Sours: Help for Noobs

you do realize with lambics your talking quite some time right? most are blended.

 

Maybe it's been awhile since I have had a Duchesse, but I don't remember that strong of a vinegar flavor, Duchesse is one of my favorites, but yeah I have tried Tilquin and...yuck. If you didn't like the Duchesse, which I consider a milder, sweeter and balanced sour, then I don't know if there is much hope for you getting into sours, as most of the popular ones I have tried are very sour and light on the sweetness.

 

Some folks say that. I tastes like red wine to me. with malt. We were once in Houston, Tx. The Bud guys were there (sales meeting I think), and they just starting carrying Duchesse in the Gingerman pub. this group was trying it for the first time. all drank out of the bottle for some reason. and every 1 hated it. WE got to drink the left overs....was funny to see their faces.

 

Maybe go for a fruity Cantillon first. Their Kriek and Framboise (Rosé de Gambrinus) are pretty widely available at decent prices (5 euro at the brewery, 12 is the most expensive I've ever seen in Western Europe) if you're ever in Europe or have a friend who might be willing to lug a bottle back for you. I've had pretty good success converting non-craft people to sours with both of these (especially when subbed for Champagne in a French 75). For American stuff, Lolita is close enough to give you a good idea.

 

I'm a big proponent of the "sink or swim" approach with sour tasting beers. Of course, I'm biased because the first time I ever had a sour beer was on my visit to Cantillon. It was unlike anything I'd ever had, but I loved it at first blush.

That said, I have a good friend who loves beer and couldn't stand sour beers for the longest time, and I think part of his reticence was due to the fact that his first foray into sours was Boulevard's Love Child No. 2, which was quite sour. He's recently gotten more and more into them as he's tried some that aren't quite so enamel-peeling.

So maybe the answer is that both approaches are important. Maybe try the deep end approach, and if that doesn't do it for you, maybe head back to "shallower" waters and try again. Or vice versa--shallows first, then deep end. The key is to never stop trying styles--not because it's imperative that you *have* to like all styles, but because you will never know how your palate and taste buds change unless you keep testing them. Case in point: I used to be really turned off by barleywines, and in the last 6-9 months, I've found a new love for them. All because I never completely close my mind off to a given style.

 

no that's still pretty f'ed up of you

 

I think it depends on the person, I always disliked salty and sour, but loved sweet. To me it explains why I like malt forward beer more, and why It took me 3 in a row of olde gueuze to understand it (at 1 sitting), and many years of drinking it to enjoy it. I still do not truly Love it. Still if I pair it with apples and cheese etc, it works great.

Even today, on hoppy, I have a limit, where once I get there, wow then its bitter overload.

 

No fear, never give up, never surrender! I like it - if there was an "uber-like" button, I'd push it.

 

I have been nursing a casual interest in sours for about a year and a half. I started with La Folie which I drank like 4 times over the course of 2013 being available. Also had some Petrus Aged Pale. In all these cases I can only be honest and say that while they were interesting I didn't really enjoy them: I found the sourness overpowering and unpleasant.

After drinking La Folie maybe three times I tried Duchesse and was blown away. For me it has been a true gateway sour, very glad a bottle shop employee recommended it to to me because if I thought all sours were on the pucker level of La Folie I would likely have started avoiding.

 

Im surprised that you like something like Sour in the Rye but Duchesse and Tilquin were offensive. SitR isnt very drinkable for me beyond a small pour because of how sour it is. Seems more like a novelty than a beer.

Tilquin has a great balance of funk and sour - an inbetween for Cantillon and 3F.

 

Cantillon Fou Foune changed my life!! I never thought I would like sour/fruit beer and now its the only style I want!

 

Sour beer is typically not as popular as other styles, either because it tends to be an acquired taste or simply because people don’t know about it (a common phrase I hear a lot “that’s beer?”). Either way, this style of beer does not often reach the typical beer drinker; but that all might be changing. A few popular breweries in California are out to change the way we see, think and of course, taste sour beer.

In 2013 Firestone Walker started a sour project called BarrelWorks. It would be a completely separate facility located in Buellton California and would devote itself fully to the production of beers laden with Lactobacillus and Brettanomyces. Fast forward to June of this year, a few hours south of Bulletin, in the city of Tustin, The Bruery would announce their new sour project Terruex. Terruex, again a completely separate facility, would focus on farmhouse ales made with wild yeast strains, as well as oak aged sours. Following the trend a few months later, Modern Times Brewing would announce the release of their first soured creations; a collection of fruit sours, Old Bruins and Flanders style sours. Then, and at this point unsurprisingly (but still very exciting!), Beachwood brewing in Long Beach announced their large custom built, 1000 barrel capacity, aging room; they plan on releasing their first offerings mid 2015.

It’s clear to see that sour beer is beginning to step into the well-deserved spotlight. It will be interesting to see how this style grows in popularity and how it will affect the industry of craft beer in the future. I would love to hear feedback on this topic. Do you think that sour beer will become a staple style of any “good” brewery? Is this style deserving of all the attention? Do like that sole attention, space, money, effort, etc. is being spent on this style? What is your favorite sour beer?

 

this reads like the foreword to a book

 

I have plenty of respect and appreciation for sours.

But I don't see them catching on like American IPAs. They're just not as approachable as the super-tropical fruity American IPAs that hooked so many in the craft beer world. I just think sour is more acquired taste than tropical/fruity etc.

On the other hand, I could see sours becoming more common as an expected style for a typical brewery's lineup. but it would not be a big seller. Just my .02

 

I think that if they could become reasonably priced they would become very popular, but due to most of the processes its not really in the cards. Fast sours like berliner and gose will be very popular though!

 

Anchorage started out as a project with bretted and sour beers only. However they do make a hand full of non-sours.

I believe crooked stave and rare barrel started out as sour only as well.

all 3 breweries are doing great!

its not just begining, it has reached a huge popularity already.

 

I think sours are already a teensy bit more popular than the OP implies

 

popular, but not mainstream.

 

Price will always limit the popularity of most sours.