And Then Things Went Sour ...

[PappyVanWise]

I've been quiet on the VBT front for a bit, and that's mainly been due to my current bourbon intake.  When I have picked up a beer, it is more often than not a sour.  All of the boozy, barrel-aged Imperial Stouts are gaining some age on my cellar shelf, and my thoughts have turned to the lower alcohol, tart goodness of sours.  I'll plead ignorance on the whole sour ale genre, but I've been drinking my way through some good ones and I thought it might be better to just have a big group sour discussion. Definitely open for some new recommendations.

Avery Brewing Rufus Corvus - I think I prefer the tartness of cherries to give that final sour kick to a beer, and Rufus Corvus has this one pretty much perfected.  The thing I've begun to notice is that these sours, or wild ales, tend to take on the characteristics of the barrels a lot more than other aged beers.  This one was aged in a mix of wine barrels and I think I'm going to sit on my other bottle for a year or so, to see if the flavors mingle a little more.  There's also a lot of acid going on here, if you're sensitive to that kind of thing.

Strangeways Brewing O.T.I.S (Oh, This Is Sour?) - This is a local RVA brewery, and it's a cucumber/melon sour ale.  The description might frighten people off, but the flavors did work really well together.  The cucumber is really just a garnish for a pretty light citrus/melon sour ale.  The only real drawback is that it's only bottled in bombers with a $15+ price tag to match.  Would be interesting to bring to a bottle share, but hard to drink the whole bottle in one sitting.   

Brouwerij Verhaeghe Duchesse De Bourgogne - While out at a Belgian restaurant here in RVA, Max's on Broad, I asked the server for their sourest sour and this is what he served.  Like I said, I'm kind of new to getting into sours, but I did recognize this one as a mainstay at Belgian places. I probably first tried it when Beck was in its infancy.  Really great cherry red sour, and actually went pretty well with the food (from what I can remember).  This is probably the bottle I'd crack open for wine friends who were interested in what a Belgian Sour tastes like.

I also tried some Adroit Theory offerings at a tap takeover they were having at Brew, a beer-focused gastropub down here.  I think the sour I had was a barrel-aged GIAA (God is an American).  I really enjoyed all of their offerings in their flight, and if I still lived in Nova, joining the Adroit Theory beer club would be a no brainer.  I'm hoping they increase their presence in Richmond, since they're doing some good things.

I have some California sours that I received in trades, from Almanac, Lost Abbey, and Russian River that I'm looking forward to getting into this summer.

Please share some of your favorite sours or breweries that just don't get it right.

-Eric

[Rhone1998]

Lately I have been enjoying a Belgian sour from Silly brewery. I'm no good describing beer, but one of the things I like about this one is it's a traditional sour blended with about 10% of one of their more malty beers, which nicely tempers the acidity of the traditional style. I don't know how widely distributed it is, but for those of you in DC I've seen it at Da Vinos and Batch 13.

[pras]

At Savor, my favorite beer of the night was by and far Allagash Coolship Red, a raspberry lambic.  Too bad they don't ship it.  I told the lady pouring that I was going to stand there all night.  She wasn't very amused.

For the money, and it is different than a lambic, I like Petrus Aged Pale Ale, nice tartness, readily available, and reasonably price.

[PappyVanWise]

if you ever thought you liked sour beer before, stop what you're doing and try to acquire this gem.  I heard some good things about what Almanac Beer Co does, so I asked the state of California to send me some.  I'm drinking the Dogpatch sour now, which is brewed with Rainier cherries and aged in wine barrels.  It's spectacular.

[SeanMike]

Brouwerij Verhaeghe Duchesse De Bourgogne - While out at a Belgian restaurant here in RVA, Max's on Broad, I asked the server for their sourest sour and this is what he served.  Like I said, I'm kind of new to getting into sours, but I did recognize this one as a mainstay at Belgian places. I probably first tried it when Beck was in its infancy.  Really great cherry red sour, and actually went pretty well with the food (from what I can remember).  This is probably the bottle I'd crack open for wine friends who were interested in what a Belgian Sour tastes like.

A friend of mine's wife referred to that beer as "the hussy". If he got it out she'd say "Oh, you're going to spend some time with the hussy, aren't you?"

I'm a huge fan also of the Rodenbach Grand Cru.

[treznor]

My favorite sour of the last 6 months or so has been Cuvee des Jacobins Rouge. A great little Flanders Red that just about perfects the style.

Other sours that I've had lately and particularly enjoyed:

- Rufus Corvus - agreed on this one being pretty awesome (happen to be wearing an Avery shirt at the moment, what a coincidence!). Bought this without trying it a couple weeks ago and had it a week later at a sour festival and was very happy that I liked it as the bottles have a pretty decent price tag.

- Anything by Wicked Weed - I happen to live about an hour from the brewery now, which makes this easier to procure. Some really great stuff.

- Goses. The two I've had lately and really liked were Westbrook Gose and Anderson Valley The Kimmie, the Yink, and the Holy Gose.

- Bruery Tart of Darkness - okay, I don't even know if this is still around, but it's pretty awesome.

- Bruery Reuze. Also pretty awesome.

- Goose Island Sisters, particularly Halia and Gillian. Unfortunately these aren't cheap at all.

- New Belgium La Folie. Really opened my eyes to Oud Bruins.

- Geuze Girardin. Wonderful Geuze that a friend of mine had me try and I turned around and picked up some of my own.

- Almanac - Dogpatch Sour in particular. Some great stuff!

- New Glarus - This one is almost impossible to find without a friend in Wisconsin since they don't distribute outside of Wisconsin (luckily I have a friend in Wisconsin!). There sours are awesome and not particularly expensive.

[PappyVanWise]

Glad to hear that about Wicked Weed.  Just picked up two bottles of Serenity from Bottle Revolution in Raleigh this past weekend.  That place was pretty nice, great selection of Evil Twin, as well as AleSmith and all the local NC stuff.

100% agree on The Kimmie, The Yink, and the Holy Gose.  I think our local distributors were all out before my bottle shop opened, otherwise I would've sold out of every can during our soft opening.  Heading to Myrtle Beach in August, and planning on loading up the family truckster with some Westbrook offerings.  I don't really know how to classify the Goses though, would you lump them in with the sours for now?

[treznor]

In general I'd include Gose with 'sours'. 'Sour' is a very wide range, especially if you include, as many do, brett-only fermented beers (i.e. no lacto, no pedo). But yeah, the primary characteristic of a Gose is its lactic acid (along with the salt or salt water that its brewed with), so I'd include it with the sours.

Got lucky in an in-person trade a couple weeks ago with a guy from Charleston in that we were trading just a week or so after Mexican Cake came out, so I ended up with a couple bottles of Mexican Cake, couple bottles of Coast Boy King, and a six pack of Westbrook Gose. Was pretty happy about that overall

[TedE]

Heading to Myrtle Beach in August, and planning on loading up the family truckster with some Westbrook offerings.  I don't really know how to classify the Goses though, would you lump them in with the sours for now?

We were in Charleston over the winter and dropped by Westbrook for a tasting.  By far the best offering they had was the Gose (everything else was good-not-great, the rye was probably the best of the rest).  At the time they had Gozu on tap at the brewery and seen at many places around town.  It was their Gose finished with yuzu, and it was spectacular.  Seriously, if they still have it make sure to seek it out.  It's odd that this was brewed and distributed in January because it is a quintessential summer beer.

And if anybody lives in DC with an interest in sour beers and has not been to Right Proper, shame on you ...

[pras]

Why are wilds classified in the same category as sours.  I am talking brett beers which aren't really sour at all.  Brett character is certainly not sour.  Any thoughts?

[TedE]

Why are wilds classified in the same category as sours.  I am talking brett beers which aren't really sour at all.  Brett character is certainly not sour.  Any thoughts?

Probably because there tends to be a lot of overlap in the flavor profiles, especially as brewers get more into style hybrids that blur the lines.  Something with a pure brett character is pretty different than a true lambic, but they tend to be assigned similar descriptors as a group along a continuum: earthy, funky, tart, astringent.  To the average drinker I don't think "sour" is a bad catch-all as a jumping off point.  Most people would respond with blank stare to gose, geuze, lambic, or (especially) brettanomyces

[PappyVanWise]

Yeah, that's about what I was thinking.  At my store we put the wilds and sours in the same section and use the two terms interchangeably.  I think basically wild yeast = sours at this point. Last night I cracked open a Urban Funk from Two Roads Brewing out of Connecticut, and it lived up to its name.  Real sour and the nose was super funky.  Really delicious, though.  Makes me look forward to this style really taking off in the states and becoming more readily available.  That combined with all the koelschips being introduced by American brewers is definitely good news.

[pras]

Don't get me wrong, the Wild/sour category is certainly my top choice right now.  I really enjoy sours (lambic, stuff that sits in wine barrels), and I really dig stuff with brett, but I think wilds really should be a separate category.  The funk from a true brett beer is in my opinion totally different than a sour.

[JPW]

Had the Sideshow (Dry-hopped Sour Blond) at Blue Jacket the other day. That is one damn delicious sour.

[southdenverhoo]

I think some brett stains can at least get "tart" but I don't disagree with pras's point. (Edit to add: I guess TedE already said this, clearer than i...)

Do you folks get entries from Crooked Stave from Denver CO in your market?  If so I would recommend their "L'Brett d'Or"  (excuse the ignorant-of-french-grammar name) which, though it mentions brett in its name, has all sorts of pedio and lacto and other wild things that impart the sort of sourness I think you guys are talking about.

[DonRocks]

I think some brett stains can at least get "tart" 

Tart, I'm not so sure about; tar, yes - particularly pine tar.

Have you ever seen somebody pissed? I mean, really, *really* pissed? I mean, so pissed that it's a miracle they didn't burst a blood vessel?

Well ... if you don't have time for the entire glorious video, skip to 1:15.

[pras]

The Bruery Flimishmish--Had the opportunity to have a glass of this yesterday.  Barrel aged belgian sour, fermented on apricots.  This was another revelatory beer for me.  Too bad there is about zero chance I will get to enjoy this again.  The aroma of California style dried apricots comes across in the nose along with a good dose of funk.  When you take the first sip, the acidity of the beer brings the apricots to the forefront.  This fruit does not overpower the beer however.  The acidity and the fruit really play off of each other.  To top it off, the oak comes through as well, adding in another layer of complexity.  My friend was able to get a bottle of this because he is party of the Bruery's reserve club (he goes through a real mess to get the beers--has them shipped to his sister in San Diego, who in turn ships them here).  The effort to get the beer is well worth the result. 

[pras]

So I was staying in Long Island this past weekend for a wedding and lo and behold my wife and daughter fell asleep early on Saturday, so I ventured out to see if I could find some Captain Lawrence sours.  I stumbled into a store in West Hempstead with had a very nice selection, but no Captain Lawrence.  I did however find a real gem--Anchorage Brewing White IPA spiked with Brett.  The bonus was that this bottle was from 2012.  They had 4 (I should have bought all of them).  The guy asked me about it and I explained that it would probably be very funky as it has been sitting for 2 years.  I got it back to the hotel, chilled it on ice for a little, took the cage off and the cork popped out with a large bang.  This thing was so funky it would make George Clinton blush.  Very high carbonation, with a strong brett aroma.  This brett predominated the taste as well with some hop bitterness (although not much as would be expected given the age), and also some spiciness (I am guessing from the coriander).  Next time I go back, I need to hit this store up and see what other gems are lurking.

[SeanMike]

At Sam's in Durham, I picked up a bottle of the 2011 Oak Aged Rodenbach. Boy howdy am I excited to try this, but I have to coordinate with one of my sour-drinking besties before I can. :-)

[DonRocks]

At Sam's in Durham, I picked up a bottle of the 2011 Oak Aged Rodenbach. Boy howdy am I excited to try this, but I have to coordinate with one of my sour-drinking besties before I can. :-)

That would be me.

[pras]

That would be me.

I would be down as well and can dig something out to share.

[SeanMike]

If that many folks want to try it, I have a friend coming up from Durham in two weeks, so I'll ask him if he can bring some more bottles of it. This one is for me and Sergi.

[ad.mich]

- Goses. The two I've had lately and really liked were Westbrook Gose and Anderson Valley The Kimmie, the Yink, and the Holy Gose.

That Anderson Valley comes in a 6 pack (cans!) for around $9-10, and is great as a change of pace.  Personally I really don't need more than 12 ounces of sour beer in any one sitting.

[treznor]

That Anderson Valley comes in a 6 pack (cans!) for around $9-10, and is great as a change of pace.  Personally I really don't need more than 12 ounces of sour beer in any one sitting.

Agreed. Also, I've had it on draft now a couple times. The cans are actually quite a bit better oddly enough.

[pras]

Agreed. Also, I've had it on draft now a couple times. The cans are actually quite a bit better oddly enough.

 Interesting.  I had it on tap, and the guy I was with, had it in a can as well and thought the tap was more sour.  I am always for more sour.  Bring it on!