Looking to open up my world to more sours and fruited lambics.... with it being summer time the heavy stouts just aren't doing it for me right now. Looking for some help on good quality sours that aren't going to cost me a VR to trade for (looking for sours that have more availability). As an example zombie dust, pseudo sue, ng fruits here in WI are all easy for me to get and are rated pretty high and trade well. I know DeGarde and JK have great sours and fruited beers but aren't most of them brewery only releases and have high trade value? I also have heard about Upland and Crooked Stave. Any help on some very good sours that are reasonable to trade for would be much appreciated.
keep an eye out for the schell's fruited berliners (Black Forest cherry and Starkeller peach). They are distributed in wisconsin. Also look for cypress blanc. A hopped berliner that is complex and light.
oh, and check out what Belgian sours your local store has - if they have a decent stock you can get an intro to the classics without a single trade
It feels like everyone is making a Berliner or Gose (+/- fruit), so you have plenty of options there that will sit on shelves (Dogfish Head Festina Peche, Westbrook Gose, Victory Kirsch Gose, Sixpoint Jammer Gose, Boulevard Hibiscus Gose, most Destihl cans, just to name a few). For lambics and AWAs, any of the distributed/high-availability JK stuff should be easy enough to trade for (e.g. Provenance and Hibernal Dichotomous). The same goes for "shelf lambics" like Boon, Oud Beersel, and Hannsens. I'm not sure about how CS trades, but the fruited Petite Sours weren't hard to find when I was in CO and I enjoyed most of them.
I will be on the look out for Schell's... saw that Starkeller Peach was being offered for trade a lot lately. Thanks
It may not be your thing, but hey, when in Rome Also, have you had any of the Russian River sours? Those are worth seeking out. Based on your avatar if you have any spare 16 or 17, that happens pretty easily next time I am up in WI
I do have a couple bottles of each of the RR sours right now. Only tried Supplication so far. I do have a good amount of CW stuff too
Well have a go at the RR sours! I don't think you will have a more classic example of the west coast take on a barrel sour than supplication. The CW anniversary beers trade pretty darn well, but if I were you I would hang on to them until you decide the sorts of sours you really like and then go ISO of some of the bigger fish in the pond.
I agree on the CW. Supplication didn't blow me away. I thought Vintage 2014 was much better, lemony citrus and just the right level of tartness for me. That's partly why I think I'd enjoy more of the fruited sours.
Then potentially check out Cascade as well. Heard very good things. Stupidly expensive but apparently the shit. Almanac is also making good stuff in the fruit department.
Although I enjoy Almanac sours due to their price point and availability, they are more of a lacto bomb than what I prefer in my fruited sours(I really love JK fruited sours but they do trade high).
I have not seen anyone mention Rare Barrel. They are outstanding and I am willing to bet you could easily trade some NG stuff to someone in the Bay Area for Rare Barrel goodness.
You should trade for some Crooked Stave. It would be quite easy for someone to put together a box of a dozen different CS sours, and I think you'd be pretty impressed with just about everything they do. Off the top of my head, these are all currently available in the taproom and/or in stores. All of which are $7-10 each. Progenitor Progenitor Noir Sin Frontera Serenata Nocturna Flor d'Lees Petite Sour w/ Blueberries Petite Sour w/ Passionfruit Petite Sour w/ Cinnamon and Hibiscus Petite Sour w/ Tart Cherries Petite Sour w/ Boysenberries Grapefruit Radler Petite Sour Hop Savant w/ Galaxy Hop Savant w/ Citra Hop Savant w/ Amarillo
I believe you should have shelf access to New Holland stuff - if you see Blue Sunday Sour (or Incorrigible Berliner for that matter), give them a try. Under the radar, zero fanfare, and not super Rar, so there's little pub on them, but I pick some up when I visit the midwest.
The Upland "lambics" are very, very acidic. They didn't used to be this way but they've gradually had more acid from batch to batch. Wicked Weed has some nice fruited stuff. Goose Island's Halia, Lolita, Gillian, and Juliet would probably be up your alley. Cigar City has put out a few nice fruited berliners and other fruited wilds.
Rivertown in Cincinnati, OH puts out some great sours. They currently have a Berliner weiss (divergent) in six packs and are dialing in a Flanders red (soulless) in six packs as well. Both are year round and priced at $8.99 as well! Divergent is great, Soulless was good about six months ago when it first came out. Supposedly it's gotten noticeably better since then, as they dial in the process (they're in the process of opening a lab, it's currently partially up and running, so it's helping with that). They also do a couple large format bottle releases seasonally. They just released their Old Sour Cherry Porter. It's an imperial porter aged in bourbon barrels on sour cherries with lacto. They do a straight, unblended lambic that is phenomenal. It actually got a 94 rating in BA magazine. Ojos Negros is their lambic aged for an additional six months on blackberries. Then they also do a Gueze each year since 2011. I was at Upland's sour fest and heard many times that Rivertown was the sleeper there. Most people hasn't heard of them, but really loved their stuff. I feel like they are completely under rated.
