with many others that this flavor is, often times, an intended flavor. You can read about phenols, their cousin, esters, and how they play a role in Brettanomyces at the following locations:
Introduction « The Brettanomyces Project
Esters versus Phenols
http://www.wineanorak.com/brettanomyces.htm