 Nathan Berrong works at CNN's satellite desk and this is the third installment of his beer column. He Tweets at @nathanberrong and logs beers at Untappd. Drink up. My beer obsession all began with a taste - a taste I didn’t even know existed or was even considered “beer.” One day several years ago, I was at my neighborhood bar, Brick Store Pub, and I tried something that would change everything. It was sour, tart, sweet, and funky all at the same time. And more importantly, it was still beer. I don’t remember what exactly that first sour beer was, I hadn't yet become nerdy enough (as I am now) to write them down, but one thing was clear, I was hooked on sour ales. Sour beers can be classified into their distinct styles such as Lambic, Gueuze, Flemish Red, or wild ales, each brewed differently, but with the same goal in mind – to attack the taste buds with a sour funkiness that is unlike any other beer imaginable. The incredible thing about sour beer is how distinct its flavor profile is, dissimilar to any other beer style, while still containing the same basic ingredients found in every beer: water, malted barley, hops, and yeast. It’s the unique yeast strains used in these beers that produce the sour tartness that beer nerds (and even some wine drinkers) are raving about. This brewing process, known as spontaneous fermentation, became the standard in brewing beer until 1860 when master scientist, Louis Pasteur, was able to scientifically explain how fermentation occurs (i.e. yeast). It wasn’t until the late 1800s that certain yeast strains were identified and captured, mostly putting an end to spontaneous fermentation (no need to wait for the wind and air to ferment your beer when you can manually add the yeast to the beer yourself). But enough nerd talk. Basically, a large number of Belgian brewers continued to brew beer the way it had always been done, and this even continues today in traditional breweries like Cantillon in Brussels. Fast forward roughly 150 years from the Pasteur discovery American brewers started to jump on the sour beer train. But, we’re not as fortunate as certain parts of Belgium, where the wild yeasts naturally float through the air. So, American brewers were left to recreate the tastes of these sour beers in their own creative ways. This can happen from experimenting with different types of yeast, namely, Brettanomyces, bacteria, and/or aging beers in oak wine barrels. One of those American breweries that does it better than most is The Bruery, out of Orange County, CA. They brew mostly Belgian-style ales which include an impressive portfolio of sour beers. Patrick Rue, founder and CEO of The Bruery, explained to me their approach to sours like this, “It takes a very long time to make a good sour beer – anywhere from 6 months to 3 years. It takes about the same amount of time to determine whether it is any good. However, there are some tools just in case the beer didn't turn out as intended.” He continued, “Blending is a way to make a great beer out of less than great components, although, those components can't be severely flawed. I'd consider the production of sour beers to be a risky endeavor, especially due to the learning curve involved, the potential of cross-contamination, and because many of your customers might not enjoy them.” The cross-contamination Patrick is referencing happens when the wild yeast culture quickly reproduces and literally takes control of its environment. For this reason, many breweries have one facility for their sour beer production and a completely separate facility for producing all of their other beers. All of this goes to say, brewing sour beers is a delicate and expensive venture, and one that has unpredictable results. Knowing this, it makes me appreciate all the more the breweries that do it well. Sour beers aren’t for everyone. People either love or hate them and, luckily, my wife and I fall into that former category. If you’ve never tried one, please do. And even if you don’t enjoy it, at least you've tried a new style, which is one of the many joys of drinking beer. The more I learn about and taste new beers the more I realize that the learning process isn’t something that has a beginning or end. It’s continual and as brewers become more innovative and creative, more styles will arise. Here’s to drinking good beer - and always learning! Do you like sour beers? If so, (or even if you somehow don’t) tell me why and what some of your favorites are in the comments. Sour Beer Recommendations: Duchesse De Bourgogne – a Flanders Red Ale brewed in Vichte, Belgium Lindemans Gueuze Cuvée René – a blend of young and old Lambics, brewed in Vlezenbeek, Belgium New Belgium La Folie – red ale aged in French oak barrels between one and three years, brewed in Fort Collins, CO The Bruery Oude Tart – red ale aged in wine barrels for 18 months, brewed in Placentia, CA Allagash Interlude – brewed with the aforementioned Brettanomyces yeast strain and aged in French Merlot and Sirah oak barrels, brewed in Portland, ME Cantillon Kriek 100% Lambic – a traditional Lambic with cherries added, brewed in Brussels, Belgium Russian River Consecration – wild ale aged in Cabernet Sauvignon barrels with currants added, brewed in Santa Rosa, CA Rodenbach Vintage – red ale aged in oak barrels (some of which are more than 150 years old!) for more than two years, brewed in Roeselare, Belgium |
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I love sour beers. I have traveled to Belgium twice to enjoy them at the source.Oddly enough I have friends who drink Coors Light but can tolerate lambics..incongruous! Great article and I hope that others will heed your advice and open up their palates to these wonders of the beer world! Gezondheit!
Excellent article, Nathan. Very impressive that you were able to take a somewhat complicated area of beer geekery and express it in layman's terms that everyone can understand, enjoy, and get excited about. My wife and I both love sour beers - they have changed our lives in terms of where to go out at night, where to go on vacation (heading to Belgium in March), and our savings (they are generally quite expensive, but worth every penny - most of the time).
When I introduce someone to sour beers, I tell them don't think beer, think deliciousness. And if you don't like it at first, I guarantee that you will think about that taste the next day. I will never forget my first sour, Cantillon Kriek at Eulogy in Philly. The bartender told us it's like "a sour patch kid crashing into gatorade gum." Not the most sophisticated explanation, but accurate to an extent. As you stated, it was like nothing that I've ever tasted before and I seek our new sours and hunt down my favorites. Very enjoyable article. Thanks!
Thanks so much, Jared, glad you enjoyed it.
Awesome that your first sour was such an incredible one...Cantillon Kriek!
Nice article detailing an overlooked style! One ding, though..Allagash is a great brewery, and Interlude an excellent beer (a personal favorite) that IS brewed with some brett, bit it's far from a sour ale.
I've had Interlude a number of times and I would definitely consider it a sour ale, specifically an American Wild Ale. I don't know what the pH of it is but the acid level is much higher than it is in a brett-only beer.
American Breweries with tasty sour beers: Russian River (Supplication, Beatification), New Belgium (La Folie, Eric's Ale), The Lost Abbey (Duck Duck Gooze, Cable Car), Jolly Pumpkin (Maracaibo Especial, Baudelaire IO), Cascade (Sang Royale, Bourbonic Plague), Ithaca (Brute, LeBleu)....plus many others
European Breweries (Mostly Belgian) that make tasty lambics, Flanders Red/Oud Bruins, gueuzes: Cantillon, Drie Fonteinen, Girardin, Hanssens, De Struise, Rodenbach....plus a few others
I really like Dogfish's sour peach–want to say it's call Peche Festiva.
Also thumbs up for the Monk's Sour Flemish that someone else mentioned above
When I was in Asheville, NC, awhile back I had Cuvee Des Jacobins Rouge on tap at the Thirsty Monk, and was blown away. Haven't seen it again since, but would love to!
Duchesse De Bourgogne is absolutely fantastic.
This may be a stretch, but would anyone know if any of these Sours are widely available? I have tried to locate Duchesse and cant find it locally in PA.
Depends on where you are in PA (big state). It's all over the eastern end. Try a Wegman's if you have one near you.
I've seen several at BevMo. I don't know if they have them in PA but I believe you can have stuff shipped.
Eulogy Beer Tavern in Old City Philly has it.
Monk's cafe most likely has any beer that you could be looking for, they usually have a few sour ales either on tap or in bottle. Eulogy is awesome btw.
NICELY DONE NATHAN!!! PROUD OF YA!!
No mention of Girardin yet? Or Hannsens? Girardin makes some of the best geuze I know and I've had just about every Belgian sour imported over the last 20 years.
Also try Liefman's Gluhkriek when possible – it's a warmed, spiced lambic – absolutely amazing.
Hannsens blends – not brews to the best of my knowledge and their product is amazing. De Cam recently started making their way stateside and they produce some amazing beer.
I'll second the Loerik suggestion from Cantillon – that was a treat – but probably nearly impossible to find now.
People look down their nose at Lindeman's because of their overly sweet fruit beers – but their base geuze is stellar.
de Proef's Flemish Primative and ZoetZuur are also amazing gateway sours that have a fairly balanced profile.
Be careful about too many of these beers – they can do some really odd things to your flora – after a 20L keg of Cantillon's Kriek over a two week span – I was never far from a bathroom for a few days.
Stuise Brothers struiselensis is another greate gateway sour – just enough pale ale characteristics to mediate the otherwise intense sour. Everything they do is gold IMO.
CASCADE BEWING OUT OF PORTLAND OREGON IS BEST SOUR BEERS I EVER HAD !!!
beer barf!lol!
Ommegang Zuur – it was my gateway sour ale, love this style of beer!
I recommend Bell's Oarsman!
You yahoos ain't got jack on Pabst Blue Ribbon!
i cant imagine how stupid you must be to say that.
Haha! About as stupid as you to read it and comment.
Just watchin' NASCAR and drinkin' PBR!
T'a!n't stupid, it's Redneck. Ther's uh diffrense.
Jolly Pumpkin is an excellent brewery out of Dexter, Michigan, specializing in sour beer!!!! Can't believe they were overlooked in this article!
The dissident by deschutes is an amazing sour ale, everyone should try that has the opportunity
I TOTALLY agree. I just had it when I was vacationing in Portland. I wish I could find it out east...
I absolutely love sour beers, and have since I was first introduced to craft beer. Duchesse, Petrus, and Rodenbach are my favorite mainstays, and Consecration is my all time favorite American sour (thus far). While I love La Folie, I have also really enjoyed New Belgium's Eric's Ale and Le Terroir. Cantillon obviously brews the best in the world, and I'm still searching for my holy grail, the Blabaer. Great article Nathan!
Really great suggestions here already. I have a few to add.
A fantastic new discovery from GABF this year was DESTIHL from Normal, IL. They had several sours pouring and I was lucky enough to run into 2 of the brewers before the event sitting at the bar at Oskar Blues in Longmont. They told me their beers are all spontaneously fermented. I highly recommend their St. Dekkera Strawberry and their Oud Bruin. They are not bottling their sours, yet.
TRiNiTY Brewing from Colorado Springs is another great sour producer. Their Old Growth is worth a taste if you can find it. Their Brain of the Turtle and The Flavor are also great.
Finally, Avery out of Boulder makes some great sours as weel. They bottle some, and are begining to have at least one on tap at all times in the tasting room. Immitus is their latest bottle. Dihos Dactyllion was another bottled offering, they are pouring Eremita is their tap room sour at the moment.
Last but certainly not least is Crooked Stave out of Ft. Collins. New brewery with great potential. They have done bottled Wild Ales and a Petit Guava sour to date. They are all Brett based beers. Hope to see more from them in the very near future.
I agree, I had some of DESTIHL's sours at the Great Taste of the Midwest and was really impressed.
Thanks for reading. I wanted to try some of DESTIHL's brews at GABF but didn't find out about their sours until Saturday and I had a dinner to attend that evening, so I missed the last session and never got to check them out. Speaking of GABF, I really wanted to make it to Boulder to check out Avery, mainly b/c of the incredible stuff they were pouring in their tap room, especially the sours, but alas, I didn't have transportation. I'm jealous that you've gotten to try all those great sours!
Nathan you need to get to the above mentioned breweries next time you are in Denver, come hell or high water. At Crooked Stave you get a 2fer as in Funkwerks and their amazing saison line up are in the same building. If you find yourself salivating at the mere thought of something impossible to get your hands on, there is always the option of friendly trades between regions where certain names are not distributed...
As a home brewer of many belgian styles... I can't help be see flaws in the information you've stated. Brettanomyces for one is a bacteria, not a yeast. Also, the statement about Belgiam having the wild yeast/bacteria vs other areas... the proper statement would be that Belgiam has a lot of yeasts that are unique to that region because of the amount of fruit that grew/grows there. Hell, they have Yeasts that used to live on the skin of extinct cherries that only survives on the walls of the classic brewers that still use the old cooling ships to this day.
Sorry for the rant, us beer nerds get a little crazy sometimes. That aside, good article.
William Donnay – As a homebrewer of many different styles, I just wanted to point out a few errors in your comment. First, although many uneducated homebrewers say otherwise, Brettanomyces is actually a yeast, not a bacteria. It will take 2 seconds to look up Brettanomyces on wikipedia to confirm this fact. Second, Belgiam is not a word. You're thinking of Belgium.
My new favorite place on the internet to look things up is the Google Books site. Here's a neat article on Brettanomyces from the person who named it: http://books.google.com/books?id=KsvyAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA314&dq=Brettanomyces&hl=en&ei=c02MTteoBIevsALo48jXBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Brettanomyces&f=false
"Brett," a shorthand reference used by wine afficionados, is now considered to be a family of yeasts, all closely related yet biologically distinct. I believe there are nine altogether. As with beer, some wine lovers appreciate the complexity added to the wine by a bit of Brettanomyces in the yeast, while others do not. But unlike beer, utilizing Brett as a significant yeast component in wine, anything beyond just a flavor nuance, would be overpowering and unacceptable.
I am a HUGE sour fan. My favorite sours (in no order):
- Drie Fonteinen Geuze Cuvée J&J Blauw
- Cantillon Lou Pepe Kriek
- 1984 Eylenbosch Gueuze
- In de Verzekering tegen de Grote Dorst Brabantse Trots Oude Geuze
- Drie Fonteinen Armand 4' Oude Geuze Lente
- Cantillon Blåbær Lambik
- Ithaca LeBleu
- Ithaca Brute
- Bullfrog Brewing Beekeeper
- Drie Fonteinen Framboos
Cascade Brewing/Barrel House in Portland OR brews some of the best sour beers this side of the pond. Go House of Sour!
Mine is Cantillon Brewery's Fou' Foune. Soooo good!!
rob- just to correct you so people are not misinformed...most beer prior to the turn of the 20th century WAS infected and was still palatable because of the quick turnover...bass and guinness are Nothing like they were in the 19th century...technology has changed beer for the better, it used to be muddy, flat, and tasted like crap...so the author is somewhat correct....i don't like to respond to these things, but being a former brewer for guinness, at smithwicks in kilkenny, i have to destroy your disinformation...please don't write things that are false...
Miller Light please.
So you want water ?
I know, right?! Horse p!ss is more like it.
Make mine a little sensimilla please !!
.
I'm lucky enough to live a block from Monk's Cafe, and get Monk's Flemish Sour Ale on tap anytime. Besides that, Rodenbach Grand Cru gets my mouth watering just fine.
Petrus Aged Pale is a dynamite sour!
Telegraph Reserve Wheat is another delicious example of a sour beer.
I'm a big fan of lambic in general, especially Lindeman's, but this article is very wrong on some basic beer history.
"This brewing process, known as spontaneous fermentation, became the standard in brewing beer until 1860"
This statement is so laughably, obviously wrong, I'm surprised it made it past CNN. Many ales and lagers that are still popular today, such as Bass and Guinness, have been made pretty much the same way since well before 1860.
"Ale, along with bread, was an important source of nutrition in the medieval world"
"By 1784 advertisements were appearing in the Calcutta Gazette for "light and excellent" pale ale"
Just a couple of quotes I found on Wikipedia with a minimum of effort. Non-sour beer has been around for centuries.
Thumbs up for promoting the exotic and tasty sour beer tradition, thumbs down to the fact checkers at CNN.
I adore a good Belgian sour ale, they are so complex and flavorful. I just had an amazing one a few weeks ago, the Rodenbach Grand Cru. Wrote up a review over at BrewChief:
http://www.brewchief.com/review.cfm?id=314
I have yet to taste an American sour that can stand up to a Belgium. There are some good ones out there...but the wild yeast strands cannot be duplicated.
Amen–just can't duplicate the exact strains of wild yeast they have in that valley in Belgium where lambic is made. The US makes some truly world class microbrews-but nobody in the world can make lambic like Belgians can.
You may have already, but if not, try the Russian River version of lambics. They measure up, in my opinion, to the
Belgian version.
I may partly agree, but likewise, give it some time. I think Americans fully capable of matching the Belgians in ability, and think they indeed will. It's more science than art, regardless of our romanticizing about it being the other way.
Hope you're both right–I agree that some good science could definitely improve American sours. Hope it does (or already has–I haven't tried the Russian River variety)–it hurts to pay $5-$6 for a single imported Belgian lambic!
Cascade Brewing makes stellar sour beers. I love Cantillon (Vigneronne is awesome) and Boon Geuze, but the guys at Cascade really know what they're doing. Best in the states of the ones I've had and on par or better than many Belgians.
I would recommend:
Duchesse de Bourgogne (as mentioned) – good, funky, bit of vinegar taste to it – not so easy to come by
Kasteel Rouge – awesome beer with sour notes and cherries, strong
Liefmans Cuvee Brut (imported by Ommegang) – excellent, one of the best – hard to get
Liefmans Goudenband (imported by Ommegang) – very good
Liefmans Fruitesse (imported by Ommegang) – nice light beer meant to be served on ice
Ommegang Zuur – very good, impossible to find
Ommegang Rouge – The best I have ever had, extinct
Ithica Excelsior Le Blue – truely amazing, extinct (although ithica still has a cask or two)
For the people who don't like beer, this can be a way to get them to try something they might like!
The Duchess is all over Virginia. Incredibly, my Kroger has it.
LeBleu is not extinct! It's brewed once a year, but is very limited.
I was in Belgium back in May. There is a small town called Beersel about 15km outside Brussels, a cute little Flemish town. They have a castle and are home to Drie Fontinein Brewery and a restaurant by the same name. Their gueze, kriek, and lambic are out of this world. The best kept secret? Their Beersel Lager, the best lager I have ever had!!!!
There are LOTS of beers that have a sourness to them outside of the obvious Belgian varieties. You should probably also go to Finland and experience sahti. I know it's not as hip as the lambics, but sould very much be on every beer lovers to-do list.
Back in the 70s-80s, there used to be Berliner Weiss at the Brickskeller in DC. It was sourer than a lambic – so sour that it was traditionally mixed with raspberry syrup. Don't know if it's still available here. Apparently no American craft brewery has attempted the style. Oh well...
OMG! I thought sour beers were Obamas fault. Thanks CNN for keeping me informed.
Not true. The Bruery (Orange, CA) make a berliner weisse called "Hottenroth." Karl Strauss (San Diego, CA) makes one as well, but does not bottle it.
At the Bruery tasting room in California they serve Hottenroth with the option of adding raspberry or woodruff syrup if that flips your cookie.
It is a shame that the Brick is no more. Great place to go for some one of a kind beers.
* russian river makes sublime sours. supplication might be my favorite, consecration is stunning.
* new belgium was the first US brewery to make oak aged sour beer. their brewmaster came from brauerij rodenbach in belgium, and made la folie which is still one of the best US sour beers. try to find new belgium's la terrior or love or eric's ale. rodenbach should be included in any list of belgian sours, too.
* allagash in maine has a coolship and is the only good spontaneous fermented beer from the US that i've found.
* jolly pumpkin is doing excellent work.
* lost abbey's "cuvee de tomme" is excellent!
* i've tried lots of cascade beer and find it to be overrated. most of their beers lack any discernible aromatic qualities and show no discernible brett character, only lactic, lactic, lactic. probably because their beer only spends 6 months on wood. not sure how they get so much acidity and no "nose" out of only a 6-month wood fermentation.
Thanks for discussing sour beers on CNN! I just published this story on sour beers from Brewery Vivant in Grand Rapids, MI, the center of the Great Beer State. Please have a look! http://sicilianosmkt.blogspot.com/2011/09/brewing-with-oak-barrels-at-vivant.html
Love The Bruery. Love sours! Will definitely be in search of the some of the recommendations as I am new to sours.
Ale aged in Cabernet casks sounds interesting, will have to try that one
Interesting! I had never heard of this before! Thanks!
I like Sour's because of their unique flavor and taste profile. I have two favorites that are available from two of my local breweries here in Raleigh, NC.
Barrel-Aged Strong Ale – Natty Greene's Brewing Company
Hell's Bizz-Ness – Big Boss Brewing Company
Yeast grows naturally on the skins of grapes (thus, the ancientness of wine making?), so it would make sense for sour beers to be produced in areas not too far from places where wine grapes are grown, if airborne yeast is a requirement.
Bob, in addition to the adjacent wine regions, Belgian brewers adored the local cherry trees. It was later found out that much of the airborne/wild yeasts came from those cherries. (See also: kriek!)
Some other great producers of sour beer:
New Glarus in New Glarus, WI
Russian River in Santa Rosa, CA
New Belgium in Fort Collins, CO
Love the breweries already mentioned, too!
You try some of the sours at Cascade Barrel House; most of the beers at this location are sours. I believe most of their beers are better than what is listed.
Peace
I've never been to Portland, but I will be sure to check them out whenever I get up there.
Hear! Hear! The guys at Cascade are on top of it. Never had it in Portland, but camped at the line for them at GABF for an hour or so. Dang...
I can't believe I forgot Allagash in Portland, ME! They built a coolship back in 2008 – so awesome!
I've had Samuel Adams cranberry lambic; that's the only sour beer I've had. Kinda sweet for me but good.
That is NOT a sour. That is s***
Just wanted to add that the confusion may be that Jim Koch from Sam Adams decided to call his beer a "Lambic" even though that name should not be used outside of the Lambic region (like Champagne), and it doesn't even use wild yeast. The sour taste is mostly from the Cranberries. This is one of many reasons why Jim Koch and Sam Adams have lost my respect. Other craft brewers have more respect for the Lambic name.
THANK YOU for this post and the great comments/suggestions. I have loved Duchesse (and Monks Cafe's Flemish Sour Ale) for a long time, but didn't know of many others.. I have some hunting to do!
New Belgium's La Folie is the only sour beer I know, but I enjoy it a lot.
Shhhhhh! These beers are hard enough to come by without being published on CNN.
How do you write an article on sour beers and not include Cascade Brewing in Portland, OR and their "House of Sour" barrel house in the article? Don't get me wrong, all the breweries that were mentioned are great, but a brewery with 10 rotating taps of their sour beers plus two "straight from the barrell" offerings has to be included.
Hi Dan, you're absolutely right, Cascade does incredible stuff. I mentioned them and how I love their sours in my last piece. You can check it out here: http://eatocracy.cnn.com/2011/06/27/berrong-on-beer-going-big-on-west-coast-brews/
Man, I miss Oregon (I was born there and largely grew up there, but life apparently had other plans for me). Didn't even know Cascade had a variety of sours like this–will have to go there when I visit my parents in Oregon this Christmas
Sour beers are just that: SOUR. Wild yeast, Brett, whatever. This reminds of craft beermakers who add pine needles, blueberry, cranberry, pumpkin and other catchy ingredients to market to a specific segment. Trust me, beer nerds (of which I'm one) aren't that beholden to these weird brews. Not to mention the cost of a sour. Yikes! Give me a hoppy IPA or nice brown ale any day of the week.
Hard to compare an ancient brewing style to modern brewers who add gimmicky things like pumpkin and pine needles. I understand your preferences–you listed some very fine styles of ale. But I don't think it's fair to compare a lambic or other Belgian sour styles (for example) to something gimmicky.
They are all good for a sip, but much more than that is just too much. It is like drinking candy.
Big fan of beer.
Not a fan of sour beers.
I've tried them. I guess my tastebuds are not "complex" enough to enjoy them.
There's nothing wrong with your tastebuds. The people posting here are nothing more than a bunch of pretentious, conceited, arrogant sinners. They are all going to hell for drinking the devils spirits.
Ann Lynn – why yes, we do drink alcohol. We like what we drink and we drink what we like. If it turns out that we go to He!! for it, then that's between us and the Powers That Be – not you.
Greg – I agree that there's nothing wrong with your taste buds. You like what you like. No more; no less.
I once had a sour beer called Viktinaar (I think) that I loved and all my friends hated. (They said it tasted like A-1.) But I thought it was delicious. However, the bar that served it to me took it off the menu and I haven't been able to find it since. If anyone has any idea what I'm talking about and where I can get it, please let me know.
Vichtenaar is brewed by the same brewery as Duchesse d' Bourgogne. I believe th Duchesse is a blend of young and old and a bit more complex than Vichtenaar. If you liked Vichtenar, look for Duchesse and you will be happy. And while many of the words in this post may be spelled incorrectly, the Belgians tend to have many ways to spell the same thing, so hopefully at least some of them are correct. :)
I will be cracking open New Belgium's Clutch this weekend!
Best band around.
Clutch = Great Band
Clutch Beer = Good but not great
Now N.B. Kick on the other hand is very tasty.
I just had a Clutch Dark Sour Ale and it is the best beer I've had in years. Too bad I'm 12 hours away from the nearest bottle...
you can order that jammy online
Lambics and other sours are made by innoculating the batch with bacteria (usually bretanomyces strains) that attack residual sugars and the yeast. And they are primarily made for people who can't handle a real beer (similar to anyone who drinks lagers over the wide range of ales, and the difference between those is merely bottom fermenting (lager yeast) or top fermenting (ale yeast). So, in conclusion, the author and most people are still morons...
Odell is starting to make some great sour / wild ales:
Saboteur (Imperial Brown with wild yeasts)
DeConstruction (Belgian Golden Ale with some wild characteristics)
Avant Peche (Imperial Porter with peaches and some wild yeasts)
Friek (Lambic-style with raspberries (Framboise) and cherries (Kriek))
The Friek is AWESOME. The Saboteur was good, too.
Unfortunately, I never got to taste the Avant Peche (didn't catch it while it was at my local liquor store in Tucson, AZ) and my brother in-law broke the only bottle of DeConstruction I had in my cellar. I cried a bit...
If I want a sour beer I'll just drink an MGD.
Sour beers are AWESOME, only wimps are afraid of them!
Monk's Flemish Sour Ale is the one that immediately comes to mind. But Joy (who obviously has amazing taste in beer) beat me to it. The one I got to try recently that knocked my socks off was Cuvee des Jacobins Rouge. Deeeeeeeelicious. Hear, Hear for Sour Beer!
Pizza Port Solana Beach is nearer to where I hang out.
The author's assertion that brewers relied on "spontaneous fermentation" until the 1860s is not correct. Centuries beforehand, brewers inoculated new batches with remnants from old batches. They might not have known the microbiological basis, but they certainly understood the benefits of decreased lag-time and product-uniformity.
This is true, people weren't stupid back then.
This is true. For confirmation, just see my recipe for small beer (it can be found online. Just use your fancy Google machine). In it, I call for extreme amounts of molasses, which was an inexpensive substitute for malt at the time, and a quart of yeast. Since I lived a long time before the late 1800's, it can be assumed we knew what yeast was by that point.
Check out The Alchemist in Waterbury, Vermont. Their Wild Child is something to be reckoned with for sure. I have been to the Cantillion Brewery in Brussels and love the Gueuze Lambic, but just wanted to give an American shout out to a great growing brewery in Vermont. and speaking of which, Vermont has some sweet breweries in the works. Beer lovers of all sorts should make the pilgrimage. I did a beer trip to the Northwest and a short one to Vermont. I was pleasantly surprised at both locations.
Jolly Pumpkin Brewery out of Ann Arbor, MI has some of the best sour beers I've ever had
According the the New York Times, JP has beaten the belgians at their own game
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/24/dining/reviews/24wine.html?pagewanted=all
I live right next to them.
I prefer Ashley's though because I'm not too big on this sour beer fad.
If you want an easy introduction to sours, I recommend Duchesse De Bourgogne. It's a bit like red wine. It's also one of the exemplary examples of the style. But even I loathe gueuze. It smells like manure to me, and everything I know from common sense and beer tasting education says that should not be in beer.
Sour beers are great. I had about the same experience as the author when I had my first sour beer. Many good suggestions in the comment section. New Belgium "lips of faith" series has many very nice sours, but if you want a great experience in sour beer go to Stone's sour beer fest. Last year they had over 180 different sour beers. Great article.
I agree with the above comment about Jolly Pumpkin. Their sours are excellent, and the owner (Ron Jefferies) is a truly nice guy as well (I know him and his family from my weekend job down the street from the brewery).
Monk's Flemish Sour Ale....makes my mouth water just thinking about it :)
Yes, Monk's! My first venture into sour ales. Great in the summer.
Russian River Brewing CO.
The first and best sour beers I've ever had.
Cascade Brewing has been into sour beers for years. In 2009, they took gold and sliver for sour beers aged in wood at the Great American Beer Fest. Bourbonic Plague won the gold and it is my absolute favorite. A big sour beer that needs to warm slightly to open and then it just gets better and better. Vlad the Imp Aler won silver and is also stellar. All of Cascade's sour beers are a distinct journey where it IS all about the journey. I confess to having a huge bias–my brother is the brewer. But, seriously, check it out: http://www.oregonlive.com/mix/index.ssf/beer/cascade-brewing-makes-a-barrel-aged-sour-beer.html.
+1 for Cascade Brewing. Stopped in there for lunch and a "sour sampler" on a recent trip to Portland...and man, that was easily the best session of sours I've ever tried. Great food too...
I don't recall who said it..."Belgium is the Disneyland of beer." Mmm, mmm, good!
Kilt Lifter Scotch Style Ale from Moylan's (Novato CA)
Mmmmm, good
That's not a sour ale.
Love the sour beers! Although not so easy to find. Good article. I like the exposure given to the interesting, flavorful, complicated beers and not just the get drunk beers..not that there is anything wrong with that either!
BTW, Oceanside: you are very lucky. You are in between Pizza Port Carlsbad and Pizza Port San Clemente.
You'll never be thirsty:)
No offense to the Bruery, but regarding sours Jolly Pumpkin is vastly superior in both complexity, flavor and style. Too bad most people think that they are all pumpkin beers.
Lost Abbey is even better when they do sours (red poppy), so the Bruery isn't even the best in SoCal.
Qualifying statement: Not disparaging the Bruery at all. They have some fine beers. I just couldn't believe that Jolly Pumpkin wasn't mentioned.
Hopefully, no one from OC crashed their beamers when reading this.
JP makes fantastic beer, and the yeast/bacteria dregs are AWESOME to use when homebrewing sours. The Bruery is improving in the sour department, but yeah, definitely not one of the best in the US, let alone the best in California. Russian River and The Lost Abbey own the sour market in the state. Cascade in the PNW makes some fantastic stuff, as well. Cantillon by far and away makes the best sour beer in the world, and it's not even close. Jean van Roy is the man.
There are enough days in a week, weeks in a month, months in a year and years in a life to try all the beers you can and still have some left over.
Never settle on just one beer or one brewery, that is a sad life indeed.
love sour beers! Just bottled a batch of sour English ipa aged on French oak. It has been fermenting in my basement for about 8 months and it is already tasting awesome!
Crabtree Brewery of Greeley, Co. have a Berliner Weisse which is a sour that won a gold medal at the Great American Beer Fest this past weekend. I'm not too keen on sours, but it's pretty good. My girlfriend loves it.
Great article...nice to see an article about beer on a mainstream website that is not about BudMillerCoors.
I have tasted every beer on the list above, and while some are top class, there are many more to be explored.
Screw milk and cookies. Leave me some beer and I'll make sure you get the GOOD STUFF in your stocking.
... and beef jerky.
The sleigh is methane powered.
There once was a man from Nantucket
Could not carry tunes in a bucket,
Try as he might
He couldn't delight
Resolved, he said, "Aw, let's ...... forget it."
*Like*
love sour beer, love these recommendations!
If it is verse on beer you seek,
I offer this, from just last week:
I like beer
I like it a lot.
I'd even drink one
With a tot.
I'd drink at home,
I'd drink in bed,
I'd like to share
One with RichHead...
Some steins are straight,
some have a curve,
But I'd love to hoist one
with my friend Jerv.
My eyes get red,
and that's no fun,
So I'll get a ride home
with The Witty One.
If German is,
the thing you be,
You'd best hoist one
With AleeD (or maybe MichelleG)
But use a coaster!
Don't leave a ring!
Or you risk the wrath of
Queen of Everything!
The pub is near,
It's where I'll be,
Awaiting Kat,and SLT
But as I age,
I lose my youth,
I need slow down,
Like Brother Truth.
So have a beer,
Have several tonight,
But take a cab,
Be safe, All right?
+1