Novel Strand Brewing | Ye Olde Funk
The best way to lift yourself out of a winter funk is to drink a beer that’s dark and delicious, with a high enough ABV to warm you up. After walking a few blocks in 19-degree weather to Novel Strand–a relatively new brewery located only a few blocks away from my apartment–I needed something full-bodied, boldly flavored and a little weird.
Ye Olde Funk hit all of the criteria. Brewed with a little help from their friends at Lafayette, Colorado-based Cellar West Artisan Ales, the collaborative porter was inspired by the “ales of the old.” The classic English Porter was fermented with a dark ale yeast as well as Cellar West’s own Brettanomyces culture for months. Utilized by brewers for centuries, Brettanomyces provide a distinctive funkiness, spiciness, and tartness to a variety of beers. The yeast, once stripped from beers and avoided by brewers, is increasingly making an appearance in hearty, dark beers.
You don’t have to be an expert brewer to deduce that Ye Olde Funk derived its name from the flavors cultivated by the Brettanomyces. The bouquet of red wine blossoms as you take your first sips of Ye Olde Funk. The tartness of red wine blends with the subtle sweetness of berries and chocolate, creating a solid and malty flavor profile. However, Ye Olde Funk refuses to shy away from its inherit funkiness–and it’s this boldness that makes the beer stand out from Novel Strand’s other dark beers.
Speaking to Tristan Chan when the brewery first opened, Novel Strand Co-Founder Tamir Danon shared that brewing beer, to him, is like cooking. “It’s a way for me to showcase flavors that I want to give you so that it can trigger stuff in your head, like it triggers in mine,” said Danon.
You can taste the chef’s mentality when you try Ye Olde Funk. It’s what makes your mouth water.
Brewer-owned-and-operated, the team behind Novel Strand is likely one of the most diverse in the Colorado craft beer scene. Danon teamed up with his wife Chantel Columna and college friend Ayana Coker to open Novel Strand back in July, becoming one of the first non-white teams to open a brewery in the Colorado scene. Drawn to the relatively relaxed Baker neighborhood, Danon, Columna and Coker created a space exactly what the neighborhood needed: a local haunt for life’s true necessities–beer and coffee.
Feature image courtesy of Novel Strand
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