Best Sour Program, State by State

I live in CA, RR I win haha

 

Nobody has done Washington yet? I'd say Epic Ales or Red Peak.

 

For Ohio, it's Jackie O's - Rivertown's sours aren't bad, but Jackie O's beers are head and shoulders above theirs.

 

Love De Garde. Love Logsdon. Love Commons. Love Double Mountain Krieks. Cascade is always solid. Upright is fantastic as well. Lucky to be in oregon.

 

IN: Upland

 

MN has a weak ass crop but the best by far in my opinion has to be Pour Decisions (now Bent Brewstillery). Great Berliners and Gose.

 

....but expanding very rapidly at Corner ("Sister" brewery to Arbor for non-Michiganders). There is always something happening in barrels there now. I expect that to continue to grow.

I am more of a "wild" fan than a "sour" fan, so I do love me some Jolly Pumpkin though....

 

what did you think of Batch #6 Beat?

 

O'so sours are good. yep.

 

Illinois the obvious is Goose Island but I think Destihl is a bit better just not as widely distributed.

 

Jackie O's for Ohio - even the beers that aren't supposed to be sour are.

I keed, I keed.

 

I wish I could agree with you on Pour Decisions, but I have had exactly one beer from that brewery that I would ever consider spending money on again (Verity).

On the other hand, you are right to suggest that the field is weak. Surly barely has its toes in the water, Harriet seems to be dabbling with sours, and HammerHeart's are still aging in barrels.

But August Schell may be another story. I enjoyed Star of the North as much as anything from Pour Decisions, and thought Framboise du Nord was perfectly tasty, if somewhat expensive. I really have trouble imagining a sour Marzen, but if Noble Star #3 (or is it #8?) is any good, I think we will have a runaway leader in Schell's.

 

I think in IL we only gave Goose and Destihl. Rumor has it their last beer from a specific brewmaster is the latest as he left awhile ago but they still had plenty of beers around. The guy pretty much started their souring/ba program i think although i'm not totally in the loop on it.

wish we had more selection...

 

Seriously, though, great job with everything lately - Double Dynamo was mind-blowing!!

 

Someone can correct me if I am wrong, but I believe the reason no one is saying Ithaca is because their brewmaster Jeff O'Neil, who had created beers like Brute and Le Bleu, left to go to Peekskill.

I don't think Ithaca has brewed either since he left, while Peekskill has put out a pretty nice berliner in Simple Sour since Jeff got there (aside from other great beers). If Ithaca can rebrew those sours I'm sure they'd be back in the discussion.

I think Captain Lawrence wins by default right now for NY.

 

New Holland has been putting out some nice sours "Blue Sunday"

 

I did have that one once, and it was a good one.

 

Real answer would be Snipes Mountain, and they'll be in bottles next week.

 

I really like Blue Tarp's berliner weisse, better than Wrecking Bar's or Twain's versions. And that's all the GA sours I've had (homebrewers excluded). I hope Three Taverns, Creature Comforts, and Orpheus can help with that in the near future.

 

MA definitely goes to Cambridge Brewing Company. They do a lot of experimenting and sometimes it can be a miss but there have been many beers that rival anything in the country.

Cisco maybe a close second - their Woods series is pretty good and better in terms of availability compared to CBC.

Mystic may surpass all and even rival the best of New England. It's too early to tell though since nothing has been officially released yet other than some previews at festivals.