Sour Beers

Jermanator

...not the crap that you left open by mistake, but the ones that have been intentional fermented that way. I have had some Jolly Pumpkin's before and really enjoy them on occasion.

I picked up a 6-pack of Bell's "Oarsman Ale" tonight and have to say that it is pretty darn good. The malty sweetness and the tartness of the lacto-bacillus is a good combination.

What are some of your favorites?
Have you ever tried one?

bullsi1911

I LOVE sour beers. I got hooked on a Sour Red Ale when I was in Philly a few years ago, and have been trying to find the best one ever since. So far, the two that I know to be good are:

Duchesse De Bourgogne: http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/641/1745

and

Monk's Cafe: http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/48/10482

Those are my Go-To sours. I'll find one every once in a while that is good, but either it is a teeny-micro brew with no distribution, or it's never good on the next batch. Consistency seems to be the holy grail on sour ales.

DoctorWho

I have not yet tried any sour beers, they will be on My to try list....

mkk41

I like beer that tastes like BEER! Have since day 1.

DoctorWho

For some odd reason, Rolling Rock beer gives Me a sick to My stomach sensation when I drink it, that has never happened with any other beer.

DoctorWho

mkk41 wrote: »

I like beer that tastes like BEER! Have since day 1.

Reminds Me of the Stephen King story Cujo and the kids getting sick from eating Sharp's breakfast cereal..

The Professor: "Nothing wrong here!"

mkk41

DoctorWho wrote: »

For some odd reason, Rolling Rock beer gives Me a sick to My stomach sensation when I drink it, that has never happened with any other beer.

Have a Zima , or a wine spritzer then. :beer:

DoctorWho

No thanks on the Zima, at one time everyone and his/her kid brother were buying Me round after round of that gay az javel water......

CHIRO1989

We are having one right now.

MileHighShooter

We are actually splitting a sour beer at elk camp right now! And we had one 2 nights ago, and I have at least one more sitting around...

Sours are my favorite. Whaddya wanna know about em? I can't even begin to think how many I have tried.

Bullsi - You need to be drinking some of the stuff locally from Jester King. They're doing some pretty good sours, especially the sour saison and the berliner weisse.

Duchesse is the beginner sour, easy to find, easy to approach. That is a Flanders Red Ale, a specific type of sour. Sours are ales, but "sour" is a very large and enveloping name. Flanders Red, Oud Brune, Lambic, Gueuze, American Wild, list goes on and on.

For you guys getting into them, go to the local store, and see if they have Lindemans Cuvee Rene. This is a gueuze, which is a 3 year blend of lambic. Probably my favorite sour style besides the wild brett style beers.

Alpha - I got a new brewery for you next time you are out here. All he does are wild beers and sours. FANTASTIC beer, I'm sure I've told you about them, just haven't been able to get you any.

Jerm - which JP beers do you like? Big fan of theirs even though they're not "technically" sour beers (except La Roja which is a Flanders Red) I really like Bam Noire and Madruga.

As for the beer we are drinking tonight, its Sans Paigie from The Bruery in CA. I'm a Reserve Society member there, which means I pay lots of money to get special beers you can't buy. Sans Paigie is French for "without a paddle". The style of beer is called "kriek" which is pronounced creek (get it? paddle...creek...without) Krieks are cherry lambics. Very tart, very acidic sour beers with a bright cherry flavor. This isn't like putting an orange in a Blue Moon or some cheese ball fruit beer, its hard core sour stuff. Not for the faint of heart!

bullsi1911

MileHighShooter wrote: »

Bullsi - You need to be drinking some of the stuff locally from Jester King. They're doing some pretty good sours, especially the sour saison and the berliner weisse.

Jester King is one of the ones that I lament about not having consistency. Last time I had the Saison, it was absolute garbage. Maybe my bottle was bad, but it was just bad.

One that I had just last week was one from Russian River (Can't remember the name right now). THAT was outstanding. But I've only had it once, and Like I said- I fear for consistency on the Sours I have been trying. I had about three sours last week that were all good, but I don't have all the info on them right now.

MileHighShooter

RR is solid, one of the best large scale/distributed American sours on the market. I like their names too....Consecration, Sanctification, Temptation, Damnation...

MileHighShooter

alphasigmookie wrote: »

That's a good one and pretty widely available, problem for me is that it goes down so easy that 6-pack doesn't last very long! MileHighShooter turned me on to them earlier this year when I was out in CO for work (he and his homebrew buddy have made some good ones!). Seems like a lot of microbrews make them, but haven't figured out which are the best. I'm sure MHS will be around soon enough to give us some more recommendations.

What you need to do, is figure out how long it will take you to get to Allagash when they release some of the Coolship series. A Coolship is basically a large, shallow box with no lid. In Belgium they pump the wort from the boil kettle up to these containers in the attics and then open the windows. They cool overnight, with open windows, and become innoculated from the wild yeast in the air. This is why a true lambic can only come from certain parts of Belgium, because the local bacteria in the air that gives it the distinctive flavors. These have been cultured and reproduced, and some American brewers call their beers "lambic" but they're not 100% technically correct. Kind of like Champagne only comes from Champagne, France. Otherwise its sparkling white wine.

Have you been down to the Church Key yet for some Cantillon? Its a little pricey but soooo worth it. Go, get the bottle list and pick from there. If you need help, you still have my number

MileHighShooter

Wait not Allagash, they're pretty far from you I think. I was thinking Captain Lawrence. When they do brewery only releases of their sours like Cuvee de Castleton, you should really be there. I THINK they are in MD. And then you need to ship me a bottle as a thank you lol. Also check out the local liquor stores, you east coasters get great stuff that doesn't make it here like Gueuze Tilquin, Boon Mariage Parfait (gueuze, framboise and kriek) and you get more Cantillon then we do. Should also be able to find Leifmans Goudenbad, Henssen's various lambics (keep in mind these ones are still, almost no carbonation) and even good old Boon 1882 Gueuze. All of those should be very fairly priced, like in the 7-11$ range. If you enjoy the vinegary Flanders Reds like Duchesse, you will probably be able to get Rodenbach Gran Cru, it is THE bench mark red that all others are measured by. A 750 should be under 10$

MileHighShooter

mkk41 wrote: »

I like beer that tastes like BEER! Have since day 1.

That's funny lol BUT, American "beer", or what most consider beer is the biggest misnomer in the beer world. The big American breweries water it down so much that it doesn't taste much like anything except extra bitter club soda. And for some reason, stupid American's drink it up like its the sweat off God's brow. Some of them are even starting to use HFCS instead of grain to brew with. That whole thing about being served ice cold? That is because cold dulls the taste buds. They don't want you to actually taste the beer, just drink as much as possible.

ghostsniper1

I couldn't tell ya whether or not I've had sour beer. If that's anything closely related to the family of dark beers, than I will have to pass. Don't understand how people can drink that dark crap.

MileHighShooter

I love the dark crap. Saying you don't like "dark beer" is saying you don't like dark colored dogs. Really kind of a broad stroke, there are dozens of dark styles, and a lot of them don't taste anything like each other. There are a few styles if blindfolded, you wouldn't be able to pick out as being dark.

HAWKEN

I don't know whether it qualifies as a sour beer, but my favorite is Yuengling Lager. If it was any better, they would keep it all for their selves......Robin

MileHighShooter

HAWKEN wrote: »

I don't know whether it qualifies as a sour beer, but my favorite is Yuengling Lager. If it was any better, they would keep it all for their selves......Robin

Nope, not sour lol