Embrace the Funk!

I've long been a fan of the beers of a local brewer and friend, Brandon Jones.  I first brewed with him when he won a chance to brew a recipe of his on our old ten-barrel system.  We were trying to raise money for a brewer who was in a horrible welding accident in east Tennessee, and Brandon stepped up to the plate, brewing his "Brandon's Hop Blaster", with all the proceeds going to help the brewer and his family.  http://yazoobrew.blogspot.com/2009/10/mark-moynihan-fund.html

Since then, Brandon has really branched out into some wild and funky ales, full of sharp, tangy, and wild flavors.  After the happy accident that we turned into Fortuitous last year, he and I got to talking - what if we could partner up to bring some of the beers we both loved to a wider audience in Nashville and beyond?

So...  here's introducing a new series, titled the "Embrace the Funk" series.  Brandon and I will be working on a range of wild, soured ales that we will release in small batches as we go forward.  Your first chance to taste our creations will come at the 12th South Winter Warmer, with a beer we are calling "Wild Child".  Its base beer was our Sue, but it has been aging for a good while in a special barrel inoculated with a brett yeast strain and some dark sour cherries.  If you don't get to taste this beer at the festival, don't worry - we will be releasing some big bottles of it soon afterwards.

Getting the spent grain out - still hard work!

We've also started on a couple of other beers, but until they age we won't know how they are going to turn out.  One challenge has been making a small enough batch of wort to get the limited amounts of these exotic bugs going.  I want to say thanks to the guys at Corsair Artisan, who kindly let Brandon and I in last Saturday to brew up a ten-barrel batch of a special wort for a barrel-fermented project, which hopefully will be ready to bottle in about a year.

Yes, we have the best jobs in the world

Laying down the funk!

Well, I'm really excited about teaming up with Brandon on bringing some of these wild and funky ales to a bigger audience.  Through his website, www.embracethefunk.com, Brandon has been chronicling his journey down the wild path, along with some great interviews with brewers like Jean Van Roy of Cantillon, Tomme Arthur at Lost Abbey, Lauren Salazar at New Belgium, and Chad Yakobson of Crooked Stave.  We will be continuing that spirit with frequent updates of our progress (or failures!).

Stay tuned here and at:  http://embracethefunk.com/2012/11/14/we-want-the-funk-give-up-the-funk/