When are sour beers best by?

I'm not too familiar with sour beers (they don't seem as popular where I'm from), but I picked up a few bottles by Almanac during a trip to California. I know that sour beers are usually conditioned for a long time before bottling anyway, so I don't need to be in a hurry to drink them, right?

I know I'm probably overthinking this. The reason I ask is that I managed to score a couple bottles of Pliny, and it was strongly emphasized to drink them as fresh as possible (like <1 month of bottling). I then saw that a couple of the sours I got were bottled in March 2014. Obviously I will still drink them and enjoy them regardless, but I'm just looking for some reassurance that it's ok to wait on sour beers.

 

Hoppy beers: drink soon.
Sour beers: no problem waiting. I had a 3 year old sour beer (home brew) last night, same as the day I bottled it.

 

You can cellar most sours for a while(years), and the brett will continue to add complexity.

Sours that arguably should be drank with more urgency are the ones with fruit(im guessing those almanac are in this camp). With that being said more quickly with sours is over the course of a year or so instead of many years. It's a personal preference thing though, but a lot of people like to drink fruited sours "fresh"

 

Ditto on waiting on the sours. Homebrewed sours usually get better with age. They can continue to sour and clear in primary or secondary. Commercial versions are often pasteurized and see no benefit in cellaring (all the bugs are dead; La Folie is an example of this). However, they are typically just as sour as the day they were bottled, in my experiences. Both are often brewed with aged hops that only serve as preservatives, not flavor components.

Pliny is meant to be consumed quickly. Hop aromas and flavors degrade other time. Russian River wants you to experience a brewery fresh IPA. Barley wines are a nice exception. They can change dramatically over years of cellaring. From a hop monster to a mellow and velvety Trojan horse for alcohol!

Woo!



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i've seen "best before" dates on sours that are 20 years in the future... so you're fine waiting.

fruited sours change quite a bit over time but not necessarily for the worse - depends on what you like. i recently had 2009 & 2012 versions of Mariage Parfait kriek. the cherry flavors in the 2012 were more pronounced, but i preferred the complexity of the 2009. the 2012 seemed a tad one-dimensional. but both were excellent.

 

Great, I'm bringing back some west coast IPAs + just bottled a lot of IPA that I want to drink while they're young. The Almanac sours I got are fruited, but I imagine they will all be consumed within a year of bottling. Thanks, everyone.