Let's talk about sour beers!

-New Belgium's La Folie. For me, I haven't had many, but is it still lands at the top of the list. The first time I toured there, they have us a sample of the pre-aged La Folie and of La Folie itself. Both were delicious. To this day, it's still my favorite sour.
-Loveland Alewerks Raspberry sour. It was so good that after having it with dinner one night, I drove 30 minutes one way to have a glass at the brewery and get a growler fill.

I love the sour feeling. As a kid, I'd eat a handful of warheads at once. So sour beer just seemed right.

Can't wait to hear about more sours I need to try!

 

When I first turned 21 it was all about English/Scottish ales. Then I was into IPA's for years. Then I tried the Westbrook Gose, maybe two years ago? And that opened me up to sour beers. At first I didnt like it. But I couldnt stop thinking about it, similar to the first time I watched 2001.

It is now one of my favorite beers and I love sours. La Folie is probably my favorite but I rarely get it due to the price point. Tart of Darkness is great too.

 

I'm mid-conversion to truly liking sours. Mild examples, say your Destihl wild sour series beers, I definitely like. Crisp, refreshing, none-too-complex. Just tingly tasty tart drinks. Then there are the few others I've had. De Molen Mud and Funk, He'Brew Funky Jewbelation, Griffin Claw Dark passenger...all dark-as-hell funky stout or wheatwine or mix of seven different ales and lagers and whatever else...It's a fun game making other styles sour, maybe some day I'll get interested in trying pure funky sour beers without the preconception of what they would have been prior to being soured. Anyways, cheers, that's just my opinion!

 

La Folie and Le Terroir are both great, if a little pricey for my budget.

 

Madame Rose
Supplication
Temptation

Once this style of beer clicks, it's all over.

 

I've been a sucker for RR Consecration since I first tried it a few years ago. Wine barrels man.

 

Some faves
Cuvee d'Industrial
Le Terroir
Agrestic
Almanac Citra + Wakatu Sours
Petrus Aged Pale
Prairie Funky Gold Amarillo
(I like hopped sours)

 

I have mostly Drie Fonteinen or Cantillon. Dollar for dollar, I think their regular releases are a better bank-for-your-buck than the annual releases. Many of the US wild ales seem to have a sharp acidity without much depth. However, I had some Rare Barrel (Home, Sour Home) and RR Consecration this past summer that were awesome, so it just depends. I'm not sure what is available in Korea. My guess is the Belgians may be easier to get than the US sours.

 

From Belgium I would say my favorites have to be...

Alvinne - Wild West
3 Fonteinen - Intense Red
Cantillon - Lou Pepe
Hanssens - Schaarbeekse

From the U.S...

Russian River Brewing Company - Consecration
Trinity - Magical Brettanomyces any #
Double Mountain - Tahoma Kriek

 

I love sour beers, always loved 'em.
But like, 5 or 6 years ago, you could find Cantillon and the like easily in Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Luxemburg- I feel since sour became popular in the US, beers are becoming harder to find and more expensive. And that sucks, and so I'm not buying them anymore.... I still hope my cellar holds up for a while, and they finally become unfashionable aigan.

 

Anything from deGarde!

 

You can get Cantillon? Hmm, can you get Drie Fonteinen too? I can get a lot of beers here, but if I had steady access to those brands I might not drink any other "sour".

 

Cantillon Fou and Russian River Temptation are my favorites BUT everytime I have a new sour/geueze/lambic I feel like Kenny in the cat pee sniffing episode of South Park, there has to be something better out there...

 

I must say, I have had quite a few sour beers in my time, but it is the Duchesse de Bourgogne who has truly won my heart! Fruity sweet and sucking sour, oaky and funky, with the pitch perfect mix of all these elements, and the most fanciful and exquisite of ladies to ever grace a beer label. Not only that, but her beaming countenance shows up in almost any self-respecting beer store for not-unreasonable prices that put certain other elitist harlot beers to shame.

 

Indeed a gueuze to most would taste like Champagne or something (the oak aging and carbonation especially), maybe mixed with a sour cidre (brut in French). They're easy to find and quite cheap in France. Hanssens Artisanaal Oude Gueuze is my favorite, alongside 3 Fonteinen Oude Gueuze. I have yet to taste the Cantillon, I got the Gueuze bio for Christmas.

And let's not forget the Kriek, which is a type of sour beer too. People tend to think "oh no it's a fruity sweet beer for chicks", well, not at all, go try 3 Fonteinen Oude Kriek for example.

 

I got into Lambic beers when I lived in Brussels. Maybe that's why non-Belgian sours never really seem to do it for me (even though there are some good ones out there), but I also like to think that the Belgians do it best, and that the Lambic region (it is an appellation, remember) is best for spontaneous fermentation.

Cantillon would have to be my top brewery; there's an unmistakable, cheesy funk in every bottle that sets it above the rest for me. I used to be able to drink pints of their cask lambic (closest thing in bottle is the Grand Cru). There's nothing like knocking back several flat, sour, refreshing glasses of that. Man do I miss it.

That being said, Cuvée des Jacobins Rouge has a solid claim to being my favorite sour beer, and one of my favorite beers of all. What an outstanding drink, there's nothing else like it. If you like sours and haven't had this one, do yourself a favour and seek it out!

 

If you are willing to order online from Belgium 3F is very straight forward; Cantillon is getting hard though. I have started to regularly order 3F and Tilquin (mostly Kriek and Quetsche) direct from Belgium. 20 375ml bottles in an order usually costs ~$260 shipped to my door in about a week.

At about $13 (all in including shipping and tax) a bottle it is a very fair price - Hanssens, Boon, or Oud Beersel Krieks are $9-13 on the shelf here for a half bottle; only risk is US customs rejects your box, but 4 orders so far haven't had any trouble at all with a 5th on the way.

 

All of these are excellent...
Grimm sours (Telekinesis, Psychokinesis, Purple Prose, Echoplex, Rainbow Dome, Super Going)
Boulevard Love Child #5
Westbrook Gose
Trinity Seven Day Sour
Peekskill LemPbeek Batch 1
Ithaca Cranbretty
Lagunitas HotSide Sour Mashed DayTime
Mikkeler Spontanblackthorn
Crooked Stave St. Bretta Pomelo