Poll: Do you like sours?

Went to a Belgian beer fest, got burnt out on them pretty quick.

Still like 2nd Shift Dry-Hopped Katy though

 

I've tried to enjoy sours. I'm too the point where I realize there is way too much great beer to worry about trying to expand my palate. I occasionally enjoy beers with some hint of sourness, but true sours- not for me. Maybe I'll eventually develop a palate for them, in the meantime I plan on saving myself time and money and generally avoiding purchasing them.

 

To me, sours taste like dirty socks and vinegar. 99% of sours make me want to vomit. I can't even grasp my head around how people actually enjoy the flavor. I had DDG, Cable Car and Kiwi Herman earlier which were drinkable but nowhere near enjoyable. I'll stick to my BBA stouts.

 

That's funny! Rare Barrel sours and RR Supplication might be the only ones I like. (Don't like the pucker ones like Almanac)

 

Didn't at first, but I have grown to love them.

 

I like sours alot but I am finding that I really don't like the quick and dirty kettle soured varity. It's all acidity and punch with none of the subtleties you get with the traditional production methods. If you're not going to take the time to do them right why do them at all.

 

I love the taste of sourness, but I don't like the sour ales that are overly funky, to the point where they taste like rotting garbage. I recently had Lindemans Kriek Cuvee Renee, however, and it was fantastic.

 

When I tried my first sour I thought it was gross. Then about three days later as I was drinking the same-old IPA I couldn't stop thinking about that sour... So I had another, different sour, a week or so later. Then a day or two later I really wished I had a sour in my hand. Fast forward 9 months and I'm trying every sour style and every brewery. For me it was like offering a 6 year old coffee and a fine blue cheese - of course I thought it was gross. But after a little exposure my taste buds were captivated and some of the IPA's I use to think we're amazing seemed kinda one dimentional - like American cheese and white bread... Overall I love it all - but a solid IPA is still my daily go to.

 

Love sours, especially hopped ones like Alamancs or Le Terroir. I have found, however, that despite being a lover of vinegar, I don't like the acetic ones.

 

Strongly dislike one-dimensional sours (or one-dimensional beers of any kind), which I tend to find more from American wilds than lambics.

Love well-made, well-balanced sours.

 

Like sours once in a while as a treat. Drinking sours on a regular basis is a bit out of my budget, but a good Oud Bruin or Flanders Red Ale is worth it.

 

I do, but I feel the price point is outweighed by my enjoyment. I'd much rather a simple Westbrook Gose than spend $30 for a Cantillon bottle. Honestly, I don't appreciate sour beers and nuances enough to justify the cost.

I kind of feel the same way about wine. I don't notice that much of a difference between a $20 bottle to a $100+.

 

I don't even think of them as beer, in my mind they are a separate drink altogether.

I love beer. Wine, Cider, and Sour Beers are ok on occasion.

 

The first sour I ever had back in 2011 was a huge shock, it was a Jolly Pumpkin La Roja. A Flanders red inspired ale. I didn't dislike it but was not what I was expecting. A few years later at Russian River, I got a few samples of their sours and absolutely fell in love with sour beer.

Although I love proper wild/sour beers with a mixed fermentation, I strongly dislike heavy lactic acidic clean beers like Gose and clean sour seers without Wild yeast (Brett), like some from Cascade Brewery, that are heavily sour but lack complexity.

 

Okay, so I've only had the Love Child sour ales from the Boulevard Smokestack Series, and I absolutely hated them at first, but now I rather enjoy them. Here's how my experience went:

Love Child No. 4 : I actually had no idea that this was a sour before opening it, and in fact I didn't even know what a sour was at the time. The only reason I picked it up is because I was wanting to try all of the beers from the SS Series and had really really enjoyed what I had tried from it up to that point (Saison-Brett, BBQ, Rye-on-Rye, Imperial Stout X: Aztec Chocolate), so I had high hopes and just kind of went with it like "time for the next one, let's go". I took my first sip, and immediately thought to myself, "what the fuck is this nasty shit, and why is it so incredibly sour?", but I began to read up on some of the reviews for the beer to familiarize myself with the different flavors, and I really just took my time with it and tried my hardest to identify and appreciate whatever flavors I could. By the end, however, I was really not looking forward to trying the No. 5 any time soon.

Love Child No. 5 : This was a month or so after the No. 4, and it really didn't seem as overwhelming as I thought it was going to be. Again, I took my time with this one and in fact I even wrote a review for it, so I familiarized myself with it as much as possible, examining every detail that my novice palate could detect. There was something refreshing about it despite the sourness, although the sourness became overwhelming as the beer approached room temperature (gave me really bad heartburn). I decided that it is best to drink these sour ales at relatively cold temperatures since the acidity becomes overwhelming at warmer temperatures. Anyhow, I enjoyed it much more than I did the No. 4.

Love Child No. 6 : This was only a week after the No. 5; despite hearing that this was the sourest of the three, I actually found it to be the least sour (most likely due to a slightly more evolved palate). In fact, it was very refreshing and almost "juice-like" in a way. I really enjoyed the No. 6 and I would certainly like to go back and try it again (along with the No. 4 and No. 5, if I can find them), and I definitely plan on exploring some other sours in the future.

Conclusion: Sour beer is without a doubt an acquired taste. If someone has never experienced these sorts of flavors before, then it may "shock" their palate at first; but over time and with subsequent exposure, the palate will eventually adapt to these flavors and will more easily be able to appreciate and enjoy them without being overwhelmed. I'm sure if I went back and tried the No. 4, it wouldn't taste nearly as sour as what I remembered it being. It kind of reminds me of my very first scotch and whiskey tasting session, in which we tried about ten different kinds and then tried four of those a second time; those four that I tried for a second time tasted absolutely nothing like they did the first time. Similarly, sour beer is something that requires requires repeated exposure in order to form a valid opinion. It is something that I am still very new to and which I am still adapting to, but I'm really beginning to enjoy it and find it oddly refreshing in a way. Definitely unlike any other style of beer that I've had.

 

Lit sounds like the OP wants to enjoy sour beer but isn't quite there yet. Try drinking Flanders red or Oud Bruins for a while. I found after maxing out on hopper ales my palate "graduated" to beers with a sour quality. I like to think of a Flanders red as more of a sweet and sour beer than just being labeled as a "sour". I also find kriek to be the gateway for lambic and gueuze. After drinking these styles I find I crave bone dry super attenuated Belgian offerings. Should you find any Supplication in your travels it might change your mind. Not terribly hard to find and the wine making background that is displayed in their beers will definitely show you that these beers can be more than one note sour beers. But that bottle of intense red or another Belgian kriek that makes you feel a little guilty with the price and it might open a whole new world for you. Costly but a real revalation.

 

Never had one that I enjoyed enough to drink again.

 

Consider yourself lucky. You just saved hundreds of dollars. Although I quite like sours, I don't see why you would continue to throw away hard earned $$ on something you don't enjoy. You've given it a solid effort...move on to beer you actually like.

 

I keep trying sours wanting to like them but quite frankly at the price point and the flavor profile I would rather enjoy a nice bottle of wine.

 

When did sours start to become a "thing" in the us craft scene btw?
I always loved sour beers- though the first belgian one that really got me was Cantillon..... Now I'm always annoyed how rare and expensive they got.
I also like Berliner Weisse, Gose, Lichtenhainer as sour styles.
Never had an US sour Ale though