favorite sour comercial beers?

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We have two small breweries herein NC that make some solid sour beers(Catawba Valley and Outer Banks Brewing Station), and but +1 on Cascade, NB La Folie, and Russian River. I have a friend that regularly travels to Portland and Seattle who brings me back a case from Russian River every few months. Goose Island produces some not too bad sours en masse. I agree about Jolly Pumpkin. The Bam beers are terrible.

I forgot about Goose Island! Sophie is really a great beer.

Yet, I find it odd that you think Goose Island makes decent sours but you think JP makes terrible sours. Very interesting how different palates can be!
 
JordanThomas said:
I forgot about Goose Island! Sophie is really a great beer.

Yet, I find it odd that you think Goose Island makes decent sours but you think JP makes terrible sours. Very interesting how different palates can be!

Would you really consider Sophie sou? Granted I've only had it once but I remember it being more or a strong Belgian style golden ale
 
JordanThomas said:
I think it is a sour. It is a brett beer IIRC. Wild yeast for sure.

I know it has some Brett in it but I never got any sourness. It is aged in wine barrels which you can kind of pick up on. I know Juliet and Lolita are two sours they make.
 
Gueuze Tilquin is another one I had for the first time recently. It was up there with my favorites. The oak character in it was amazing
 
I just picked up a bottle of Oud Tart from The Bruery and a bottle of Straffe Hendrix Heritage 2011. I shall report on how good they are.
 
BLASPHEMY! I love Bam Noire. I mean its not much in the sour category but the Brett in it is awesome. You get that leathery funk that I don't see in a lot of funky beers.

I will trust your (and others) judgment and will try it again.

Honestly – the one I tried tasted like one part aspirin, one part chalk, and one part dirt all stirred up in a very unimpressive ale.

I have six “wild-brews” in secondary, and I will continue to experiment.

Thank you for your input!
 
SO EXCITED about this weekend. A local bar is having what they call "St. Sours Day". Take a look at the line up.

Saint Sour's Sunday
Sour & Funky Draft options:

1) Trois Dames Sainte Ni Touche
2) Trois Dames Grande Dame Oud Bruin
3) Haandbryggeriet Krekling
4) BFM / Terrapin Spike & Jerome's Cuvée Delirante
5) St. Somewhere Pays du Soleil
6) BFM Tarry Suchong
7) St. Somewhere Saison Caroline
8) St. Somewhere/Funky Buddha Ale-du Citron Partie
9) Freigeist Abraxxxas
10) Tilquin Gueuze
11) Cantillon Classic Gueuze
12) Jolly Pumpkin Sobrehumano Palena’Ole
13) Jolly Pumpkin Madrugada Obscura
14) Jolly Pumpkin Oro de Calabaza
15) Jolly Pumpkin Luciernaga
16) Avery Fifteen
17) Rodenbach Grand Cru
18) Ommegang Grand Cru Rouge 2008
19) Bockor Cuvée des Jacobins Rouge
20) Petrus Aged Pale 30th Anniversary
21) Alvinne Cuvée Freddy
22) Alvinne Undressed (with grapes aged on oak wine barrels)
23) Alvinne Kerasus Bourgogne
24) BFM Abbaye de Saint Bon-Chien 2009
25) BFM Abbaye de Saint Bon-Chien 2010
26) BFM Abbaye de Saint Bon-Chien 2011
27) BFM La Douze 2009 (Cask)
28) AtG/LBS Bourbon Barrel Lambic with Black Currants, Raisins and Anise
29) AtG/LBS Bourbon Barrel Lambic with Acai Berries
30) AtG/LBS Bourbon Barrel Lambic with Ginger and Honey
31) Prof. Fritz Briem 1809 Berliner Weisse - Zymatore series aged in Pinot Noir and Gin Barrels (Wooden Cask)
32) Loverbeer Madamin
33) Birrificio del Ducato My Blueberry Nightmare
34) De Molen Lief & Leed on Cherries
35) De Molen Hout & Hop in Barolo Barrels
36) Goose Island Dominique
37) Loverbeer D'uvaBeer
38) Alvinne Undressed
39) Alvinne Kerasus
40) New Holland Blue Sunday Sour

BOTTLES

• Fantome Extra Sour
• Upland Gilgamesh
• Goose Island Lolita
• 3 Fonteinen Schaerbeekse Kriek
• 3 Fonteinen Oude Gueuze Golden Blend
• Haandbryggeriet Haandbakk
• Anchorage Bitter Monk
• Jester King Boxer's Revenge
• Panil Barriquee Sour Red Ale
• Jolly Pumpkin Calabaza Blanca
• Mikkeller Spontankoppi
• Mikkeller Spontanwildstrawberry
• Mikkeller Spontankriek
• Cuvée De Ranke
 
The best sours are usually limited releases from a local brewery. I'm blessed to be in SD county and The Lost Abbey has EXCELLENT sours like Red Poppy and Cuvee de Tomme.
 
SO EXCITED about this weekend. A local bar is having what they call "St. Sours Day". Take a look at the line up.

Saint Sour's Sunday
Sour & Funky Draft options:

1) Trois Dames Sainte Ni Touche
2) Trois Dames Grande Dame Oud Bruin
3) Haandbryggeriet Krekling
4) BFM / Terrapin Spike & Jerome's Cuvée Delirante
5) St. Somewhere Pays du Soleil
6) BFM Tarry Suchong
7) St. Somewhere Saison Caroline
8) St. Somewhere/Funky Buddha Ale-du Citron Partie
9) Freigeist Abraxxxas
10) Tilquin Gueuze
11) Cantillon Classic Gueuze
12) Jolly Pumpkin Sobrehumano Palena’Ole
13) Jolly Pumpkin Madrugada Obscura
14) Jolly Pumpkin Oro de Calabaza
15) Jolly Pumpkin Luciernaga
16) Avery Fifteen
17) Rodenbach Grand Cru
18) Ommegang Grand Cru Rouge 2008
19) Bockor Cuvée des Jacobins Rouge
20) Petrus Aged Pale 30th Anniversary
21) Alvinne Cuvée Freddy
22) Alvinne Undressed (with grapes aged on oak wine barrels)
23) Alvinne Kerasus Bourgogne
24) BFM Abbaye de Saint Bon-Chien 2009
25) BFM Abbaye de Saint Bon-Chien 2010
26) BFM Abbaye de Saint Bon-Chien 2011
27) BFM La Douze 2009 (Cask)
28) AtG/LBS Bourbon Barrel Lambic with Black Currants, Raisins and Anise
29) AtG/LBS Bourbon Barrel Lambic with Acai Berries
30) AtG/LBS Bourbon Barrel Lambic with Ginger and Honey
31) Prof. Fritz Briem 1809 Berliner Weisse - Zymatore series aged in Pinot Noir and Gin Barrels (Wooden Cask)
32) Loverbeer Madamin
33) Birrificio del Ducato My Blueberry Nightmare
34) De Molen Lief & Leed on Cherries
35) De Molen Hout & Hop in Barolo Barrels
36) Goose Island Dominique
37) Loverbeer D'uvaBeer
38) Alvinne Undressed
39) Alvinne Kerasus
40) New Holland Blue Sunday Sour

BOTTLES

• Fantome Extra Sour
• Upland Gilgamesh
• Goose Island Lolita
• 3 Fonteinen Schaerbeekse Kriek
• 3 Fonteinen Oude Gueuze Golden Blend
• Haandbryggeriet Haandbakk
• Anchorage Bitter Monk
• Jester King Boxer's Revenge
• Panil Barriquee Sour Red Ale
• Jolly Pumpkin Calabaza Blanca
• Mikkeller Spontankoppi
• Mikkeller Spontanwildstrawberry
• Mikkeller Spontankriek
• Cuvée De Ranke

Excuse the juvenile response, but....BOING!
 
I will be up at St Sours for a little bit. It will be my Christmas present to myself. If you are able to try gilgamesh. One of the best sours I've had. The oak and bourbon are very present which works amazingly well in that style. Hopefully they will have flights tomorrow, I want to try them all.
 
Agreed.

Pretty much any sour from Jester King.

Boxer's Revenge is bad ass. I had Das Wunderkind back in September at the brewery and it was ok. Average to good IMO. The sourness was strongly lactic but there wasn't any funk to go along with it. Also had the berliner weisse which was fine, it's not a style I'm all that excited about.

I could take or leave most of their beers. Next to Boxer's Revenge my favorite is Le Petit Prince. The yeast character is great. The others are a little more hoppy than my preference in a saison (although well within the style) and I can't really get on board with those Mikkeller collabs. I like Noble King well enough but I had it on cask once and really loved it. That's the best part of their tours, you get lots of beer and they do a good job of mixing it up and putting out some special offerings.
 
I might be wrong, but I think the reason Das Wunderkind isn't as funky as some of the other ones is because it is a blend of young, fresh Saison with older, barrel aged sour Saison. What it does have going for it is that wonderful hop aroma! I'm hoping the bottles I have will get nice and funky with some time. Also considering culturing some yeast from it, since it's such a low gravity beer.

They do make some hoppier Saisons, but I think that is just them knowing the market. I LOVE that they don't make an IPA, but instead some hop forward character-filled beers.

Oh, and just wait for that sour red to come out...that thing is mind-blowing! Not to mention the Funk Metal sour imperial stout and Das Uberkind, what I presume to be the old sour Saison used for blending the Wunderkind.
 
I might be wrong, but I think the reason Das Wunderkind isn't as funky as some of the other ones is because it is a blend of young, fresh Saison with older, barrel aged sour Saison. What it does have going for it is that wonderful hop aroma! I'm hoping the bottles I have will get nice and funky with some time. Also considering culturing some yeast from it, since it's such a low gravity beer.

IMO they could have just added lactic acid to fresh Noble King and passed it off as the same beer. I'm not saying it was bad, I just think it was underwhelming for all the hype that always associates with JK beers. I've sour mashed saisons and it tastes pretty much the same. I'm not really a fan of my own, either. I think you need more of the funk to make the acidity work with the saison.

Oh, the regular saison strain they use is 3711 if you just wanted to buy it. If you are trying to get their brett and lacto strains, I'd actually suggest trying for Boxer's Revenge to culture. It's high ABV but the strains can obviously handle it. I'm not sure if there is brett in Das Wunderkind but there certainly is both in Boxer's Revenge.

They do make some hoppier Saisons, but I think that is just them knowing the market. I LOVE that they don't make an IPA, but instead some hop forward character-filled beers.
Wytchmaker is an IPA. I know there's a strong demand for hoppy beers and I'm outside the majority with my cursory enjoyment of hoppy beers so I don't hate on them for brewing what they want or what their audience wants, they just tend not to be my favorites.

Oh, and just wait for that sour red to come out...that thing is mind-blowing! Not to mention the Funk Metal sour imperial stout and Das Uberkind, what I presume to be the old sour Saison used for blending the Wunderkind.
I wouldn't mind trying some of them but they will probably be difficult to find in the DFW area as usual. It took a while before we even got Boxer's Revenge on the shelves and that took Specs coming into Dallas. Although, again, the hype is loud on these beers so it's hard to meet those expectations. I tried the two coffee chile beers and was very whatever about them. I have definitely had better.
 
To each his own! I would urge you to try Wunderkind again if you have the chance.

The strain they use is not 3711, Jeff has said they use a strain from BSI isolated from a French Saison producer. He has suggested 3711 is the closest you will get though. I've talked to Ron about culturing these yeasts, and he suggests not using Boxer's if you are trying to get the sach out of it. Wunderkind does contain all of their wild yeast & bacteria, says so on the bottle.

As for Wytchmaker, you got me there! They haven't been making it recently though, you won't find it on the shelves unless it's an old bottle. There are beers they have made that have let me down, but all in all everything I've had has been outstanding....in my opinion of course!
 
The strain they use is not 3711, Jeff has said they use a strain from BSI isolated from a French Saison producer. He has suggested 3711 is the closest you will get though. I've talked to Ron about culturing these yeasts, and he suggests not using Boxer's if you are trying to get the sach out of it. Wunderkind does contain all of their wild yeast & bacteria, says so on the bottle.

I've heard from other people who have also talked to him say the strain is from Thiriez, which is the same place 3711 originates. Obviously they are not buying from Wyeast but other breweries sourcing a strain from Thiriez through BSI tell me it's the same strain as 3711. It's certainly possible JK is getting a different strain originating from Thiriez but I don't know enough about BSI's catalog to know if they sell multiple strains from Thiriez.

If you wanted to bottle harvest their sacc strain, Le Petit Prince is probably the best opportunity since it's under 3% ABV.
 
Great information. The idea with culturing Das Wunderkind would be to get the Saison strain, wild yeast and bacteria at once.
 
staytuned said:
I might be wrong, but I think the reason Das Wunderkind isn't as funky as some of the other ones is because it is a blend of young, fresh Saison with older, barrel aged sour Saison. What it does have going for it is that wonderful hop aroma! I'm hoping the bottles I have will get nice and funky with some time. Also considering culturing some yeast from it, since it's such a low gravity beer.

They do make some hoppier Saisons, but I think that is just them knowing the market. I LOVE that they don't make an IPA, but instead some hop forward character-filled beers.

Oh, and just wait for that sour red to come out...that thing is mind-blowing! Not to mention the Funk Metal sour imperial stout and Das Uberkind, what I presume to be the old sour Saison used for blending the Wunderkind.


Das Uberkind and RU-55 (Flanders Red) are my current favorites. I'm also loving the Buda's Brew and Bonnie for their sessionable qualities yet such amazing character.

I also agree with you on the Das Wunderkind. The hop aroma is fantastic.

I wish they would also bring back their sour commercial suicide. That was fantastic.
 
I got a chance to try Crooked Stave's Persica while at a dinner that Chad Yakobson spoke at and it has to be one of the best sours I've had yet. The peach flavor was amazing. Oculus was amazing too, it convinced me to plant some grape vines solely for adding to beers.
 
Giardin geuze 1882 would be my go to experience no.1... I love this beer. Boon also does some great ones. Was never that fond of the Cantillions, its just too much i think. But then again,'round here they're normally 2003-2008, it might not be the Cantillions but more the fact that my palette don't like them that sour.
 
Petrus oud bruin. About 4.5% IIRC, but oh my goodness! I usually like the bigger beers 'cause I like a slight hot alcohol burn mixed in. I only had it because of a mistake by a waitress. I asked for Petrus aged pale but she brought me the oud bruin. I'm not complaining! *smiles and wishes he could buy a case of it but has student loans to pay*
 
Petrus oud bruin. About 4.5% IIRC, but oh my goodness! I usually like the bigger beers 'cause I like a slight hot alcohol burn mixed in. I only had it because of a mistake by a waitress. I asked for Petrus aged pale but she brought me the oud bruin. I'm not complaining! *smiles and wishes he could buy a case of it but has student loans to pay*

The aged pale is an oud bruin (or at least based on one). I was surprised that the aged pale was sour when i first had it.

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