Sources of Sourness

I had a bomber of their doppelbock about 2 weeks ago and thought it was a bad bottle. Had a sour taste too. It was the first Hoffmann I had.

 

Americans are terrible lager brewers, it happens....

 

Normally thats from Brett, Lacto, Saccharomyces infection. Its a terrible bug to rid from barrels, kegs, brew kettles, or fermentation vessels.

I had the same thing happen at Carolina Brewery in Chapel Hill. I had a draft pint of their Santa's Secret, which tasted as sour as Petrus Pale. I told the head brewer that I loved it, but he said it wasnt normal and was infected. He was planning on telling them to dump it. sad day.

 

This is simply not true. Breweries like Great Lakes Brewing Company make some tremendous lagers.

 

there are a few of them that can but a vast majority just fail, it is a fact, no need to reply.

 

I will fervently second this. Dortmunder and Eliot Ness are amazing.

Just down the road, Thirsty Dog Labrador Lager rivals Dortmunder.

In NC, Red Oak makes all lagers and they arent bad.

 

It is not a fact. There are indeed American breweries making excellent lagers. As such, your broad generalization is just that, a generalization and not a fact...no need to reply.

 

Yet a vast majority fail.

 

Really? You have data to support that claim or just expressing personal opinion?

Edit: If you have data why don't you provide it? It would be interesting to know the percentage of American brewers who make poor lagers compared to the percentage of German brewers who make poor lagers. There are some poor ones brewed in Germany as well.

 

personal opinion, and lets talk about ratios, the ratio of american brewers that can brew lagers is minute compared to the ones that produce passible ales.

 

Sure it is. Ales are much easier and cheaper to brew so most of the american brewers got their start doing ales. But that’s not relevant to whether or not there are American brewers doing good lagers. Clearly if they've never even tried they can't be terrible at it.

 

i never said there weren't, I just said a majority fail at lager brewing. And certainly fail in comparison to certain other countries.

 

They haven't even tried. How can they fail if they haven't even tried?

 

im talking about the ones that have tried. Here, if you you lined up 20 random american lagers you would probably dislike at least half if not more of them. From microbreweries that dont have the patience or macro beers that are full of adjuncts.

 

Sounds like infection. I recently had an infected New Holland Rye Hatter. It didn't taste horrible, but it didn't taste like a Rye IPA.

 

I would do some research one American lagers. 20 random lagers is going to produce some off statistics. If you were to pull Great Lakes lagers, you would like them. Thirsty Dog does good as well.

How would you feel about American Wild Ales? I know Belgian breweries/gueuzeries make the best, but there are some world class Flanders and Lambics.

 

Great Lakes is good, haven't had Thirsty dog, but that is 2 of hundreds, the numbers just don't add up for good lager brewers. My point is in general America doesn't produce a great and expansive stable of lagers, it is blatantly obvious, now stop cherry picking 1 or 2 examples, because that is all there is.

I just can't compare a lager with a wild ale, there are so many different profiles for a sour beer, and honestly I think hype and price drives the flavor of a lot of wild ales. I will still say I think in general Belgian ones are still of a higher quality. But the way these beers are viewed is the total opposite of lagers.