Are Sours almost all the same?

If all sours taste the same, then I guess all IPAs taste the same too??? Not sure how someone can just generalize a style like this.

 

Have you tried two different ones side by side? Many differences are subtle.

 

Lactic acid tastes like lactic acid. So, if you are just tasting beers that have that flavor cranked up, you can miss the other flavors. Subtlety is generally not appreciated in US craft beer.

Prairie Artisan is a good example. Every time they release something, I see tons of people saying "not sour enough" and "not enough barrel."

 

If you can afford the price tag and see it on the the shelf. Try:

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/2170/8961/

Some BAs will knock it for being under carbed and lacking a sour punch, but I think it's a complex deliteful brew. The $35 price keeps me from revisiting it more often.

 

...unblended lambics should have no carbonation. And at $35, there are considerably better lambics available, though I can't speak to how De Cam ages.

 

A lot of styles are differentiated by vagueries in brewing. I don't care who you are or how refined your palette is while most beers within a style indeed taste different more often than not it boils down to subtle differences.

For example I was at a brew pub they had their Baltic porter on tap and also left hand milk stout (non nitro). For about 3 to 4 hours the lines had been switched and no one noticed. The people in the bar consisted of mostly regular customers and some of the brewing staff including the head brewer (who's Baltic porter recipe it was) no one noticed including me until the bar tender had to go and change a different keg and realized the mistake.

You would think someone would have noticed in that 3 or 4 hours they didn't get the right style of beer but no one did. Not me not the brewer no one. It should be noted this blatic porter is brewed with ale yeast instead of lager so the difference isn't quite as stark but you'd be amazed at how similar beers can be even in different styles let alone the same one.

 

True but I don't have to like it and you don't have to care that I don't like it. It's not a huge deal but in my opinion it detracts from getting your point across. I feel the same way about blanket statements like breweries "suck". I actually am curious what breweries you dislike and why other than they "suck".

 

I hate musty attic funk in my beers.

 

They are in the top 5 of breweries making "sours" using wild yeast and bugs in the Austin area, though.

 

Absolutely not. Sure, some of them are similar but they are not all the same.

 

Just wanted to make a quick comment on Almanac since the OP mentions them. Being local I've tried pretty much everything they've put out since Farmer's Reserve #3 and it seems like the quality is going down a bit. Their offerings this year have seemed fairly thin on the complexity for some reason. The last few fruit sours they've done have managed to be neither sour enough (for me), nor have much bright fruit or other interesting flavors/elements going on.

Valley of the Heart's delight is one of my favorite beers, but there's been a noticeable downturn since. They're making good beers at elite beer price points (a bit like most Mikkeller stuff). If they either dropped their prices or improved their overall product, i'd feel more comfortable continuing to buy their stuff.

 

3+ year old unblended lambiek is great for blending but on its own, pure it usually goes downhill past 3 years normally. 35 $ is several times more expensive than what the brewer charges for it.

I can think of only 3 bottled pure lambiek’s, not many other options available

 

Absolutely. No differences.

 

As others have said, if you're mixing in a sour after another beer style, I can see sour beer being very one dimensional. If you expressly drink sours in a session or over an extended period, you start to appreciate the subtleties of the style. Took me a vacation to Belgium to fully get on board. I used to view IPAs the same way as bitter and nothing else. Just takes time for the palate to adjust to a new extreme.

 

Totally agree - I've had beers like Monks Cafe or Duchess de Bourgogne that are sweet and sour at the same time, I've had gose and berliner weisse that were the lemony sourness that OP described and I tried Carton Rickey that straight up tasted like blue cheese and feet.

 

I hope there is a big deviation in sours soon that creates offshoots of it!
Sour Lagers
Sour Darks
Sour IPA's
Sour Porters

 

I think the ALMANAC arguement is most viable though. Their house souring cocktail, or "dogpatch blend" makes every one of their sours taste the same... with slight variations from the fruit used. but slight. They've become SUPER one-dimensional and although I enjoy their "house" taste, I know what to expect every time I grab one. Fortunately, I like the flavor profile. Unfortunately, I am never wowed by anything, because I know what it's going to taste like already. Lacto bombs.

 

hahaah Blue Cheese and feet. I think those were Augie's own words, too! Love those guys, and loved the beer... just needed a closepin over my nose to drink it, because the smell was a little TOO offputting for me. Flavor was SUPER complex, though.