Two Brothers Project Opus 10

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

Pours with an initially two-finger thick, frothy, somewhat large bubbled, brownish tinged, tan colored head. The beer is quite dark with a deeply burnt amber-brown hue. When held up to the light it is brilliantly clear and shows that it is very well carbonated with prolific madly streaming pillars of bubbles rising up through the dark ruby-hued beer. Sour smelling, leaning towards acetic acid notes, but there is also a certain woodiness to the brew that adds some up front structure. This is definitely funky as it has some ample barnyard like notes as well as notes of moldy leather, a damp loam-like earthiness, and a distinctive almost rancid like funk-aromatic. This last can at times be a bit too much and is perhaps a product of some aggressive enteric bacteria, underneath this though is a substantial Brett influence. Underneath the dominant funk I can at times smell a solid fruitiness, but only at times and it is too fleeting to actually pin down what sort of fruit aromas I might be smelling.

The taste is quite tart, with almost no sweetness noticeable in the first sip. The beer finishes with a solid, funk driven flavor that is not quite so strong as the aroma. Spicy oak flavors provide some warming in the finish. The tartness reminds me of plums and perhaps a bit of green apple flavors at times. This is actually quite light bodied, almost even thin at times. Except towards the finish, the funk is much tamer than the aroma might have suggested. Most of the harsh, really dank, aromatic notes don't translate to the flavor, thankfully. What is here provides flavors of musty cellars, a light Brett induced goat quality and butyric acid flavors of slightly rancid cheesiness. There is a definite woodiness here, it is not in any way dominant and I could even be convinced that no oak has touched this beer (though that might be a little bit of a hard sell). As my taste buds get used to the beer it begins to pick up a wisp of sweetness. Something a bit like damp cardboard becomes noticeable as well. At times some chalky, almost dusty malt flavors come through in the finish.

An interesting beer, it definitely ran a bit more wild and funky than the brewers intended. The aroma could certainly be quite a bit more mellow, even for this funk lover, and it seems to be missing a depth and complexity that I like to find in the darker sour beer styles.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

Probably one of the most authentic lambic aromas in an American-brewed lambic-style beer. Plenty of funk straight out of Belgium. They must have gotten a really good culture for this one. Despite the hardcore lambic aroma, the flavor really isn’t as sour as I expected. It’s most like a Rodenbach flemish sour with the bigger malt and fruitier tartness than the harsh acidity of the typical lambic. Whatever it was, I really dug this beer. Great funk in the nose, but a better drinkability that most.