On the 11-25-14 Q&A Episode on brett and sours, there were a few questions about using brett trois (wlp 644) in an IPA. I just wanted to share my experiences using this strain.
I co-brewed an 100% brett IPA with a couple other homebrewers last summer, loaded up with juicy fruity hops like citra, nelson sauvin, etc. We pitched a big pitch of WLP 644 (around lager pitch rates) and it came out very clean with no horse blanket or leather, just a very slight funkiness, and big tropical fruit notes like pineapple and mango that went well with the fruity hops. It attenuated very well, from about 1070 to 1010. We entered it into a couple of homebrew competitions, and we won a gold in cat 23A in one competition (declared as 100% brett trois IPA), and a silver in cat 14B in the subsequent competition. It was determined to be in style for american IPA (we did not declare that it used brett in that entry). The judges did note that the fruity notes were a bit over the top and it was a bit tart for an IPA. Since then I've used in in a wit, cider, and it's also in a berliner weiss which I have fermenting with vermont IPA (heady topper) yeast and lacto brevis.
In the podcast, Jamil says something like "if you want fruity notes, just use a British Ale yeast". With all due respect I have to disagree! The fruity notes produced by this strain are WAY different from what will be produced by an british strain.
Anyways, there's a bunch of hoopla about this strain recently as Omega Yeast Labs is claiming they have lab evidence that it is saccharomyces and not brett, and White Labs is doing their own tests. Will be interesting to see what they say.
Just wanted to chime in. Great show guys!
-Alvaro