Two Brothers Project Opus 10

Brewed by Two Brothers Brewing Company
Style: Sour Ale
Warrenville, Illinois USA

375 ml bottle, from drewbeerme - thanks man! Pours a dark-stained mahogany red color with a small beige head that leaves a bit of stringy lace. Aroma of wild yeast, funk and tartness, along with some roastiness, hint of white pepper, cherry aromas are strangely absent. Flavor is definitely tart, but also has a surprising roasty acidity that reminds me a bit of dark toffee, hints of pie cherries to counterpoint the sweetness and funk. Medium body, nice and creamy carbonation.

Bottle from Secret Santa ’07, holdenn. Pours hazy brown with a large, fizzy, light brown head, lasting with fair lacing. Aroma is average malt (cookie, caramel), average hops (herbs, citrus), average yeast (barnyard, earth) with notes of cherry, wood, medicine, and bandage. Medium bodied, sticky texture, lively carbonation, and a bitter finish. Long duration, light sweetness, heavy acidity and bitterness.

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.

Thanks to skyview for sharing. This was amazong. Dark reddish brown color with cherry aroma. Funky body with cherry overtones.

Bottle. Dark red pour with a off white head. Aroma of funk, oak, bright sour/tart fruits. Flavors of oak, light fruits, funk, light sweet malt and sour. Medium body, sour/fruity with a dry/sour finish.

[Bottle, thanks Skyview] Pours brown with a light-tan medium head. Aroma is sour with cherry. Taste is also sour cherry, didn’t get much else. Good mouthfeel. A nice beer, but nothing stood out.

Bottle shared by Skyview. Dark reddish brown color with very little head (though others at the tasting had towering heads). Strong cherry aroma. Plenty more cherry in the flavor with lots of oak and sweet malt. The sourness and tartness balance out well towards the finish, though neither is screamingly strong.

Brett and barnyard aroma with some fruit. Flavor has cherry and lots of yeast, but this is not sour at all, and it would be much better if it was sour. Maybe it needs some time in the bottle to get there. Dry, oak finish. No carbonation. Light red color.