Are Sours almost all the same?

Yes definately. Actually all sours are exactly the same. They are distributed by Sours R Us and are just repackaged by different beer companies. Scandalous I say.

 

Hey guys, I'm looking for some good sours. I got to try RR Supplication once, and really liked it. I have a bottle of rodenbach vintage 2011. How does that compare?

 

RR is an american wild ale-

American Wild Ale
Description:
Sometimes Belgian influenced, American Wild Ales are beers that are introduced to "wild" yeast or bacteria, such as: Brettanomyces (Brettanomyces Bruxellensis, Brettanomyces Lambicus or Brettanomyces Anomolus), Pediococcus or Lactobacillus. This introduction may occur from oak barrels that have been previously inoculated, pitched into the beer, or gained from various "sour mash" techniques. Regardless of which and how, these little creatures often leave a funky calling card that can be quite strange, interesting, pleasing to many, but also often deemed as undesirable by many.

Rodenbach 2011 vintage is a Flanders Red-

Flanders Red Ale
Description:
Flanders Reds are commonly referred to as the "red" beers of West Flanders. Belgian Red Beers are typically light-bodied brews with reddish-brown colors. They are infamous for their distinct sharp, fruity, sour and tart flavors which are created by special yeast strains. Very complex beers, they are produced under the age old tradition of long-term cask aging in oak, and the blending of young and old beers.

 

I would recommend the Sam Adams KMF Grand Cru that is currently on tour. It is a balanced, yet somewhat sour wild ale.

 

A wise man once said, "Sour is a flavor, not a style."

Actually, if you drink enough of their stuff it does all start tasting the same, with the fruit being the only notable difference. Every damn one is a blend of <insert "strong blondes" or "strong reds"> aged in <insert random barrel type> and aged on <insert fruit>, which seems like it would give you plenty of variability, but after a while they all end up being dominated by the one dimensional lacto sourness.

More power to you if you love them, but I can't justify the $30+ for a bottle anymore when there equally delicious (if not better) things available for half the price or less from their local competitors like De Garde, Upright, Block 15, and The Commons, not to mention the stuff I could trade for.

 

I'm not sure that I agree with you. I've never had anything from the other breweries you mentioned. I've had RR Consecration, Boulevard Love Child No 4, NB La Folie/Terroir, Cantillon and Tilquin gueze. As this being my first time trying them, I'd say most of the Cascade beers were delicious compared to the more readily available sours I listed. I picked up a bottle of the Ale Apothecary Sahalie and Be Still as well, which may have the more exotic / multi-dimensional flavors that you metion.

 

unless all sours are made with the exact same ingredients there is no way they can all taste the same maybe our palates just don't have the sensitivity to get through the complexness of most of the beers to be able to tell the difference.

 

Why would Belgian breweries be off limits?

 

Sour is a flavor descriptor not a style. There are countless styles of beer that can be sour for many different reasons. Not all beers that are sour are the same. A berliner is very different from a lambic which is very different from a Oude Bruin which is very different from a flanders red ect ect ect ect. All are sour but very different.

 

Short answer: yes
long answer: no

 

I just had the petrus aged red today and frankly I was thinking the same thing as the OP. I mean I have had some standouts but I think there is definitely a mididle of the road like with all beer.

 

Mostly because I figured a top 5 list dominated by Belgian breweries would not contribute as much to that particular thread of discussion. That ground is particularly well-trodden.

 

Very very different. I liked both of these quite a bit; I don't really remember the Supplication well, but the2011 Vintage really didn't qualify as a sour for me. I don't have a better term for it, but if you read my review, you probably will see relatively little in common with Supplication. My gut says I liked the Rodenbach better, but again, that could just be a recency effect (I drank the Supplication before I started taking notes).

 

I went through a period when I first discovered "sours" and after having 5 or 6 varieties I felt like my only gauge for how good they were was how sour they were and I started thinking either sours or myself was stupid because what's the point if I'm only looking for the most extreme example of a single element? Now that I've had numerous beers that are under the blanket term "sour," I've realized that there's a ton of variety if you can appreciate and look for subtlety instead. I defy anyone to say Westbrook Gose tastes like Sour in the Rye w/ Kumquats, or that either of those taste like Crooked Stave Surette. That would just be... false.

 

Sour is a catch all category.

Is all beer bitter?

?

 

If all you taste is lemon then you are missing a lot of flavor. Even JK sours, which I find pretty bland, have more going on than just lemon tartness.

 

Several things seem to be going on as we and the whole the audience for sour beers learns more. Some people go through an intensity escalation phase, a kind of race to the pH bottom. Some people try to embrace all the newness and sip away at concoctions that are poopy or reek of nail polish to me. I suppose they are either not sensitive to the same flavors, or not aware that sour beers, too, can have flaws and off flavors. I found myself going through some shifts. Loved Cascade, then found the "lacto only" signature lacking in complexity, and am now around to loving the ones I feel are best and simply not buying the others. Jester King was one of several that helped turn me back to an appreciation for little, delicate sours after some years of seeking and homebrewing the biggest ones possible. Some of the sour breweries do have a house flavor, in the good sense. For example, Sante Adairius is hitting a mixed culture flavor I want again and again.

If sour beers are not enjoyable, I think it's worth remembering that they are not required. If it's take 'em or leave 'em, why not leave 'em for a while? But if the deeper question is really more about how to differentiate and describe, perhaps try setting up a blind tasting of some similar sour beers -- all the same fruit, all no fruit, all lighter or all darker, etc -- and talking through what's different about them. (It's also cool to have a vial of lactic acid and one of distilled vinegar for aroma comparison.)

Beth Zangari, who's on the commercial calibration panel in Zimurgy magazine, once told me she did a class where she brought in a recently used saddle blanket in a plastic bag to help define "horse blanket" aroma, but for those of us who don't live in rural settings that would be pretty difficult.

Cool idea, though. Goats... wait, do goats even wear blankets?

 

Almanac is not a good example to use i feel for sours. Dont get me wrong by any means they make great beers. PLuot Being may favorite along side Valley. If im wrong I ok to be stand correcte4d. But doesnt Almanac usea house culture that is pretty similar in each there beers hence why you can say most of them taste the same with sudtile differences as in fruit of dry hop?