Favorite Sours

Yes but others as well

 

Tröegs brewed a lime gose aged in tequila barrels back in 2017? that was part of their scratch series. Not a fan of gose or tequila, but this beer was truly fantastic.

 

Harvey's Imperial Stout

 

Really?

 

Apparently a lot of you do not know Wild does not mean sour. Try again and drink more beer.

 

I was so zonked coming off of anaesthesia after an emergency medical procedure when I wrote this, I have zero recollection of it whatsoever. I wasn't drunk, I swear haha. What a trainwreck of a post!

 

La Reine (2018) by Wild Mind Artisan Ales is the first one that comes to mind but I have had some really great sours over the year so I am finding it difficult to choose just one. I don't really want to compare a traditional Wile Ale to a smoothie style sour because while they are both awesome sour beers it is kind of apples and oranges. I am also a fan of some of the pastry sours that are popular now.

 

I like Russian River, but I didn't care for Intiction the one time I had it (the beer that started this talk)... but I'm clearly in the minority on that one. I'm also not a fan of the brewer calling it a pilsner.

 

And sour doesn’t mean wild either. Does it really matter?

 

There's at least two levels of "sours".

One is stuff like fruitlands, and probably any beer labeled as a sour or sold in a can. These are kettle sours meaning that the mash/wort are soured with lactic acid before fermentation. They have a clean, simple, tartness and usually have fruit added these days.

The other is more accurately called wild or mixed fermentation. Wild ale should be spontaneously fermented by the local microflora, like lambics. Mixed fermentation just means there is a custom blend of microbes, not just brewing yeast. These beers can range from puckering sourness all the way to no sour flavors. This is the realm of the cantillons, drei fonteinens, de gardes, jester kings, etc... Of the world.

If you're looking for that crisp clean tart sour flavor you're probably best off with the kettle sours, labeled as gose or Berliner weisse sometimes.

 

Some of my fav sours that I havent seen mentioned.

Speciation
Urban Artifact
Hudson Valley
Burlington Brewing Co

 

Homage Brewing: Everything these guys make makes me a junkie. They are the new standard in American sours imo, and probably my favorite brewery in the world at the moment. Since You Asked Kindly was a miracle.

Cellador Ales: Particularly their stonefruit stuff. Slide Down my Cellar Door 2019, Biblipohile, Le Con... Oh, and their cider hybrid Chapeaux is spectacular. They do a lot of bottle conditioning with honey, and their beers are generally quite tart and jammy. Beautiful stuff, and again sort of envelope pushing.

Sante Adairius Rustic Ales: their saisons are where it is at for me. I think their unfruited stuff is still pretty much top tier, and hard to beat. Bernice is one of my favorite beers of all time. But they are arguably the best brewery in the world alongside Homage for me. Everything they do kills it.

De Garde: They are not always consistent... but their stonefruit and berry stuff is outlandish.

Side Project: Their fruited wilds are the best in the world alongside Homage and Cellador imo, Fuzzy has a rep for a reason. Balaton... everything they make is just worthy of awards.

Hill Farmstead: Arthur and Anna are the blueprint for how to do a balanced saison-wild.

Cantillon and 3F: The papis of the lambic world. Cantillon is still the golden standard for most, though I have to say I like 3F better for a clean gueuze.

Floodland: I haven't had much of their stuff, but what I have had has blown me away.

Those are for me the holy grail of sours to this day.

 

If/when I win the lottery, I will fill my cellar with limited beers from Hill Farmstead. There are many equally good beers around the world, but HF are definitely on top of the Barrel aged wild/sour/ whatever you want to call it beers. But I also have to give credit to Allagash, specifically Coolship Resurgam-That was my introduction to the lambic style. Thankfully, if don't win the lottery I can still buy HF shelfies and Cuvee Rene by Lindemans. In a beer world filled with overpriced NEIPAs (at least here in New England) it wonderful to still find beers made in traditional styles that are amazing at affordable costs. I just wish I could buy Cantillon and 3F beers at the source- such good prices... Unfortunately, the secondary or shipping....Ugh

 

Try one of The Ale Apothecary's beers made with pine tree needles. Sahati and Ralph are fairly regular offerings but if you stumble upon a batch of Spruce Sahalie or Spruce La Tache don't pass it up.

 

Orval - the O.G. 'sour'