Tasting Day: Funk with Less Fuss - 100% Brett Brux

Last night I tasted the second beer out of my three sours made with the "Funk with less Fuss" method.  Previously we had the sour mashed beer fermented with California Ale yeast.  This time, it's fermented with 100% Brett Brux.  All I can say is these tastings are getting better and better.  The California Ale version took 5 weeks to complete.  This Brett B version took 7.

Overview: Flanders Red inspired beer that used a home-grown lacto starter to sour the mash prior to fermentationand fermented with Brettanomyces Bruxellensis.
   
SRM = 4 ABV = 6.5% IBU = 18 

Appearance: Deep ruby red.  Almost a brown ale color.  White head dissipates pretty quickly and leaves some weird looking bubbles in the glass.
Smell: Strong lactic sour nose. This is really different from the California Ale version that almost smelled clean.
Taste: Very sour.  Lemonade-like tartness with a bit of sweetness popping through - but not much.  A bit more complex than the California Ale version but not nearly as barny as I was hoping for.  I expected a sour beer that had some hay or leather flavors from the Brett B.
 
Mouth:  A bit prickly in the carbonation which I thought worked well with the strong sour flavor.
 
Overall: This brew confirms that you can make some great sour beers with the "Funk with Less Fuss" method.  We will see how this beer ages and see if any more barn yard flavors show up or if the classic cherry pie flavor shows up to create some more depth.  

Only complaint I have about this beer is it is still a bit one dimensional.  If I can get some more barnyard funk or fruity flavors from the yeast to show through while keeping the sour level where it is - or toned down just a bit - this would be a great beer.  After drinking most of the bottle I added a tiny bit of sugar syrup to see how it would taste if there was some sweetness.  Just that tiny bit of sweetness really added that extra dimension to the beer.

Here are my initial thoughts on how to take this beer to the next level.

1. Add some sweet fruit to the secondary for a week or two prior to bottling.  Sweet Cherries is at the top of the list for a twist on a kriek.
2. Use a stronger Brett (Lambicus) with a fruitier Brett (Claus. or Trois) to create different flavors for a more complex flavor to go along with the sour flavor created from the sour mash.
3. Add some kind of non-fermentable sugar during bottling to increase the sweetness to balance the sour.

I couldn't be much happier for how this one turned out in the end.  Next up is the final installment owhich uses the mixed fermentation yeast from Wyeast - Roeselare.  This has Saccharo, Brett, Pedio and Lacto cultures in the packet and is brewed and stored at warmer tempratures for 2 months.

I will be doing a "vertical" testing when this one is ready and drink all three styles at the same time to see how they differ from one an other.

Already in the works is a quick sour test with a pale ale or fake lambic.  More to come on this in the next week or so.