I'm looking for a good sour...

About a month ago I had an amazing sour from Odell in Colorado. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but am new to sours. I'm looking for recommendations on mild sours to get me started. What would you suggest as a mild sour for someone just getting into the style?

Monks flemish ale or duchese de bourg... they are back sweetened. You should also look for a hansaans, cantillion, or drie fountain anything. They are not back sweeting a represent a true lambic or gueze. Do not get sucked in with the super fruity lindermens. Even though I like them, they are not sour beers in my opinion.
For american made sour, Russian River and Jolly Pumpkin do an amazing job.

For American sours, New Belgium La Folie is a favorite of mine and around here is a bit more affordable that the Jolly Pumpkin stuff or the belgians (which are great, when I can afford it).

milldoggy said:

Monks flemish ale or duchese de bourg... they are back sweetened. You should also look for a hansaans, cantillion, or drie fountain anything. They are not back sweeting a represent a true lambic or gueze. Do not get sucked in with the super fruity lindermens. Even though I like them, they are not sour beers in my opinion.
For american made sour, Russian River and Jolly Pumpkin do an amazing job.

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Big_Belgian said:

For American sours, New Belgium La Folie is a favorite of mine and around here is a bit more affordable that the Jolly Pumpkin stuff or the belgians (which are great, when I can afford it).

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Those are all great sours, but a lot of them are pretty intensely sour...not quite what I'd call "mild sour" as the OP requested. I opened a bottle of New Belgium Clutch last night and I'd say it's very much on the mild side when it comes to sourness.

Jolly Pumpkin. I believe they use the same barrels for all their beers, but contact and storage time vary. La Roja is probably one they keep in the barrels and condition longest, so will be the sourest, while others are on the shelves within a couple of months of brewing. Do some research on them, and buy bottles with the most recent bottling date (little sticker on the back of the bottle). The older the bottle, the more complex (and sour) the beer.

If you have any gallon jugs (can get them from LHBS, or when buying cheap wine of apple juice), put a gallon of your latest beer in it and pour in the dregs from a bottle of sour, add an airlock and leave for 6 to 12 months. They say you need to leave sours 12 to 18 months to really get the flavors, but I've found the JP bugs work pretty quickly, and have had noticeable sourness at 4 months.

If you can, pick up a bottle of Rodenbach Grand Cru. It is surprisingly affordable at about $10 a 750mL, and is delicious.

Rodenbach is the gold standard for flemish reds, maybe not what I'd call "mild" though. Not really aggressive either, but certainly has a good amount of sourness.
When I think of a mild sour I think of Petrus Oud Bruin.. mild and kinda boring compared to Rodenbach - but not a terrible place to start if you want to ease into it.

milldoggy said:

Monks flemish ale or duchese de bourg... they are back sweetened.

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Duchess isn't back sweetened that I know of. In Wild Brews, Sparrow says the sweetness comes from blending in the sweeter young beer with the older beer.

bruin_ale said:

Duchess isn't back sweetened that I know of. In Wild Brews, Sparrow says the sweetness comes from blending in the sweeter young beer with the older beer.

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You know, I think you are right. It might just be a blend. Either way, it is has a great Sweet and Sour blend. Funny thing is I had it on draft in Paris and it was not as sweet.

It's wrapped in paper, so you know it's good.

If you can find Sam Adams Stonybrook Red, it's a really good, well-priced and balanced Flanders Red. I'm not sure they're making it anymore, though.

I tried the blue Leifman's at a Binny's once. It was a little too sweet, IMO. Definitely sour, but a little too balanced, if that makes any iota of sense.

urbanmyth said:

I tried the blue Leifman's at a Binny's once. It was a little too sweet, IMO. Definitely sour, but a little too balanced, if that makes any iota of sense.

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From what I understand, that Blue Leifmans(Goudebond) needs to be aged at home. I got one 4 months ago and letting it go till next fall. I read they have to bottle it to fast to let it gets it true sour character.

Liefman's is mildly sour. Petrus Aged Pale or Oud Bruin would also be fairly good entry points. Duchess and Monk's Cafe are not among my favorites but they are less sour than other options.

milldoggy said:

From what I understand, that Blue Leifmans(Goudebond) needs to be aged at home. I got one 4 months ago and letting it go till next fall. I read they have to bottle it to fast to let it gets it true sour character.

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If that is true, I may need to pick up a bottle and do a little experiment.

I just had a bottle of Brasserie St. Sylvestre's Gavroche. Not really all that sour, it's actually a biere de garde, but it has a nice bit of acidity to it. If you can find it I would call that a very nice intro sour.

Thanks for all the replies, guys! I've got some ideas to start with.

milldoggy said:

From what I understand, that Blue Leifmans(Goudebond) needs to be aged at home. I got one 4 months ago and letting it go till next fall. I read they have to bottle it to fast to let it gets it true sour character.

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Goudenband is pasteurized so there's no additional souring in the bottle. You might get some general flavor improvement from aging but it's not going to get any sour.

The blender responsible for New Belgium's La Folie came to one of my homebrew club's meetings and brought samples. I had never had a sour before and thougt it was great. While others may not call it mild, it is still easy to drink IMO and I really enjoyed it.

OClairBrew said:

The blender responsible for New Belgium's La Folie came to one of my homebrew club's meetings and brought samples. I had never had a sour before and thougt it was great. While others may not call it mild, it is still easy to drink IMO and I really enjoyed it.

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La Folie is definitely not light on sourness. It's strongly acetic in flavor which not everybody likes in a sour, but it definitely has a lot of fans.