Where the Wild Things Are

"Inside all of us is a Wild Thing"
— Where the Wild Things Are

Inside a bottle of Victory's Wild Devil is a wild yeast, whose name is Brettanomyces (or Brett for short).

From the Victory website:

"Bold, spicy, menacingly delicious HopDevil takes on an entirely new dimension when subjected to a ‘wild’ yeast fermentation. A sharp, tart edge has been added by this fermentation that plays into the caramel sweet malt deliciously and creates complex interplay with the citrus accented hops."

I picked up a bottle of this last night from Whole foods on my way home. Now I'm a big fan of Victory and I particularly love Hop Devil, so a Brett version of the Devil sounded intriguing. Here goes:

Look: First, I had to cool this one down quickly as I picked it up at room temperature and didn't get home from work until late. So in order to chill rapidly I used my Cooper Cooler. I think the combination of this naturally being a well carbonated brew and the spinning method used to cool it caused a massive eruption upon opening. Once the overflow settled down I poured into a Chimay goblet-style glass. Poured up a brilliant orange color with lots of off-white foamy head. After a few minutes the head dissipated some, but remained to some extent all the way through my consumption.

Smell: The smell is quite complex. Some citrus and floral hops, caramel malt, and wafts of the Brett horse blanket, leatheriness. Definitely funked up.

Drink: The taste is complex, but more muted than the nose let on. Citrus and piney hops up front. The caramel malt that is so noticeable in Hop Devil is there, but is blended in with some definite earthiness. The Brett funkiness kind of jumbles the flavors up, but not necessarily enhancing things.

Overall: B-, definite street-cred bump to Victory for trying something different like this, but it isn't quite mind blowing. Not bad, but not great. I think I'll keep to the standard Hop Devil and Victory's other fantastic offerings.