Advice and questions on sour beers.

Try the one in you cellar and see what you think. The funky/sour stuff takes some palate adjustment time that is for sure. Some people never come around to them. That is ok as well. Saves a lot of money that is for sure as wild fermented beers generally are pricey.

 

GingerFinn,

A Flanders Red Ales are typically sour / acidic and tart. A Fruit Lambic is typically more mellow, some can be sweet. Bottle should be stored upright, in your pantry if a cool cellar or basement is not available. Hopefully when you try your Peach Lambic, it should be much better than the Flanders Red Ale you disliked.

Based on my experience, Boon Lambics are sweet and easy gateways into the style and can be readily found. Cantillon and 3 Fontenien are a bit more expensive / harder to find, but most people like these brewers as well.

In terms of exploring future lambics / fruited lambics, or any other styles, your best bet is either to have a discussion with staff at your local craft beer store and they can steer you in the right direction. On BA, you can click Beer Styles under the Beer tab, and select a style for a general overview and click individual popular / highly rated offerings and try to match the consensus descriptions with your taste preferences. The beer club you are purchasing from may also be able to tailor your monthly allotment if you reach out and discuss your preferences.

Hope this helps, and welcome to Beer Advocate. Most people here also try to be helpful, so ask away.

 

Many styles, sours in particular, are so foreign to our natural experience, that they are difficult to appreciate at first. Try several, over a few months and your opinion may change. Similarly when we go swimming, the water temperature may be too much at first and just fine after we acclimate.

Also try easing into them with mild versions, like Gose, even Saison and Farmhouse beers will have mild sour notes to help transition your expectations.

Read some reviews of beers from the style you are interested in trying. This will give you a sense of what to expect.
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/styles/10/

After checking Big Rock, you will get a sense of people’s opinion of their beer, in general, which may advise you of what to expect in general.
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/391/

Big Rock has the below description of your beer too.
https://bigrockbeer.com/beer/peche/

 

I am curious which wild ale you tried and disliked? Why did you dislike it? Was it too funky? Did it taste like a barn smells? Here's my suggestion, the sours you mention are both kettle soured with the same bacteria used to make yogurt. While these beers really only hit the one note of sour that comes across like a lemon, the ones that use pedio and brett can get pretty funk pretty quickly. And that's ok if you dont like em. There is enough beer in this world to try something new every day and not get into sours at all.

 

This is a bit of an over-simplification, but most sour styles are just sour or tart (I hate to use the word sour to define the general 'sour' styles, but...). My experience is that beers with fruit in them are better described as tart, as in tart cherries, lemon peel, etc. rather than sour. The Flanders Red style is probably as sour as sour can be, at least to my taste, so you jumped in with both feet when you tried that one.

When you get into the 'wild' category, you get some very funky flavors, and a taste that mimics what a barnyard smells like is a frequent description in the 'wild' category. (I frequently get a moldy/mildew flavor too, which is probably where 'funky' comes from.) Brettanomyces (Brett) is a frequently-used wild yeast that gives off these flavors, so if you look at a label and see 'Brett' listed, and you don't think barnyard or mold is something that you want to drink (yet), stay away from those beers for now.

Although you describe most of the very popular hop varieties above that are used in IPAs, don't give up on that style. To me, IPAs that I like are very dependent on which hop varieties are used for the flavor and aroma hop additions to the beer, and if you had a beer that listed Citra, for example, maybe it wasn't the predominant hop used and you didn't get a fair representation of that hop. (Citra is so widely popular that some brewers will list it among other hop names on the beer's label just as a marketing ploy to help sell that beer, and some less popular hop is actually what you're tasting.)

P.S. Welcome to the forums. We're pretty 'kind' around here and always eager to help when asked.

 

In my experience Flanders red are often some of the most aggressively sour beers out there. Lambics are generally milder with a stronger presence of "funky" flavors along with the sour/tart.

As you've already noted, kettle sours are much more approachable. Another more economical and available brewery to check out would be Lindemann's, their fruited stuff is usually a little sweet for my tastes although lots of folks like them, and their unfruited lambic/geuze are wonderful beers for a good price ($11.99 for a 750 ml of their cuvee renee around me)

 

@GingerFinn

I second this. Lindemann's fruit lambics are fruit forward and on the sweet side of the spectrum, but there's something nice about having one of their peach or strawberry lambics in January. Their unflavored beers are a good value and make for a nice introduction to the style without breaking the bank.

You just picked the wrong Flanders Red to start with. Caractère Rouge is excellent, but not as a “first of this type”.
Try Duchess De Bourgogne or Rodenbach Classic. Both are excellent and approachable Flanders at pretty reasonable prices.
Also, these beers do benefit from being served in the proper glassware, tulips for Flanders & Gueuze/Lambics and I like flutes for the fruited lambics

 

I will continue with the recommendation for Lindeman's lambics because they are cheap, easily available, delicious, and have good quality control. I'd suggest you start with the Framboise which I believe is the top-selling lambic in the United States. This is a sweetened lambic so it will taste a bit like a spiked punch. Within a community like Beer Advocate, don't expect sweetened lambics to get a lot of love but you're experimenting to see what you like so give it a shot.

Next, grab a bottle of the Oude Kriek Cuvee Rene. This is a traditional kriek that does not contain any added sugars. This is the style you should expect if you buy a Cantillon Kriek or a 3F Kriek and usually what someone on BA is referring to when they talk about fruited lambics. There will be a lot more depth to this and some funk but you may not be able to pick apart the individual flavors because of all the fruit.

Last, grab a bottle of Oude Gueuze Cuvee Rene. Being a gueuze, it's a blend of 1, 2, and 3-year old lambics but this time there is no fruit to hide behind. You will get a lot of funk and you may not like it. Drink a bit of this and then jump back to the kriek and you should be able to pick out the funk in the kriek a bit more.

I think these three provide a decent spectrum of flavors and I could drink either of those Cuvee Rene beers every day and be happy. They are affordable, delicious, and I've never had a bad batch which is not something I can say about more expensive lambics. Depending on what you like or don't like about these beers, it would be easier to guide you.

There is a lot of room for sour beers to go wrong and that will quickly turn anyone away. If you have a friend who is into these styles of beers, drink with them so they can help you understand if you don't like the flavor profile or if it's just a bad beer or you have a bad batch.

 

Linesman’s are definitely underrated. They make respectable sours. Cuvée Renee especially.

 

Duchess is very good, personally I prefer the regular over the cherry, but that's just a matter of taste and the cherry goes well with dark chocolate