Siren: Le Grappin: Funkier Feet (England: Sour Ale: 8% ABV)
Visual: Pinky brown with caramel edges to the body. Large off white head with brown sediment in the middle of the mound, coming out from the pour.
Nose: Rose wine. Alpen. White grapes. Lemon. Light cherries. Fresh.
Body: Tart raspberries and juicy red grapes. Lemon undertones. Acidic at the very back of the throat. Tart apples. Strawberry yogurt. Champagne yeast character. Vanilla sweetness. Mandarin orange and pink grapefruit.
Finish: Fresh and lemony. Red grapes. Sweet. Cheese-boards. Champagne. Strawberry. Vanilla yogurt. Rustic notes.
Conclusion: Sour beers can often be oh so fruity, and this, with all its wine influence as well, well it just booms with it. For a beer called “Funkier Feet” I am surprised that it doesn’t actually have that much funky yeast character going on in it, or for that matter it isn’t overly sour. Don’t get me wrong, it is a sour beer, and it is acidic at the very back of the throat. However, generally it feels more refreshing than harshly sour.
In fact it is remarkably sweet with tons of juicy grapes, cherries and strawberry sweetness and all pretty smoothly done. Despite that it keeps that hard to define beer character – there is a rustic note in the finish, and a very “beer” gripping texture, with lambic like dry notes and alcohol character. It is generally very different to a standard beer, but doesn’t fall into the trap of feeling like alcoholic fruit juice or just the wine influence.
As time goes on it descends into more tart apple and pink grapefruit notes, but even here it is still more in the flavor than the acidity. It is very easy to drink considering the big flavours it pulls out, possibly due to the grounding by slight cheeseboard styling that I always associate with a good sour beer.
Overall it is very impressive with mouth sparkling refreshing character, yet much sweeter than most sours, thus avoiding their harsh dryness. It is that character that makes it easy to drink. It is full of fruit, sweetness, and just a tiny touch of funk that gives a kind of bready champagne feel.
It is a delight of a beer. Impressive, progressing, wine touched, yet still beer like, lambic influenced. Both a sour that can be enjoyed by those new to the style and by those who want something with depth to appreciate.
Background: Ok, I never tried the original Funky Feet, but this is the updated version – a brett beer, blended with rose wine, aged with grapes for three months. All in all a bit of a non standard beer. Also a tad unusual in that as I was trying to open the cork it popped off into my hand with the crack like a bloody bullet. A quiet bullet admittedly as I still had my hearing, but still more force than expected. This was grabbed from Independent Spirit a while back and now finally drunk.
