Many breweries have one beer they brew that is always the subject of experimentation. Sure, it is possible to get the normal version of this beer, but you are far more likely to find the marshmallow or peanut butter or grapefruit or some other Frankenstein deviation from the norm that the brewers think up. For Madison, Alabama's Blue Pants Brewery, their Pinstripe stout is the beer which they seem to constantly be releasing a new variation. It seems that it was probably just a matter of time that the recent trend of brewers playing around with Brettanomyces (aka "Brett") that Blue Pants put Brett and Pinstripe together.
What is brettanomyces?
Brettanomyces is a strain of yeast. It is wild and can be somewhat unpredictable. For much of the past century, brewers were far more concerned about ridding Brett from their beers than intentionally using it in their flavor profile. But in recent years, brewers have been rediscovering Belgian brewing and wild yeasts have been getting more attention. Brett, when mixed with a bacteria, will produce a sourness in a beer. Otherwise, it is also known for providing earthiness, spice, and "funk" to the smell and taste of beer. There is a fruitiness and acidity that red wine lovers tend to find appealing.
Beers with Brett take a lot longer to ferment. Many Brett-fermented beers are bottle-conditioned and will continue to ferment, so these make excellent selections for aging. The funkiness will mellow over time and the fruit traits will become more complex. Some people will go so far as advising it is more important to age all of the Brett beers you buy than to drink them now.
The Review
I picked up a bomber of Blue Pants Brettanomyces Fermented Pinstripe at my local craft beer store's cooler. I brought it home and left it out for a little bit to remove a little bit of the chill before opening. The beer was poured into a stemmed glass motor oil black with a tan cap which disappeared before I could get a picture. I see quite a bit of carbonation breaking the surface of the beer.
Maybe it is the purple label influencing me, but as I was pouring my glass, I got a smell of Grape Hi-C or grape Kool-Aid and not the "tart cherry" I had been told to expect. When I brought the glass to my nose, that fruit smell still seemed like Welch's grape juice. Had it been stronger and more candy-like, I would have given this a Smell score of 2 mugs of beer instead of 3. What also helped is that right after that initial rush of fruit aroma, the sour funk came along and mellowed the brightness. I do get a bit of a cough syrupy booze smell when I take a really deep breath. I seem to be smelling all Brett and can't really smell any roasted aromas or sweetness from the base stout.
Upon the beer touching my tongue, I was reassured that there was more than just color to indicate that this is a stout. There are vague roasted flavors blending with cherry-like dark fruits, sour, and refined sugar. Depending on whether I had a bite of food in my mouth or if I had a cleansed palate, the roasted flavor leans coffee or chocolate - but I don't usually taste them both in the same sip. About half way through my glass, the lingering aftertaste I have is dark coffee and a hint of grape syrup.
I had my first sampling with a dinner of beer stroganoff. Some of the sour edge is smoothed over by the cream in the stroganoff.
I vacuum-corked the bomber and drank the second half of the bottle the following evening. There was a mellowing of the grape smell just by allowing for that aeration overnight. The fruit smell was much closer to the tart-cherries of other people's descriptions on this second day. The taste wasn't as different as the smell, but it had a bit less of the high sweet notes than the night before.
This was the first time I've had Brett in a dark beer and I was expecting something odd. This certainly met my expectations in that way. Again, I don't know if it was the purple inspiring the grape-connection, but I did find the fruitiness in the Brett Pinstripe to be more of a distraction, overall, than a good complement. That said, the increased pleasure I had on that second day of the bottle has me optimistic that this could be really good next spring if I grab a bottle now and shove it under my stairs.
I think that Brettanomyces Fermented Pinstripe stout from Blue Pants is an interesting choice to make. It is worth getting if you are into wild beers, old ales, trying anything in the Pinstripe variations, or want a wild card selection available to share with friends. For those people, consider my Overall score to be a 4. If you don't fit that description, this is going to be a 3 Overall for you; I wouldn't consider buying this beer to be a "safe bet" but a purchase that indicates that you aren't afraid to try something different when it comes to beer.
