Brettanomyces

[Richard]

 I am interested in opinions on Brettanomyces or Bretts. Thirty years ago I heard about it having a smoky, spicy character. Over the years described  as a barnyard flavor and some in very negative terms. If I remember correctly, many Normandy ciders have some degree of Brett characteristics. Years ago, I attended a sensory evaluation class put on by Peter Mitchell. One of the ciders he presented had very strong Bretts flavors to the point that made me nauseous, it tasted like some very flawed ciders I has experienced in our Cidery, mostly cider stored in half filled containers or left-over dregs. I thought Peter would call it out as a flaw, but no he said it was made with Bretts intentionally. Based on lab evaluations I knew our cider had a very small Brett populations, I could not taste it but my partner could and did not like it.. We now treat our cider with a chitin product to manage it. Partner is happy and I still cannot tell the difference. The partner recently brought me some cider from a local Cidery and described it in very negative terms as having Bretts. I drank it on several occasions and find it just fine, in fact I think the Bretts is the only thing going for this cider, which I think would be very thin and lacking any character without the Bretts.  So is Bretts a flaw? 

 

[Cory Widmayer]

I think you answered your own question.

Brett character is not appreciated by everyone, but some people really love it and that is part of why Bretted ciders continue to survive.  I actually love the "band-aid" character of some traditional European ciders that have been touched by Brett.

However, successfully harnessing or applying Brett is an art and you can easily get actual flaws in your cider, like excess acetic acid, weird carboxylic acid/ester smells, over-the-top or clashing phenolics, etc.  I've tasted some ciders with Brett character that I would call flawed, usually from cideries trying to experiment (or manage a catastrophic infection!).  Generally, when properly harnessed, Brett lives in the wood barrels used for fermentation or aging and works slowly to impart its unique character.

On Tue, Jan 6, 2026 at 9:50 PM Richard <rhand...@rockisland.com> wrote:

 I am interested in opinions on Brettanomyces or Bretts. Thirty years ago I heard about it having a smoky, spicy character. Over the years described  as a barnyard flavor and some in very negative terms. If I remember correctly, many Normandy ciders have some degree of Brett characteristics. Years ago, I attended a sensory evaluation class put on by Peter Mitchell. One of the ciders he presented had very strong Bretts flavors to the point that made me nauseous, it tasted like some very flawed ciders I has experienced in our Cidery, mostly cider stored in half filled containers or left-over dregs. I thought Peter would call it out as a flaw, but no he said it was made with Bretts intentionally. Based on lab evaluations I knew our cider had a very small Brett populations, I could not taste it but my partner could and did not like it.. We now treat our cider with a chitin product to manage it. Partner is happy and I still cannot tell the difference. The partner recently brought me some cider from a local Cidery and described it in very negative terms as having Bretts. I drank it on several occasions and find it just fine, in fact I think the Bretts is the only thing going for this cider, which I think would be very thin and lacking any character without the Bretts.  So is Bretts a flaw? 

 

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Cory Widmayer

[Patrick McCauley]

Hi Richard. I think that the main thing with brett is that it's a matter of degree. I only do wild fermentations at ambient temperatures in my cider room where temperature is controlled through opening a window at night to cool the cider. A certain amount of barnyard, bandaid, and occasional buttery notes should be expected with the wild yeasts and low sulfite regime that I practice(50ppm total). What I've found is that it's the amount of bret that really matters. My wife has a very low tolerance, so she really doesn't like any amount of it. Other people that drink these ciders love them. I think that once it's the only thing that you taste, or at least it becomes the dominant flavor in the cider, I feel that it becomes a fault. This is obviously very very subjective, and people that drink natural wine and cider with little or no sulfites probably have a higher tolerance. I'm amazed that some of the commercial ciders I've tasted were ever released to the public, but apparently there is a market for these extremely funky ciders. 

In my experiments at home, temperature and fermentation speed make a huge difference in the end results. Also, the use of sulfites will inhibit some of this. A small dose of sulfite(25ppm) at bottling has kept the brett in check on my more recent efforts. One "mistake" that I made last year was I over-racked some of my blends, and they were still fermenting extremely slowly in June, July, and August, when the cider room was warm. These all had a higher level of barny and bandaid notes. Not terrible, but definitely funkier than the ciders that were bottled pét nat with that small sulfite dose prior to the cider room warming up to 69F/21C. I like making different types of cider, so having varying results is a plus. This is obviously more difficult to live with at commercial scale. With true traditional "farm cider," a certain amount of brett should be expected and is true to style. 

Pat

On Tue, Jan 6, 2026, 10:50 PM Richard <rhand...@rockisland.com> wrote:

 I am interested in opinions on Brettanomyces or Bretts. Thirty years ago I heard about it having a smoky, spicy character. Over the years described  as a barnyard flavor and some in very negative terms. If I remember correctly, many Normandy ciders have some degree of Brett characteristics. Years ago, I attended a sensory evaluation class put on by Peter Mitchell. One of the ciders he presented had very strong Bretts flavors to the point that made me nauseous, it tasted like some very flawed ciders I has experienced in our Cidery, mostly cider stored in half filled containers or left-over dregs. I thought Peter would call it out as a flaw, but no he said it was made with Bretts intentionally. Based on lab evaluations I knew our cider had a very small Brett populations, I could not taste it but my partner could and did not like it.. We now treat our cider with a chitin product to manage it. Partner is happy and I still cannot tell the difference. The partner recently brought me some cider from a local Cidery and described it in very negative terms as having Bretts. I drank it on several occasions and find it just fine, in fact I think the Bretts is the only thing going for this cider, which I think would be very thin and lacking any character without the Bretts.  So is Bretts a flaw? 

 

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[Mark Fitzsimmons]

As a mead, cider and beer judge, I exclude myself from any category which explicitly contains brettanomyces (eg sour beer) or does not exclude them as a flaw. I can't stand them and note them as problems to be avoided in the process. There are several styles of beer and cider with wild yeasts which people find these flavors perfectly acceptable, but I do not  like them so will not put myself in a position to judge such a beverage, because it would be unfair to people intentionally trying to use it artfully. For example some Belgian Ales are pretty funky, but I have also had some extremely good ones. They are rare! As a corollary, I do not care for any kombucha, which often has those barnyard or brett flavors that offend me. It's really a matter of taste. I think those sour flavors are enjoying a small boom in popularity in some places, however I think it will always be a minority niche. I know of a brewery which specializes in sours, but my personal opinion is these people are too lazy to make a good beverage and are not taking the time to do it well.