New to Sour Beers. Recommendations?

Step 1: Ignore all posts that tell you to start with Duchesse De Bourgogne and/or Monk's Cafe Sour.

Step 2: Take a hard look at your financial situation.

Step 3: Go pick up some Jolly Pumpkin beers to get your feet wet. La Roja, Luci, and Oro De Calabaza are all delicious beers with varying levels of tartness. If you like those, move onto to something like Cuvee Renee or Boon Oude Gueze.

Good luck!

 

Petrus Aged Pale Ale is a good place to start...enjoy the slippery slope.

 

Rodenbauch grand cru. It's incredibly drinkable. My first sour was a cantillon Gueze, then a Petrus Pale, then the rodenbauch, which was the one that really clicked. It's affordable as well, which is really nice.

 

Lineman's Cuvee Rene, you can buy a 375ml bottle for like $6 to see if you like it.

In blind taste tests it consistently ranks up with the best in the style and sells for 1/3rd of the price.

 

I will second the Rodenbach Grand Cru recommendation, and being that you're in Michigan, the Jolly Pumpkin recommendations of La Roja or Oro De Calabaza make a lot of sense too.

Cuvee Rene was my first sour years ago, and it was way too intense to start with...

 

I'd second Petrus Aged Pale. The oud bruins in general tend to be milder and easier on the palate for sour noobs. Aged Pale is what I've used on my 'I only drink IPAs' friends to get them into the sour world and I haven't ran into anyone that didn't like it. Bellegems Bruin from Bockor (makers of the epic Cuvee Des Jacobins flanders red) is another great milder sour that people always seem to like. Rodenbach, then Rodenbach Grand Cru (which is more 'extreme' than Rodenbach) are other starting points, and are both extremely easy to acquire off the shelf. If you see a Rodenbach Vintage 2007-2009 grab that and enjoy.

If you like stouts, check out Jolly Pumpkin's Madrugada Obscura and The Bruery's Tart of Darkness, if you can, for great examples of sour stouts.

 

Jolly Pumpkin (Dexter, MI). La Roja is great. Oro De Calabaza is also a good start.

 

Cuvee Des Jacobins Rouge is priced well, readily available, and delicious. Triple threat.

 

I started with Lindemans. It's a pretty good Belgian lambic, they have a few choices, fairly cheap, and can find it almost anywhere. Plus if you're into glassware I've seen the same gift set of 2 Lindemans lambics and a nice fluted glass for years all over for like $10-15. Keep an eye out.

 

+1 to La Roja and Petrus Aged Pale Ale.

I honestly don't understand the hate for Duchesse. I've found that its sour/sweet balance makes it an excellent gateway sour beer. If your local shop will sell a single, give it a try.

 

Good recommendations above but don't forget, if you ever see any Drie Fonteinen or Cantillon on the shelf (which rarely happens these days) do yourself a favor and grab one...different ballpark than the other beers mentioned above.

 

Came in to say Petrus Aged Pale and see that's been covered.

Rodenbach Classic was one of my first also.

 

One more vote for Rodenbach Grand Cru and Lindemans Cuvee Rene...also Jolly Pumpkin's Calabaza Blanca (a bretty/slightly sour Witbier is mellow and REALLY tasty)...try to find one that's not too old though, and less 'wild'

 

Agree and disagree.

Monks Cafe is bleh.

Duchesse is a great gateway beer IMHO. It was my first and I loved it. It does a nice job of setting up the balance between sour to sweet to tart cherry. Truly a tasty beer and one of the few that you can find reasonably priced if your shop splits 4-packs ($ 5-6 bucks a bottle). I don't get the disdain some have. The beer has a BA rating of 91. Not exactly Wild Blue territory.

Another great starter is Cuvee Des Jacobins Rouge. Also one of the few that comes in 4-packs and a single will only run around the same 6 bucks range.

Just my 2 cents. In fact....just finished my FBS and a sour sounds good right around now!

Cheers!

 

I implore you to seek out, or trade for, either Consecration or Supplication from Russian River. They were my gateways, you get great sours with fruit notes (each aged in wine barrels with fruit). They are AWESOME beers. You like them, you're hooked. If not, oh well. I tried a Supplication and have been down the rabbit hole for a while. You like them, then chase down a Cantillon. Life's never the same, my good man.

 

A bit OT, but Bockor just recently ran out of Jacobins, which means no more Jacobins being bottled for 2-3 years until the next batch is ready. The brewery said the beer will still be available...just a bit more scarce.

Fortunately my local store just got a case in so I have 30+ bottles saved up, including a bunch of their batch 01 bottles

 

Going to hoard now....

Feel bad.

A bit....

but not much.

 

Lindemans Gueuze Cuvee Rene is cheap and a good intro. Beyerische Bahnhoff Berliner Weisse is another good one. Rodenbach Grand Cru is the best Rodenbach makes if you can find it.