Orval

Where Spotted: Whole Foods, 5269 River Rd., Bethesda

Price: $12.99 for two 11.2-oz. bottles

Brett Not:One of six Belgian Trappist breweries, Orval is the only one to produce just a single beer — and the only one to use wild yeast brettanomyces in its bottling. Years ago, before U.S. craft beer exploded, Orval was the ambassador of funky beer, often the only wild beer you could find (unless you had a homebrew go awry). Ask brewmasters today what their last beer on earth would be, and they’ll likely say Orval.

Barn Raising: What does “funk” taste like? Think of it as off-flavors redefined as something pleasurable. With brettanomyces, these aromas and flavors can range from peppery spice to something festering in the back of a horse stable. Orval leans toward the barnyard camp. Throw in some herbal notes from dry-hopping (also rare among Trappists), and you’ve got a musty, dry beer that’s anything but housebroken.

twitter.com/beerspotter