Bel Air Sour
Brooklyn Brewery

Bel Air SourBel Air Sour
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From:
Brooklyn Brewery
 
New York, United States
Style:
Wild Ale
Ranked #629
ABV:
5.8%
Score:
87
Ranked #16,445
Avg:
3.88 | pDev: 9.54%
Reviews:
112
Ratings:
411
Status:
Active
Rated:
Mar 05, 2024
Added:
Mar 26, 2016
Wants:
  15
Gots:
  108
Available in two versions, one is 5.8% ABV, the other 4.5%.

Lead by our James Beard Award-winning Brewmaster, Garrett Oliver, our brewers put their collective minds together to conjure up one tasty magic trick—a thrilling jolt of tartness up front opens onto a riot of tropical fruit, courtesy of our lacto, our ale yeast, and a generous helping of Amarillo dry-hopping. Soft barley and wheat malts keep things dry and refreshing, and the whole thing comes together to close with a fine dry finish. Brooklyn Bel Air Sour is racy and maybe even a little bit dangerous, but also effortlessly cool, breezy, and undeniably compelling.

Malts: American 2-row, Pale Wheat malt
Additions: Lactobacillus
Hops: Challenger, Perle, Mosaic, Amarillo
Yeast: Our House Ale Yeast
Original Gravity: 13° Plato
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by Lukass:
Photo of Lukass
Rated by Lukass from Ohio

3.72/5  rDev -4.1%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75

Feb 20, 2017
More User Ratings:
Photo of FLima
Reviewed by FLima from Brazil

3.74/5  rDev -3.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
Amber color with a thick head with good retention.
Mild aroma with notes of peaches, passion fruit and a mild sourness.
Flavor with notes of pineapple, mango, peaches and a passion fruit sourness. Dry aftertaste with a friendly sourness.
Bordering medium body with appropriate carbonation.
Interesting Sour with tropical notes and a tamed sourness on the background.
Mar 05, 2024
 
Rated: 3.6 by Rollmeaway2loadout from Illinois

Feb 18, 2024
Photo of whynot44
Reviewed by whynot44 from Missouri

3.77/5  rDev -2.8%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
Hazy golden color with a respectable but short duration white head.
The aroma is mild pineapple, citrus and plum.
The taste is slightly tart slightly funky pineapple, tangerine, lemon, a hint of apple or green plum. The body is light, good level of carbonation, slightly crisp, very drinkable.
Altogether, this is a nice light, refeshing, but still tasty brew, should go well with summer cook outs and activities.
Nov 30, 2023
Photo of ZenAgnostic
Reviewed by ZenAgnostic from Texas

2.19/5  rDev -43.6%
look: 3.25 | smell: 2.25 | taste: 2 | feel: 3 | overall: 1.75
BB 11/30/11 printed on bottom of 12oz can, poured into teku glass on Nov 3, 2023.

Appearance - Hazy gold-orange body. Small 1/2 finger sudsy white head, irregular. Weak lacing. Almost no stick. Decent to low retention. 3.25

Smell - Dank floral notes. Weird. A bit fruity. Smells a bit sour too. Citrus? Vanilla? Tangerine. A little bit of soy sauce. Concerning... 2.25

Taste - "Would have probably been firmly mid if it were [even] fresh" but ti's not -- has a bit of staleness to it. Quote by friend. It somehow gets even worse as it oxidizes. 2

Mouthfeel - Medium bodied. 3

Overall - Might not finish this can. In fact I'm certain I won't. Seems a little risky. It's getting a little rank smelling. 1.75
Nov 16, 2023
 
Photo of DaveMaciolek21
Reviewed by DaveMaciolek21 from New Jersey

3.27/5  rDev -15.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.25
Pours gold with a surprisingly fluffy white head for a sour. Overall this is a mellow sour. Tartness is low-key, there's a bit of hop presence, but everything plays understated. Not necessarily a bad thing as no one likes wincing through their sours, but a fuller flavor profile would have been welcome.
Jul 17, 2023
 
Rated: 4.15 by kybeerdrinker from Kentucky

Jul 08, 2023
 
Rated: 3.88 by QuintusHorace from California

May 21, 2023
 
Rated: 3.84 by JTuomi from Finland

Apr 08, 2023
Photo of Shuriko
Reviewed by Shuriko from New York

3.82/5  rDev -1.5%
look: 3 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.75
Has a hazy, light golden amber appearance. Head grows very large upon pouring. Aroma is quite hoppy with some fruit notes, somewhat mangoey.

Flavor is very low on bitterness , albeit with hop notes and a noticeable tartness to it. The beer itself doesn't taste all that fruity. I believe due to the dry-hopping it has a lot of hop flavor but without the bitterness from the hops. It does taste very light for 5.8% alcohol content; would be refreshing on a summer day. Not quite my taste but not bad at all.
Mar 02, 2023
 
 
Rated: 3.78 by avisong from Virginia

Jan 02, 2023
 
Rated: 3.13 by Dewpoint79 from Delaware

Oct 17, 2022
Photo of KT3418
Reviewed by KT3418 from Colorado

3.79/5  rDev -2.3%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75
I really appreciate this is a "wild" ale as it's in such a mainstream format maybe it reaches people to try new things. I don't get super tropical notes as the lacto is strong here but the feel is great and has good traditional sour flavor. Definitely my favorite of the few beers I've had from Brooklyn.

Seems like others got a shit pack or something. It's definitely tart enough, a lot of mainstream breweries suck at having any type of tartness. However I will say using the word "tropical" is definitely for marketing as this tastes like a traditional sour that is not supposed to taste like real fruit.
Aug 05, 2022
 
Rated: 3.64 by Fedorable

May 03, 2022
Photo of TheRougeBastard
Rated by TheRougeBastard from North Carolina

3.25/5  rDev -16.2%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.25
A light "sour"...slightly tart up front, kinda like a seltzer but not as carbonated. Extremely drinkable, a summer sour.
Apr 25, 2022
 
Rated: 3.25 by mpenske from California

Apr 03, 2022
Photo of AcidCatfish
Reviewed by AcidCatfish

3.99/5  rDev +2.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
Bought from Brooklyn Brewery. 12oz bottle, poured into a Prairie Tulsa tulip.

Looks - A deeper golden, almost brown in quality - very similar looking to apple juice. Foamy head, about 1 inch thick. Has the slightest tinge of brown to the head. Doesn't leave much lacing. A hazy-looking beer.

Smell - Funky fruit, I am getting a hint of apple and citrus fruit, maybe some pineapple too. Mingling in there is a cereal grain smell and the slightest bit of spiciness. Kind of smells like an IPA with something else...and that something else might be the Lacto/souring.

Taste - Interesting enough. I know this is a Wild Ale...but it tastes very similar to Sonomica and Napa Saison. Those are saisons..but have an extraordinarily sourness probably due to the wine barrel aging and such. Bel Air Sour is similar but misses on the level of depth (it is not aged and the sour is not nearly as strong as expected). I can forgive this because those two Farmhouse Ales were seeking something totally different. Sour is upfront. It is not as pronounced as many other sours are, but it isn't too weak either. It's a nice middle. It won't make you pucker, but it isn't sour enough to make non-beer drinkers amazed. Apple and pineapple mingle with the sour, you get the slightest bit of citrusy and spicy hop character before finishing with a clear cereal malt finish. The finish is long and varied as well. The aftertaste gives you the same sensation of sucking on a jolly rancher or a warhead candy. This was cool to experience. As the beer warms up or gets flat, the sourness becomes mostly a tangy and tart experience; however, the hop and malt characteristics remain intact.

Feel - Surprisingly smooth for a sour. It's fairly light in body. Goes down easy. It doesn't burn. It is not too effervescent. Most of the tingle comes from the sour and that is welcomed for a beer like this. I have to make a comparison: as much as I love Rainbow Sherbet or Vape Tricks from Prairie Artisan, those have a notable harsher feel. This is mild enough for you to kick back and enjoy.

Overall, this is a good beer. I'll probably pick it up again actually. I prefer other sours, no doubt. However, where this beer shines is by being both a decent enough sour AND a very good refreshing beer. I do wish it was a bit more sour and something more interesting going on in it...maybe bump up the hop character a small fraction. I would love to see a variation of this brew's recipe with fruit added and see how that changes things. All in all, I recommend even if there are better sours out there. This is good to have around.
Mar 28, 2022
 
Rated: 3.52 by jaxon53 from Connecticut

Dec 26, 2021
Bel Air Sour from Brooklyn Brewery
Beer rating: 87 out of 100 with 411 ratings