Best Sour Program, State by State

As of right now, until Wakefield is off and running, Buddha has the sour crown in Florida, I think. They are killing it in the Gose and Berliner style. I'd stack the Passionfruit Berliner against any US-brewed Berliner Weisse in the country. Starfruit Berliner too.

 

I thought Snozzberry was one of the worst beers I've had in recent memory.

 

On a related note, this Snozzberry was awesome:

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/31805/108563/

 

Kuhnhenn and New Holland dont make much but the ones they do make are very good.

 

I think Wicked Weed is probably currently in the lead, but Haw River is closing in and I'd bet that once they get the full operation up and running, they'll be best in NC. Darius The Giant is one of the best sours I've had, from anywhere.

 

Im pretty sure New England Brewing Co makes some. Chardonneighbor of the beast comes to mind. Maybe on hiatus but not "gone". They may have others as well...but I cant think of any other brewery that even comes close in CT. Maybe Relic?

 

I think there will be great sours coming from Oso's in the next releases...but New Glarus will not be out done by them. All four R&D Sours brewed by Dan C are undisputably world class sour beers.

 

Bullfrog has done some really good beers but weren't most of their recent releases brewed by Terry who is now the brewer for Pizza Boy?

 

Russian River for sure. Awesome consistency of excellence and enough production to always be found (well, the main ones). No one has really been able to come close to matching that.

 

I have a couple from them I am drinking this weekend. Kuhnhenn Cherry Olde Brune, which I had on tap at the brewery and is very good and New Holland Blue Sunday Sour, which I haven't tried yet.

 

As far as I know the last sour out of Ithaca was the 2012 Le Bleu. It's great that a brewer of Jeff O'Neil's talent is at Peekskill but they've shown no inclination to bottle any of their brews. When I think of sour beers I tend to think of bottle conditioned beer. Not that I haven't had sours on tap (Cantillon at torst, hops n roses in a bunch of places...) but its the exception not the rule.

And given the quality and variety of the sours Captain Lawrence has produced over the years I think it's a little unfair to say they win by default.

 

I agree. I've had all but one of their beers and they range from 'very good' to 'holy shit!'. So far, everything is draft only but once they start releasing bottles (apparently Founder members will get theirs soon) and doing growler fills for the public, the word will spread fast and I guarantee they will very highly sought after.

 

In colorado: new belgium

 

Destihl (Illinois) makes solid sours.

 

Agreed, that is basically what I meant. I believe that beer was a blend of 2010 and 2011 Le Bleu that had been brewed while Jeff was still there that was released in Spring 2012, and they have not brewed a sour since (and I haven't seen any info on them planning to). That's why I don't think people are mentioning them.

The thread is about "best sour program" not "best bottled sour". Plenty of good breweries that don't bottle sours or bottle them scarcely like Funky Buddha, 7th Sun, Pizza Boy, etc. Either way, I'm hoping they brew more sours but I would need more than Simple Sour to call them the best in NY. Them not bottling doesn't bother me though.

I say that because personally I have enjoyed Rosso e Marrone, Barrel Select Gold/Black/Cherry/Raspberry/Mother, Sour Blend 2012, and CdC (and Hops n Roses to a lesser extent) over the past couple of years. Their older beers like CdC and Flaming Fury are also fantastic. I wish they would release sours with more regularity, but I enjoy their sour program quite a bit, and feel like they make a lot more variety-wise than most NY breweries and have the ability to make great sours.

Out of curiosity, who would you choose for NY? If I'm missing out on great local sours I'd love to know.

 

HF is great an all, but they don't really do all that many sours.....unless you're considering a saison to be a sour beer.

 

interesting. learn something new every day.

 

Can trillion from that little new York towbfb79, pos: 212course fropik folifirmember: 414386"]Agreed, that is basically what I meant. I believe that beer was a blend of 2010 and 2011 Le Bleu that had been brewed while Jeff was still there that was released in Spring 2012, and they have not brewed a sour since (and I haven't seen any info on them planning to). That's why I don't think people are mentioning them.



The thread is about "best sour program" not "best bottled sour". Plenty of good breweries that don't bottle sours or bottle them scarcely like Funky Buddha, 7th Sun, Pizza Boy, etc. Either way, I'm hoping they brew more sours but I would need more than Simple Sour to call them the best in NY. Them not bottling doesn't bother me though.



I say that because personally I have enjoyed Rosso e Marrone, Barrel Select Gold/Black/Cherry/Raspberry/Mother, Sour Blend 2012, and CdC (and Hops n Roses to a lesser extent) over the past couple of years. Their older beers like CdC and Flaming Fury are also fantastic. I wish they would release sours with more regularity, but I enjoy their sour program quite a bit, and feel like they make a lot more variety-wise than most NY breweries and have the ability to make great sours.

Out of curiosity, who would you choose for NY? If I'm missing out on great local sours I'd love to know. [/quote]
Cantillion from that little New York town Anderlecht. Of course my pick for California is Cantillion from that little California town Anderlecht
Guess what I'm trying to say when it comes to beer I'm too much of a **** to notice boundaries except the one between the glass in my hand abn my mouth

 

Tell that Jackie Ho to get her shit together and start sending them out to CO. I've only heard good things, but she just needs to twirk a little further West. Jackie is a notorious tease.