Brettanomyces is the yeast beer brewers love to hate, but the relationship isn't that simple

Don't worry: Brett - last name anomyces - is not a real person. Actually, Brettanomyces is a certain type of yeast and the last time we checked, yeasts don't have feelings.

Feelings aside, we should all adore yeast. They are magical little critters for the mere fact that they give us alcohol. Yeast are classified as members of the fungi kingdom. Humans separated from fungi 650 million years ago. On a cellular level, peering through the ocular lens of a microscope, you'll see that human, animal and fungal cells are quite similar. Turns out, we share more in common ancestry with fungi than with any other kingdom, so yeasts are like our great ancestral enablers. Deities of fermentation; Gods of beer and wine.

Praise be to yeast; our lords of libation. And yet, poor old Brett.

In the world of beer and wine, Brettanomyces is commonly considered to be a contaminant whenever its presence is detected within the intrinsic characteristics of a certain beer or wine. A spoilage. An infection.

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Unlike its more famous cousin, Saccharomyces, whose swift feats of fermentation often receive positive reviews from connoisseurs and critics alike, Brett is often mocked, scorned and derided for its more sluggish fermentative efforts. Saccharomyces tends to give you pleasant smelling fresh fruit and floral aromas and flavours, while Brettanomyces often imparts unpleasant smelling barnyard, Band-Aid, mousy or medicinal-like aromas and flavours. The long and short of it is, people like to smell nice things, and Brett often doesn't smell very nice.

So, what happens when a modern brewer deliberately inoculates their soon-to-be beer with our most misunderstood mate, Brett? Hunter Beer Co. brewer Daniel Gayner has been mucking about with his villainous buddy to produce a beer aptly named Forbidden Fermentation.

"If you look to the classic farmhouse and spontaneously fermented beers of Belgium you will find all sorts of yeast and bacteria being harnessed to provide a whole range of flavours that standard brewing yeast simply can't give," Gayner says. "I wanted to capture some of that historic Belgian tradition, create a beer with some real complexity and produce something very different to what we normally would."

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Hunter Beer Co.'s Forbidden Fermentation is not for the faint of heart. A funk of fruit, a sniff of spice, echoes of earth, a lick of leather and a delicate halo of hay. It really is quite pleasant to smell, taste and feel sloshing about your mouth, and 750ml at 9 per cent ABV makes it perfect for your next bottle-share gathering. Bring a sixer of Mayday Hills Black Farmhouse IPA and a bottle of Sacrilege Chardonnay by Garage Project (both fermented with Brettanomyces) and do the old compare and contrast thing.

Turns out our old mate Brett ain't so bad, after all.

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