I'll come out and admit it: I'm not the biggest beer drinker you'll ever meet. I like beer. Don't get me wrong. But I'm much more of a wine and cocktail kind of gal. That being said, it seems that everywhere I turn lately, different circles of friends and family members are talking about sour beer. Have you heard of it?
In short, sour beers are beers that are aged in barrels for as long as three years until they develop the sought after tart and tangy flavor that the beer maker is looking for. They each add a different variety of sour bacteria and yeast which hang out in the barrels and end up soaking up the sugars in the beer leaving intense flavors which can range from sharp and fruity to earthy and spicy. The art is in the combination of different yeasts (with Brettanomyces yeast being a popular one) and bacteria and the time in which they're allowed to hang out and ferment.
Traditional sour beers are more popular in Belgium where you'll see lambics of all varieties. But I think the reason more and more friends have been seeking out bars with sour beers on tap is because there are some great folks brewing it stateside these days, and it's starting to gain some domestic buzz. Drinking a sour beer seems much more of an experience than drinking your go-to lager because the flavor profile isn't immediately expected and more and more chefs are trying to get them on the menu because they enhance the flavor of food in a much different way that your traditional IPA or other hoppy beer.
So have you tried any good domestic sour beers? What are your favorites?
A Few Domestic Sour Beer Breweries:
• Stillwater Artisan Ales: Baltimore, MD
• Allagash Brewery: Portland, ME
• Cascade Brewing Company: Portland, OR
Related:
• Beer Guide: What is Lambic Beer?
• Beer Review: Lambrucha from Vangerg and DeWulf
• Cherry Lambic Ice Cream Floats
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Jolly Pumpkin in Michigan produces amazing sour beer made using an open fermentation technique. Expensive, but awesome!
Ha! One of the best jokes you can play on someone at a bar is to order them a really sour beer and not tell them! Their expression is priceless.
New Belgium's Lips of Faith, Eric's Ale is a fantastic sour. & any sour that Russian River does is killer...if you can get your hands on them!
I'll second the call for New Belgium but send you towards La Folie, which is a spectacular true sour to try if you're new to the game. You can't go wrong! If you're in Fort Collins, hop on over to the brewery and take a peek at the massive barrels that its made in.
I believe Flemish ales are, generally speaking, all sour ales. My friends call them "Ketchup Beers" because they are tart and tangy and slightly acidic like ketchup. I just love the stuff!
The flavor profile of a sour is only unexpected if you don't know about sours. But the word "sour" is a big hint.
Lost Abbey (the Belgian Style arm of Port brewing) does a sour cherry ale called Red Poppy Ale that approximates (but does not not strictly adhere to) a Flemish ale.
The Bruery's Oude Tart has only been released once so far, but it was nice. They do Honestly Ale regularly--a tart cherry beer--as well as occasional releases of other ales with a sour profile.
A lot of local brewers do occasional or one-time releases of sours (like Alpine Brewing). Because sours take a long time to age, you just kind of have to pay attention to what your local brewers are doing.
In the US, New Belgium, Ommegang, New Glarus and The Bruery produce some of this style. If you can find them, some of the best from Belgium are Petrus Oud Bruin, Verhaeghe, DeProef, Lindemans, and Leifmans. For the true experimenter of strong will and stomach, try Boon, Cantillon or Hanssens.
Love the sour beers. I think they are almost the perfect beer, a beautiful balance of body (lightness) and tartness. At least that's what I'm thinking with Bell's Oarsman Ale--just a nice quaffable beer.
From California, Russian River Brewing makes several excellent American wild ales.
The usual sours from Belgium are Flemish brown or red ales, lambics (aged one year) or geuzes (a mixture of lambics aged from 1-3 years with fresh lambics). The better ones, in my opinion, are Cantillon, Drie Fountenain, and Hannsen.
Lost Abbey all the way! Isabelle Proximus is my favourite followed by the extraordinarily rare Yellow Bus. Their Red Poppy and Cuvee de Tomme are also amazing. Last sour beer I had was Lost Abbey's Veritas '07 which was just beautiful. Sour beers are awesome.
Super Baladin Sour Edition from Italy is VERY good but extremely hard to find
White Birch Brewing in NH has an incredible selection of sour beers. They can be found only in NH, MA, and Philly...for now.
The acidity of a sour beer is as palate cleaning as a squeeze of lemon to finish a braised dish. Just like the bitterness of hops the tartness of souring bacteria, primarily pediococcus and lactobacilius - Brettanomyces doesn't produce acids but "funk", is an acquired taste but the complexity that comes from that kind of fermentation is spectacular.
In the old days of brewing before stainless steel tanks were standard beer was fermented, shipped and stored in wooden casks where these kinds of bacteria and wild yeast live. Thus nearly all beer had some kind of sourness to them as Lacto and Pedio will become active in a matter of weeks. Some brewies are now releasing "historic" beer like the "Historic Porter" by Cascade Brewing which is a rich roasty porter but with a sour twang.
Then there are breweries like Avery and Cambridge who are using wild yeast and souring bacteria to make amazing beer that defies conventional flavor profiles.
Fabulous recommendations, everyone. Thanks for such great tips.
My beer obssession right now is Dutchess De Bourgogne. Definitely not domestic, but worth a try. I think it tastes almost like a cider with the sour pucker, but not as sweet.
I love sour beer! All the ones mentioned above are definitely worth a try. I second the notion on the Duchesse which may or may not DEFINE the style of sour beers. In Boulder, Co there is even a sour beer festival.