Best Sour Program, State by State

Discussion in 'Beer Talk' started by gillagorilla, Jan 25, 2014.

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  1. ColdPoncho

    ColdPoncho Initiate (0) Jan 9, 2009 Ohio

    Jackei O's may be the only other sour program in the state (off the top of my head), but they are generally doing more adventurous things, while Rivertown seems to be focusing on the more traditional (Belgian) styles: Lambic and Gueuze. Both are doing great things.
     
  2. the_trystero

    the_trystero Initiate (0) Mar 19, 2013 California

    Of those I've only had Cascade (have a strawberry and an apricot in the fridge right now, if it's still warm here tomorrow I'm drinking one or both) and Logsdon. For sours Cascade is vastly superior.

    And there's plenty of Upright numbered beers here in LA, but I can't find any of the others. I'd like to try them.
     
  3. ncaudle

    ncaudle Initiate (0) May 28, 2010 Virginia

    yeah, those fruited Word variants from Strangeways are great, especially the blueberry. havent had a chance to try their new Whap sorachi dry-hopped sour they just released, but knowing Neal and Mike I doubt it will be bad.

    Champion and Devils Backbone both have a couple of Berliners that are good too. Lost Rhino has been working with someone from a local university to isolate wild strains of yeast but I'm not positive on what their end goals are.

    been hearing about a lot of cool stuff that 3 Brothers out in Harrisonburg has in the works; if An is excited about what he's been told then I am excited. once Ardent officially opens up in the next few months they will have some things in their pipeline as they had been experimenting/fine-tuning for the past couple years. of course you'll have the Answer brewpub from An that will open later this year and he plans to really focus on sours as part of the core lineup.
    from what I'm hearing Hardywood may be finally relaxing their fears and has started a small program. having the second building for isolation purposes probably helps...

    good things happening in VA!
     
    #63 ncaudle, Jan 26, 2014
    Last edited: Jan 26, 2014
  4. Tschnab

    Tschnab Initiate (0) Aug 21, 2010 New York

    In MA Cambridge brewing company just edges out night shift and Cisco imo
     
  5. Hendrick24

    Hendrick24 Pooh-Bah (1,925) Sep 6, 2013 Wisconsin
    Pooh-Bah Society

    I was able to grab all but Scarlet Letter on Saturday, very excited to see how they came out.
     
  6. jbertsch

    jbertsch Pooh-Bah (2,710) Dec 14, 2008 Massachusetts
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    I haven't had the sours from Night Shift yet so I can't provide a real answer to this, but I'd like to say at least honorable mention to Cisco for Pechish Woods and Monomony Kriek...love both of those, especially the latter.
     
  7. Irrenarzt

    Irrenarzt Initiate (0) Mar 1, 2009 New Mexico

    There is only one brewery doing sour anything in NM. So Santa Fe wins by default. Their new Single Barrel Sour is actually pretty good. It's no Beatification but it's a start.
     
    miggs3030 likes this.
  8. mhenson42

    mhenson42 Maven (1,409) Nov 20, 2011 Texas
    Trader

    I thought Marble was doing sours. I had a nice apricot sour there last June.

    I generally like Santa Fe brews (happy camper is my go to beach beer), but the only sour I've had from them was Kicken' Chicken. lol

    As for Texas, I think Jester King and Freetail are awesome. To pick a preference, I think Freetail takes the win with the likes of Peche'cus, Woodicus, Ananke, Salado Kriek, Raspberry Ananke and Fortuna Roja.
     
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  9. TheRealDBCooper

    TheRealDBCooper Initiate (0) Mar 17, 2010 Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands

    If I had to pick one I would go with Freetail, though both do good sours that any state would be happy to call their own.
     
  10. Irrenarzt

    Irrenarzt Initiate (0) Mar 1, 2009 New Mexico

    I'm not sure what the status of Marble's sour program as I've never had anything from them in the sour realm. Their 111 Farmhouse is amazing but that's a brett/funk beer without much of an acidic character. I forgot you mentioned Marble's apricot sour (which I will for sure keep an eye out for). I can say the Marble sour effort is very small compared to the volume of barrels Santa Fe has. I would say the Marble effort is more of a one off thing more or less but I would encourage them to do more as they are a very competent brewery.
     
  11. sefus12

    sefus12 Pundit (884) Sep 7, 2006 Massachusetts
    Trader

    Come on now. You can't be the only KY expert!

    I second Against the Grain. Def the best sour program in the state (not to mention being the best brewery).
     
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  12. dortenzio1991

    dortenzio1991 Initiate (0) Aug 12, 2011 Connecticut

    Nothing from CT
     
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  13. deadonhisfeet

    deadonhisfeet Pooh-Bah (2,419) Apr 23, 2011 Kentucky
    Pooh-Bah

    Well, I did say I was "self-appointed". As a fellow Kentuckian, you may rescind my nomination if you like. :grinning:

    Agree with you 100% on AtG - fantastic beers. I wish they'd bottle more so I could share them with my trading partners.
     
  14. tbaker397

    tbaker397 Initiate (0) Nov 9, 2013 West Virginia

    Chestnut is looking into getting some wine barrels for some new seasonals. Not sure if they're too be sours, wild ales done with brett, but I can't wait either way. Although I did have some sour mountain state beer recently....does that count? Haha
     
  15. Eamonn-Cummings3

    Eamonn-Cummings3 Initiate (0) Jan 23, 2014 New York

    NY- Captain Lawrence
     
  16. imperialbeerdude

    imperialbeerdude Initiate (0) Feb 5, 2012 Colorado

    I have to go with the Bruery for Cali. they're sour program is so good that even beers that aren't supposed to taste sour taste sour.
     
  17. GetMeAnIPA

    GetMeAnIPA Pooh-Bah (2,535) Mar 28, 2009 California
    Pooh-Bah Society

    Whatcha mean? When I think of white chocolate the first thing that comes to my mind is sour.
     
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  18. bcm119

    bcm119 Savant (1,101) Feb 17, 2001 California
    Society

    The Rare Barrel in Berkeley will soon be on a lot of people's radar, I think.
     
    Paccamacca likes this.
  19. BoneyardBrewer

    BoneyardBrewer Initiate (0) Apr 24, 2005 Michigan

    I like JP at #1 but I would put Griffin Claw at #2. Red Rock, Saison St Clair, Berliner Weisse!
     
  20. nattomoto

    nattomoto Initiate (0) Jan 3, 2014 Oregon

    While I am a huge fan of Cascade, and go there quite often, they have a few profiles that repeat themselves across many of their beers and I find them fairly one dimensional, not to mention too expensive. De Garde is vastly superior and are putting out amazing beers, release after release. The Commons have solid sour offerings that never disappoint.
     
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