Posing with Funkonnay. (See end of post for explanation.)
Name: Funkonnay
Brewery: Hallertau (Auckland, NZ)
Style: Sour Ale
ABV: 6.5%
Source: The Wine Vault, Richmond Rd
I just narrowly dodged a bullet this week – the bullet being a scenario whereby I did not realise Funkonnay existed, and went on about my daily life while it completely sold out.
Thank God (by which I mean Twitter) that didn’t happen.
We all know I like to make sweeping, grandiose claims, but Funkonnay is my favorite New Zealand beer right now. For one: it’s the first New Zealand sour beer I’ve ever tried, and two: it’s completely effin’ delicious.
Ageing it in chardonnay barrels was, in my mind, a very classy move. Personally I’m a big fan of those big oaky chardonnays that haven’t been cool since about ’91, and the nose on this beer took me right back to Wall Street. (I like to imagine I was a big time stockbroker like Patrick Bateman in the early 90s, minus all the killing bits.)
As well as chardonnay, there were all sorts of other funky things going on in the aroma. Someone recently described it as “the essence of rotting mandarins,” and I can totally see where they’re coming from. The brett gives off this mouldy smell that reminds me of finding old school lunches in some god-forsaken corner of my room, only I swear to you, in this case it wasn’t gross.
Olivia probably described the palate best when she said “Oh my fucking God. It’s like the nicest wine I’ve ever had.”
To expand on that (not that I really need to), it was soft and creamy and just gently sour, with low carbonation and a slightly prickly sherbet tingle at the finish. It was both weird as hell and not scary at all, obviously, as Olivia had never had a sour before and she loved it.
And finally, please excuse the posey glamour shot accompanying this post. Olivia took some photos of me drinking Funkonnay to go with another piece of beer writing I did for a paper, and we forgot to get the regular beer photo for the blog. (Granted, my hair does look quite good for once, but it would have been nice to show you the cool bottle.)
Beer for a Year 
haha… I was going to comment about the photo, I’m glad you cleared that up. Before the end of the year, I’d like to see one where you’ve got a fan, just out of shot, blowing your hair… you haven’t done Tui Blond yet, have you? It did just win a medal in the International Beer challenge.
Got to get some Funkonnay. Jed Soane raved about it a while back and I find his opinion is very rarely at odds with mine. He’s got an open mind and a keen palate. Got to get that Funkonnay.
Fan is a great idea, as is a review of Tui Blonde. I’ll do my best to make these things happen in the next two weeks (together, naturally.)
You would love Funkonnay Stu, I know it!
You have to review the Vortex bottle maybe somehow see if you can tell the difference to a normal bottle! Or is that whole thing just an excuse to get that girl in a swimsuit?
I’ve heard that funky aroma/flavour referred to as ‘barnyard’.
I really need to try it again; I was beyond comprehending Funkonnay on the first occasion, and the most I can recall is my obstinate mates aforementioned mandarin description (That, and “The taste of Satan’s ass” comment once seen on Untappd). I think they only forgave me after I delivered them some Liberty C!tra.
I find myself more and more a fan of Sours and Saisons, the more I drink. Naturally it drives a desire to brew some at home, but I’m not sure how easy it would be to obtain Brett or LAB cultures (or to get rid of them afterwards, for that matter).
I want to taste it even more now that I’ve seen that descriptor. That is a Rex-level tasting note!
Here’s hoping it was a metaphor and not a literal descriptor.