How important is it to have a sour fresh?

My 2 cents on the sour aged/fresh debate.

Depends.

1. Aging is only fun if you have a point of reference. You can sit on a beer (Sour or other) for 10 years and drink it and it will taste like something. But you'll have no idea if aging it did any good. So I'm of the school of thought if you have 1 of something, drink it fresh. If you're going to get more than 1, always have 1 fresh and the rest sit on for however long you deem fit.

2. Depends what you have in mind with the term "sour". Speaking in generalizations, my experiences with American Wild Ales (AWAs) has been more toward drink them fresher rather than sitting on them for years. For some reason, most AWAs don't get better with age on them. (Again, my personal experiences).

3. If you're referring more to traditional sours (lambic, gueuze, etc.) thinds like De Cam, Cantillon, Drie Fonteinen. The sky's the limit. You'll occasionally see people here opening 15-20 year old dusty bottles of gueuze and report back on how brilliant they are with that much age on them.

4. Some are pasteurized. Rodenbach, which is a pretty good entry level Flanders Red, is pasteurized, so it's not going to get any more funky or sour if you age it. So drink it when you feel like.

5. Most important, you can't be wrong. The world of lambic chasing and aging gets very expensive very quickly, and aging them will definitely change them into completely different beasts. But things like bottle variation, carb issues are so much more prevalent in aged "sours" that you'll have to be ready to expect and be OK with pouring a completely flat bottle.

TL, DR: Start fresh, then go from there.

 

I don't know but I just bought a 1996 Cantillon Gueuze that I hope has aged well!

 

No need to worry about freshness.

This is the best shelf sour I have found...

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/212/5212

I can find most of the Russian River sours pretty easy but the price keeps me away. This one usually runs $7-8 for a 375, I think?

 

Sour is not a style but rather a group of styles so it is difficult to give a blanket answer. Even if we were discussing beers of similar style I would still hesitate to give any one size fits all answer.

Sour beers will generally be less time sensitive than other styles, while certain beers may be more enjoyable fresh there is not as drastic of a drop off. Experience will be your friend, try some of what you have available to you and let that be your guide.

As for starters look for Rodenbach, Duchesse de Bourgogne, Lindemans Cuvee Rene, Petrus or Monks Cafe. Most should be easily obtainable, while they may not be the best of their particular styles they are excellent starting points for someone just getting their feet wet.

 

I come from the land of New Glarus. Their fruit/sours are just as good fresh as they are aged. That is the great thing about this style, it really doesn't matter when you drink it. Drink it now or let it sit for later down the road. You will always enjoy it.

 

fruited lambic / fruit-added, fruit-centric american wild ales:

mildly important to have fresh. and by fresh, i'm not talking < 2 weeks IPA fresh, i'm talking 6 months.

lambic without fruit:

all the major ones age great. at best they get better, at worst they stay the same more or less.

american wild ale without fruit:

your mileage may vary / varies *a lot* from beer to beer, though at the same time most AWAs are fruited anyway. avery seems to last a long time. allagash shelf beers seem to always be best right away. can't speak for GI; always been good when i've had them, but no aging comparisons. jolly pumpkin is a dice roll one way or the other, but usually you win when you roll.

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rules of thumb:

1) more age = less fruit

2) more age = more sour, or duller flavor (odd dichotomy, but there it is)

 

This answer is so perfect that Johnny Depp will have to come kill you to restore the balance. And yes, I just made an obscure reference to Once Upon a Time in Mexico.

 

I enjoy aging some bottles for a year or two and then buying a fresh bottle to compare and contrast them...very interesting...Jolly Pumpkin Oro De Calabaza and Bam Noire are excellent beers to help you gradually aclimate to sours...I believe you guys get JP in Georgia...cheers...

 

Had Noel de Calabaza twice on tap this winter. Grabbed a bottle to open next winter. Hoping for increased Brett profile. Can anyone comment on Beatification with 3+years on it? Consecration?

 

The batch 3 Beat I was lucky to try this year was still great, super funky and earthy brett. Never had that batch fresh, but it wasn't as acidic as batch 5 was fresh but still had a lasting sourness that was more lactic. It also didn't have much carbonation but was still delicious

 

if it has fruit drink it fresh

 

Opened one on Zwanze day, cork was gross but the beer was still tasty.

 

I had Beat Batch 2 last year but I've only had fresh batch 5 and 6 to compare it with. B2 was very mellowed out in all regards (compared to B5). Less sour, less funky, less sharp. I also had aged Supplication and Temptation...and I much prefer the fresh ones. The wine barrel flavors had faded as well as some of the nice RR sour flavors. All the aged beers were also less carbed than fresh.

 

I can't comment on the Noel de Calabaza, but I can comment on the Ora de Calabaza, I would think they would be similar. I let a bottle sit for 2 years and the brett absolutely came out way more, it was awesome.

 

not sure how a so called beer in the BJCP "sour" range can be fresh. most are blended. not all of course.
I am not a fan of the lumping of all these barrel aged and lambics in 1 range myself. YMMV

 

I just had a '84 gueuze and an '88 Faro, both were still drinking great. The faro was tasting a little past its prime, probably by 2 decades, but still drinkable. The gueuze on the other hand had held up amazingly well. So if you see something that's not "fresh don't be turned off.

 

Agree with everyone concerning Pajottenland lambics. If it has fruit in it, drink it well within a year. Definetly less than 2. I usually don't age my fruit lambics at all!

Most others do have a 'sweet spot', but yeah, you can let them get nice and dusty!

 

What if it's Barrel Aged? I'm considering picking up some G.I. Lolita for my anniversary in May - that's a ways off and these beers have been in the distro warehouse for a long time, but they're barrel aged fruit-added AWAs...

Full Disclosure: would be my first sour, as well as my wife's.

 

Well, I drink my fruit ones fresh due to the insistance of the brewer from 3F. It was explained to me that the beer was brewed with the intention of enjoying the bright fruity flavors. There's nothing wrong per say with aging them, but the color turns a little darker and the fruit mellows out, and according to the brewer's wife "it isn't as good as we intended".

So I drink them fresh! They asked less than 2 years.