Let's talk about sour beers!

What site do you use to order from? I don't understand the 3F website since it's all in Dutch and I don't see how to translate it to English. Do you use the same site to order Cantillon as well? Thanks for your help!

 

There are a bunch. The three I have used are Belgium in a box, Etre Gourmet and Trappist world. Trappist world gouges like hell, but if you want Cantillon they tend to have it in stock. The others are much more fair in price, but the whales sell out very fast (under an hour sometimes). My preferred are Belgium in a box and Etre Gourmet. Over the past 6 months I have been able to order:

• Cantillon: 2x Fou Foune, Vig, Kriek, tons of Classic Geuze
• 3F: Framboos, Hommage, Kriek, Intense Red, tons of regular Geuze
• Tilquin: All of them
• Non-exported De Cam and hard to find Fantome
• Westy 12 & 8

Occasionally you get gouged (thanks for that reaming on Hommage Trappist World) but I am OK with the occasional ridiculous price, and after all it is my choice / stupidity to over-pay; I can always just not buy it (but of course I always do!).

I have probably spent ~$1,200 in 6 months (yeah, yeah, I know, i'm nuts) on 5 orders for a total of ~60-70 bottles including a lot of stuff that I will never see on a shelf. The average price per bottle is about $20, but if I exclude the 2 gouges (I really over-paid for a Fou and Hommage) it is more like $16, for a mix of half bottles and 750's.

I have never seen Cantillon on a shelf in the USA, but have seen middling bottles for on site consumption (Cuvee De Champions / Iris) for $80-100 a bottle in bars in San Francisco; Framboos was $125. Even Tilquin and 3F is $15-25 for a 375ml bottle in a restaurant and damn hard to find on a shelf... I feel like the average I have paid over the past year is pretty reasonable, and it has been way easier than trying to trade / hunt these things down.

Bit of a confessional (sorry) but if you have a credit card and are willing to wait a week, you can get a lot of awesome stuff ordered straight from Belgium... Just don't expect it to be cheap, but since the last Allagash sour I bought (farm to face I think) was $15 for a half bottle, and Almanac sours are all $10 a half size bottle, the prices are pretty comparable to American made stuff.

 

Grimm psychokinesis
Guezue tilquin
Rodenbach grand cru
Allagash golden Brett + others
Crooked stave stuff
Jolly pumpkin stuff
Prairie funky gold mosaic
Cuvee Rene
Love child
Limited I know but westbrooks bourbon barrels aged oud bruin was really fucking good.

 

Put me down for recommending Duchesse and Petrus. So tasty and dangerously drinkable.

 

It's not fair that Americans can order Euro beers but we can't order American beers to Europe (stores simply don't do international shipping afaik).

 

I'm a fan of the American Wild Ales (there really is no beer category called "Sour") and the traditional sour styles from Europe. Seems like some folks are thinking that Brett beers are "sours", but Brett doesnt really drop the pH to create a true sour beer but instead adds the tropical fruit/horse blanket funk that tends to create the "funky" beer category. To sour a beer, you need to use a LAB (lactic acid producing bacteria) which includes many species of Lactobacillus and Pediococcus. If it doesnt have either of these in the bug mix used to ferment them, then they arent a true "sour".

I think deGarde is making the best sours right now in America...I used to think that Cascade had that honor, but over the past few years, Cascade has gone downhill a little in quality. Rare Barrel is definitely making some good stuff too. Russian River makes some good wild ales, but they are so predictable and their variety is limited that once you've had them a few times, they lose their luster. Jolly Pumpkin makes quality stuff for sure, by Jester King's stuff just isnt as appealing to me as it is to many other BAs. My favorite east coast producer, hands down, would have to be Wicked Weed! They brew so many different sours and always have a new and different sour in the rotation that keeps me wanting to go back to the Funkatorium and their original hub! Creature Comfort has brewed a few good wild ales as well out here in the Southeast.

I enjoy brewing sours and funky beers more than searching for commercial examples...1. Its cheaper to brew 5 gallons of a sour than to buy a single Cascade bottle. 2. I can adjust the tartness and pucker factor to exactly what I want & 3. I can brew any kind of experimental brew that commercial breweries havent done or do very rarely. My sour line in the kegerator (I have a separate kegerator for my sour and funky beers so they dont contaminate my clean beers) switches back and forth between Berliner Weisses and Goses with the occasional other Red or Golden sour. My funky line keeps a Brett Saison or big Brett DIPA on tap at all times as well. Brewing them is so much more fun than just shelling out big dollars for small bottles

 

Starting to expand into the Sour field.

So far have stuck to Wicked Weed Sours (Amorous, Cherry Go Lightly, etc)

 

These guys and Kent Falls. Absolutely slaughtering it in CT.

 

This. It's what opened my eyes wide to this world and is still my favorite. Being in VA it's tough to get (despite my badge I'm not really a trader) so I only have 1 left I plan to drink around its 1st birthday and 1 Supplication I'm waiting a bit longer on. Additionally, I've been impressed and basically loved:
Boulevard's Love Child
Bruery's Tart of Darkness (among others)
Westbrook Gose
Crooked Stave and Prairie offerings
Wicked Weed - everything really
Alvinne (some stuff - I thought their Phi was one of the best bangs for the buck in the sour world but seems long gone)
From VA, Alewerks Lover's Greed - I wasn't a fan fresh especially at the price but with a year on it? Yeah, world class.

One day I hope to make this jump to Catillon but I'm just not there yet.

 

I think the main reason is because it is illegal to send alcohol through the US mail. Even if you have a liquor license and an export permit you can't use the regular mail, you have to use FedEx or UPS. The Belgian stores use the mail because if they get caught nothing really happens, but if a US business was mailing alcohol they have to basically lie on the customs form, and would be risking their license to sell liquor.

If they had an export license they could ship UPS or FedEx, but the cost of shipping is staggering. For reference, I just ordered a box from Belgium and the shipping cost was 78 euro (so about $85) for a 35 pound box (~15kg). The same box to ship back the other direction from my place to Brussels via US postal service (illegal remember) is $135 US (125 euro) and to send it via Fedex it is $400 US (370 euro)...

No idea why the cost of shipping is so much worse going from the US to Europe, but given how expensive it is I am not surprised no US stores are willing to run an online business shipping beer to you... Frankly, given the cost, I would need to be trading for some epic beers (a full Lou Pepe set) before I would even think of sending a box overseas. Too much hassle and risk of customs seizing it.

 

just had Mattina Rossa again the other night. Just a fantastic beer

 

For me it's all about the season- in the fall and winter like many BAs I presume, I dabble in the darker heavier stuff. But come Spring thru the inevitable long summers here, it's all about saisons, sours, and IPAs. I will say, I have made the IPA my year round drink of choice though. Hard for me to pick an absolute favorite, some have been let downs we chased because of hype, but 5 memorable "sours" (i'm trying to leave out saisons) for me:

1. Fou Foune '14 - made me absolutely realize that fresh Fou was best for me
2. Atrial - nothing says Texas like this beer, and is something I crave annually
3. Duck Duck Gooze - one of the few beers that I am permanently ISO
4. Westly - the best beer I have ever had
5. Cable Car - was in the right place at the right time, and really lived up to the hype for me

 

supplication and tart of darkness were my first loves. anything from degarde, urban family, and barrelworks really does it for me.

 

- Anything from de Garde
- Jester King MvsB, Funk Metal, RU55, Encendia
- Rare Barrel Sourtooth Tiger

 

I keep coming back to Duchess de Bourgogne. The overall balance is perfect and complements many occasions.

To me the intensely sour beers are a fun occasional experience when I'm in the mood, but I never feel much desire to return to them.

 

I too used to eat Sour Patch Kids and Warheads by the handful. Sour/tart/wild beers are my favorite!

-West Ashley w some age on 'er
-Home, Sour Home
-Mamouche (I know I'm in the minority)
-Consecration
-the Kiwi Lambic from Upland was surprisingly good
-Kriek de Ranke
-Rodenbach Grand Cru is a standby

 

Birds Fly South and Carolina Baernhaus are making the best sours in the Upstate of SC and should not be missed if you are in the area! One of the best sours I've ever had (I've only had around 300-400 different "sours") was a Watermelon Sour from Carolina Baernhaus at last year's Tamassee Craft Beer Festival...better than almost anything that I've had at the last few Puckerfests I've been to!!!

 

Haven't had many sours (yet) but my favorite so far is Rodenbach's Caractere Rouge. A wonderful blend of cherries, cranberries and raspberry flavors. Delicious.

 

Currently, Angel of Darkness from Wicked Weed holds on to my top spot with Cascade's Apricot Sour coming in a close second. Honorable mentions include many listed above, Westbrook's Gose, Gose Gone Wild, Tart of Darkness, Green Man's Snozzberry or Bootsy. Oh, almost forgot, if you get a chance, Natty Green's Sours are worthy of going out of your way to taste. American Sour, Sorghum Sour to name 2 outstanding sours from them.

 

I love sour beers but too much gives me acid reflux. Collected these over a year+ and did a tasting with friends around Thanksgiving. Felt a little uncomfortable that night and my palate was wrecked for a day and a half.