Do sours mellow with time?

I would think if anything they would get more intense.

 

Sourness usually only increases with age.

 

There is no hard and fast rule on this, but in my experience, most sours will actually only get more sour with time as the bugs and bacteria continue to work their. This of course only applies to those sours that are bottle conditioned with live yeast (a few out there are pasteurized and will not change).

 

I've never had a sour beer mellow with time.

 

Negative my good man... Hold on to those bottles. You may grow to love really sour beers in two years then kick yourself for not having those aged bottles kicking around

 

Sours are already aged about a year when you buy them because the bugs need time to produce that sourness.

 

As others are saying, they will only get more sour.

This is classic Upland though; they have a reputation for being acidic enough to double as paint thinner. This overly-acidic one-note mediocrity combined with Upland's arrogant attitude regarding their "lambic" program (yeah, I can't believe they have the audacity to refer to these acid bombs as "lambic," either) and their laughably overpriced ripoff of a membership, I have a very strong hatred of their brewery.

You're probably better off seeing what you can get in trade for them if they are too sour for your palate. Otherwise share them soon before they eat through their glass prisons.

 

I've had aged upland before and it's really good stuff. Not sure if it was just a great batch or if they age we'll. had an 07 strawberry a year or so ago and it was fantastic!

 

I've experienced sours mellowing out with time, RR sours mellow out a little (they were aged for 4 years plus though). To me aged sours compared to fresh sours lose the in your face sour punch right when you drink it. Where as aged ones, whether it is more sour or not, comes in almost like a wave, it progressively gets more and more sour. You notice other flavors of the beer first then the sourness comes in.
Also I've noticed if the sours where aged in good barrels, the presence of the barrel really shines through and gives it more complexity as it ages, and this might help you not notice the sourness as much.

 

Wouldn't mellowing defeat the whole idea of being sour in the first place?

 

I'll dissent: sours do mellow over time, if there is Brettanomyces in the bottle. The Brett converts lactic acid to esters, which soften the acidity and incorporate more fruitiness.

 

Beer with wild yeast and bacteria can only get so sour from age. Once the residue sugars are consumed acidity hits a maximum. Other factors lead to mellowing such as what had pointed out and oxidation.

But a 8 month sour will be less intense than a two year old sour, look at how Flanders Reds are blended such as Rodenbach.

 

Now when you say bugs....

 

Bugs are bacteria that get into the beer, usually when it is in an open fermenter.

 

Hmmm, I usually refer to bugs as anything other than your typical saccharomyces.

 

In my limited experience, Belgian lambics/gueuzes do mellow with age, but not by the acidity trailing off -- more from other qualities in the beer bedding down. Aged ones taste mellower to me but neither less nor tremendously more sour.

 

I just had a YO Westbrook Gose and I found it to have less lemony sourness and more of a bacterial sourness. It was a little bit more rounder on the palate and had a smoother finish. I enjoyed it fresh but liked it with some time on it. I wasn't sure how it was going to hold up as its not a strong beer but it aged quite nicely.

 

The Dissident 2012 seemed to mellow out nicely with age