I had my first "gueuze" last night which smelled like cold cuts with no head at all, very weird... it really upset my stomach too and overall was not too likeable for a style of beer I thought I liked (it was a Hanssens if anyone is curious). But my question is what separates that with Flanders Oud Bruin and Flanders Red Ale (beers in these styles I have thoroughly enjoyed) ? Are there others, are American Wild Ales the same without the local, spontaneous yeast of Brussells? Thank you.
American wild ales covers a wide range of brews, but generally they use wild saccharomyces strains, Brettanomyces, Lactobacillus or pediococcus. If you know much about your yeasts and bacteria/"bugs", these critters create different final products, some being sour and some not really sour at all. Most sours have a lacto or pedio strain or 2 that create the lower ph and pucker factor. Brett beers are more funky, with hints of tropical fruit, leather/horse saddle, barnyard, funk. True wild yeasts are very unpredictable in their flavor and aroma profile, with some imparting characteristics of the place they were harvested (honeysuckle, nectarine, blueberries are some I've experienced) and some not. Some will sour a brew, but not all will. Oud Bruins vs Reds is about color (brown vs red) and character (brown is more earthy and oaky while red is more sharp and fruity and tend to be more sour). Some brewers will label an American made sour as an Oud Bruin or Flanders Red if brewed in that style, but it could still be labeled an American Wild Ale.
Sorry to jump in and hijack your post, but I would love to ask a question about the barrel aging process of sours. Are all sours aged in some sorts of barrels? Oak and whatnot? If yes, is there any sours aged in bourbon barrels? Or the bourbon would hide the other flavors? On theory I guess a bourbon barrel aged sour sounds good? Right? Sorry if my questions are stupid or maybe I should've started my own post.
Some are aged in barrels, some not. I've tried them aged in just about any type of barrel, including bourbon barreled. I'm not the biggest fan of big bourbon barreled flavored sours, as long as the bourbon doesn't dominate, it's pretty good.
There are lots of differences in brewing techniques, which others have explained and will continue to do so. On the side of your palate, there is a wide variety of flavors to sours. Some are more sweet than sour (Duchess de Bourgogne), some are extremely sour (Upland's Kiwi lambic). Also, there's a lot of different flavors that get lumped together as sour. Some are funky/earthy (The Commons Maybelle), some are vinegar like (Rodenbach), some are bright and citrusy (most Berliner Weisses), and some blend all three of these characteristics masterfully (3F Oude Gueze). Some people just don't like sours, and that's fine. However, there's enough variety that you really can't judge 'em all after having just one. That'd be like saying you don't like beer just because you don't like IPAs.
Funny that was mentioned bc I've recently really enjoyed two bourbon sours - Avery's insula multos collibus which probably isn't too hard to find and A local brewery (reaver beach) did a black wild ale in bourbon barrels too.
A great local beer for me, Rivertown Barrel-Aged Old Sour Cherry Porter, is a good example I look forward to every year. http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/22157/84292/ And one of my all-time favorite beers, Upland Malefactor, is the quintessential example of a BBA sour. http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1170/78143/
Does my description of the Hanssen sound off. I've loved all wild ales, both flander styles, and a lambic and I've always accepted the funk. This one made me sick and was funky in a bad way, is Hanssens just extra weird funk that I was not used to?
I wouldn't use the words "smelled like cold cuts," but certainly no head and potentially stomach churning. IMHO there are three Gueuze/Lambic producers in Belgium that are still traditional in the sense that they make their product the same way it has been made for hundreds of years: Cantillon, Hanssens, and Drei Fonteinen. And probably Tilquin is a fourth that just started up recently. The rest all use modern techniques (they pasteurize / backsweeten / etc) to make their beer more palatable or marketable to a wider audience. IMHO the Flanders Red / Oud Bruin producers all use these more modern techniques, though there are some non-Belgian ones that are now surpassing what the Belgian brewers are doing. So I think you like sours, but you are not all in until you like the traditional and truly spontaneously fermented ones. It's an acquired taste, but you'll come to appreciate the depth and complexity of flavors that you just can't get any other way, and your stomach will eventually stop churning.
It's an acquired taste for sure. A great read is American Sour Beers by Michael Tonsmeire. There are many different styles as a result of the combinations of using brewing yeast and then the Brett, Lacto or Pedio which culminates in, my opinion, the most variations within a style (Wild Ale) of any beer style. I love my sours and my wife is starting to really appreciate them as well, but one thing that has helped settle stomachs because the yeast gave me a similar effect for a while was pairing these outstanding beers with the right foods (BBQ pork, lamb, salads, cheeses and many more). This often brings out the best components of the beer as well. Dont get discouraged as nearly every flavor profile with every different kind of fruit/vegetable can be found within sours as the possibilities are endless.
Hanssens beers are among the sourest on the market. You really swung for the fence on sourness so the stomach churning isn't too surprising.
I see a lot of people getting into sours lately that don't particularly like hoppy or darker beers. A great sour beer to test the waters is the Anderson Valley Gose. It's around 10 bucks for a 6 pack which means you dont have to be too invested plus some places sell singles for a couple bucks. Most people, once they try a gose (gueze), are usually all in or all out with sours. I have had a descent amount of sour beers and I still get stomach aches from time to time.
in short a flanders oude bruin will be similar to a lambic and flanders red or flemish reds with be more similar to vinegar
