Funk Factory Geuzeria
A passion for American lambic-style beers has put Madison’s Funk Factory Geuzeria on the craft beer map as its releases draw the attention of beer travelers from across the country. These earthy, musty, sour beers take on distinctive qualities after years of aging in wooden barrels. Four Winters is the latest beer to tap the attention of the sour faithful. It’s what Geuzeria owner Levi Funk considers as his finest beer to date.
What is it? Four Winters from Funk Factory Geuzeria.
Style: Lambic-style beers often have musty, tart, sour, acidic, and sometimes earthy flavors. Traditional methods used by Belgian brewers often involve years of cellar aging. The final products can be a blend of different vintages, and sometimes aged with different fruits. (However, Four Winters is not fruited.) Lambics commonly fall between 4.0 and 5.5 percent ABV.
Background: Four Winters took four winters to brew, blend and age. Funk has a long interest in making lambics and takes pride in following traditional crafting methods. He’s traveled to Belgium several times. About seven years ago he purchased his first barrel and began again experimenting in his basement. Not long after that he started working with Marc Buttera of O’so Brewing in Plover. O’so has since created its own line of sour beers. By 2014 Funk began renovating a small one-story concrete block building at 1602 Gilson St. on Madison’s south side. It became his barrel-aging facility, but it took nearly three more years before Funk Factory had its own beer to sell. The Geuzeria, as it’s called, didn’t open its own taproom until summer 2017.
Making quality lambic-style beers is all about spontaneous fermentation and timing. These beers are made with wild yeasts like Brettanomyces and bacteria. Funk sources wort from other breweries during the winter months. Once the wort is made, it is exposed to the air overnight in a shallow stainless steel tub called a coolship. Funk even designed and built his own coolship that he can transport to any brewery making his wort. Once infected, the wort goes into barrels for long-term aging in the Madison Geuzeria.
Four Winters’ base beer was brewed and placed in barrels in late 2014. In November 2017 Funk pulled it out of select barrels, blended it by taste, and mixed in some younger stock beer to achieve exactly the sour and earthy qualities he sought. The beer was then bottled and allowed to condition for another winter. It was finally released in December.
Funk has already bottled Four Winters for a 2019 release next December.
“It’s a difficult beer to make. There are only a couple of lambic-style producers in the U.S. that have the ability to put out a such a blend,” says Funk. Funk’s journey to create this beer has placed him among the elite makers of quality American lambics.
The audience for these beers is willing to go to great lengths to obtain them. Funk released about 1,500 bottles of Four Winters over a two-day period early December. Demand was so high that those who wanted a bottle had to request tickets in advance, and purchases were limited to three bottles per person. Funk says roughly half of sales went to out-of-staters who follow Funk Factory’s social media announcements.
Four Winters ends up at 5.5 percent ABV. It is available only from the Geuzeria. The 750 mL (corked and caged) bottles sell for $35/each, and there is a limited supply of large bottles left. For in-taproom drinking, 375 mL bottles are $20 and the supply of those smaller bottles should last for several months.
Tasting notes:
- Aroma: Light floral and earthy notes characterized by light cellar-like mustiness.
- Appearance: Hazy, orange-golden body. A modest, bubbly, off-white head.
- Texture: Medium-bodied, bubbly/effervescent. There is sharpness that accentuates the tartness. Eventually there is dryness in the finish.
- Taste: Very flavorful with sour tartness throughout. It’s assertive and mildly acidic and very sharp. The earthy and musty-funkiness lingers in the background.
- Finish/Aftertaste: Continued strong sourness, with funky mustiness. There is also a very pronounced lingering dryness to the finish.
Glassware: A wine glass or chalice is ideal for appreciating the beer’s effervescence and aromas. This is a beer best for sipping slowly to appreciate its funkiness.
Pairs well with: pungent cheeses like blues, but nothing too earthy that would compete with this beer’s own musty cellar character. Make sure you sip some all on its own to get the full wild character of this flavorful sour beer.
The Verdict: Levi Funk has reason to be proud of this beer. It’s so flavorful. It redefined my expectations for a funky beer. It offers assertive tartness with a deep complexity in its melding of sourness with earthy mustiness. If you’ve never had a non-fruited lambic before, this might not be the one to start with because it is so assertive. However, for those enamored with sour, tart beers, try this one without hesitation. This beer sets a benchmark for the American lambic movement, and rightfully so – it’s worthy of the attention that Funk is getting from sour fans far and wide.
