Burlington Funk: Uncommon Element Brett Pale Ale

Nickel Brook Brewing Co. messed around with funky brettanomyces yeast when developing their Uncommon Element Brett Pale Ale. At 5.2%, 38 IBUs, and sold in an odd format 375mL bottle, Ue is a hazy dull-gold brew that pours with a serious cloud of off-white foam.

Ue has a funky, slightly juicy yeast nose. Strong yeast dominates the flavour, but beneath it, there are some tangy fruit notes, as well as a modestly bitter and crisply dry finish.

Having sampled a fair number of Brett-built pale ales, I'd have to say the Uncommon Element is quite good, but not great. It has the Belgian-inspired yeast funk in spades, but I'd have liked that to be compliment a bitterer, more assertive and distinctive taste. Still, would definitely buy again. Ue beat back a hot summer afternoon with crispness and substantial refreshment.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

Insane Frown Posse

Insane Frown Posse is a collaboration between to great Toronto establishments--Great Lakes Brewery and Bar Hop. It's a brettanomyces pale ale brewed with strawberries and blackberries. A bit on the weak side at 4.3%, IFP arrived at my stretch of Bar Hop's bar with a quickly dissipating off-white head. The beer was a hazy, dull orange one.  It had a really unique sent, walking a curious line between tart and sweet, all the while luxuriating under a tonne of berry notes.

Given the presence of brett, I expected this ale to have a serious amount of funk; however, it was only a little bit yeasty. Instead, tangy berry elements dominated the flavour. 

This beer was a great compliment to a sunny Saturday afternoon. It was refreshing and quirky, without having a punishing alcohol content. I'd have liked the brett to come through a bit more forcefully, but the berries were incorporated quite nicely. Hops, too, could have been evidenced a bit more prominently.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

 

For those of you keeping score at home, today's post is my 900th!

100% Brett Golden Ale

Another ale from the Torontonian Burdock Brewery gifted to me by R.H., 100% Brett Golden Ale was just what the name suggested, a golden ale fermented with Brettanomyces yeast. At 6.5%, it had some heft, but not too much to distract from flavour, and the Spartan label on the 500mL bottle was too plain to distract from anything.

The beer was a honey gold colour, faintly hazy, and topped with off-white suds. The funky wild yeast gave the beer a tangy, fruity aroma, alongside an earthy musk reminiscent of many Belgian beers. If the engaging nose was 100% Brett's best attribute, its disappointingly thing mouthfeel had to be its worst, at least as far as I'm concerned. Somewhere in between was the flavour, which was less tart and lively than the scent led me to expect, but which was still pretty funky and interesting. It finished dryly and quite pleasantly.

Burdock's 100% Brett Golden Ale was a mixed bag of a beer. Aromatic, inviting, thin, fruity, and alright are words that came to my mind as I was downing my glass.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10.

Brettal Head All Brett Pale Ale

The 500mL bottle of Brettal Head All Brett Pale Ale is pretty darn rad. It's emblazoned with a goat and a crescent moon, and looks pretty sweet. The bottle advises that one should "Keep Refrigerated" and "Drink Fresh--Do Not Age". My fridge was pretty full, so I had to lay this stuff down on its side. A week later when I finally got around to uncapping it, I found that there was a line of yeasty sediment along the side of the bottle that was resting on the fridge.

This murky yellow-orange ale features a thick blanket of bright white head. The ale contains the standard 5% alcohol and has a dynamite aroma that is bitter, but but buoyed by tropical fruit notes and a nice yeasty streak. The flavour and mouthfeel are both less substantial than I expected--really, this stuff is pretty thin-bodied. The flavour, though mild, is quite nice. There's a bit of Belgian-style yeast fruitiness that leads to a modestly hoppy citrus and passion fruit finish.

I prefer a lot more hops wallop in my pale ales, but the interesting flavour is worth more than a little love. Brettal Head All Brett Pale Ale is yet another fine ale from the beer wizards at Toronto, Ontario's Bellwoods Brewery.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.