favorite sour comercial beers?

[wkaidy]

Hello all, I attended my first local home brew club meeting and tasted a couple of sours. Something i have never been bold enough to try on my own accord. too my surprise I really enjoyed them and wish to further my knowlage of these styles. can anyone recomend comercial examples they would recomend?

 

[Face Eater]

La folie by new Belgium. Is a sour brown and is fantastic. If you can get ahold of Russian rivers supplication, that is a fantastic sour. You may also like berliner weisse beers as well.

 

[TNGabe]

Where do you live? Lots of US craft sours are regional at best.

For the bigger brands - Rodenbach and Rodenbach Grand Cru are good, the GC being more tart. If you want to try Lambic, Lindeman's Cuvee Renee is somewhere to start, but if you can find another brand, there are better examples. Those are just a couple that I can find around here and selection in TN is not great.

 

[wkaidy]

Im in western Mass , unfortinatley we dont get either new belgium or russian river

 

[DisturbdChemist]

You might can find some Petrus or Monks cafe, or rodenbach are big sours. Their everywhere that ive seen (especially in Texas) and maybe be up there. Go to your nearest liquor store and ask what kind of sours/wild ales/lambic/gueuze they have. They sould be in the same section. I dont know anything you might have in Mass. Sours are usual local and most are not nationwide.

 

[wuilliez]

Look for Full Sail's Berliner Weisse. Pretty dang good, and over in Oregon it's 4 bucks a bomber at Safeway. Also, next summer, try to find Festina Peche from Dogfish Head. Also an amazing beer.

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

In MA I'd imagine you have more luck finding Belgian imports that don't tend to make it into the middle states. I'd assume you could find Petrus Aged Pale and Petrus oud bruin fairly easily along with Lindeman's Cuvee Rene, Rodenbach, Liefman Goudenband and Cuvee de Jacobins. You could probably find cantillon, boon, drie and other Belgian lambics.

 

[bellmtbbq]

You guys have Allagash (sp) Brewing up in Maine which I hear produced the best true lambics, aka spontaneous fermentation, in America. They distribute across the Northeast, albeit at an upgrade.

 

[MrOrange]

Within the past year and a half I have become obsessed with sours and other funky beers. I recently had my first Cantillon. It was a Rose de Gambrinus. I can confidently say that this is one of the best beers I have ever had. Sadly I have not tried any other Cantillon products considering they are pretty hard to find in my area and when I do find them they run about $30 a bottle. If you see one buy it, you wont be disappointed.

 

[Wahoo]

Allagash Interlude. Any Jolly Pumpkin Beer. As stated, Cuvee Renee, Rodenbach, Petrus Aged Pale, and I'll add Boon Gueuze to the list. Ithaca has some sours but they are hard to come by.

 

[MrOrange]

Any Jolly Pumpkin Beer.

I second that. You can't go wrong with Jolly Pumpkin

 

[geneticbiscuit]

Definitely try to track down some Allagash (and check out the brewery if you're ever in Portland). I don't know any good beer stores in Western MA, but if you happen to make it to the Boston area it's definitely worth checking out either Redstone Liquors in Stoneham or Craft Beer Cellar in Belmont.

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

I second that. You can't go wrong with Jolly Pumpkin

You can if they don't distribute to your area.

 

[drawdy10]

I second that. You can't go wrong with Jolly Pumpkin

Personally I don't think many of the Jolly Pumpkins are that great, not sour enough. Go for Odell or New Belgium La Folie.

 

[DoubleAught]

Look for Full Sail's Berliner Weisse. Pretty dang good, and over in Oregon it's 4 bucks a bomber at Safeway. Also, next summer, try to find Festina Peche from Dogfish Head. Also an amazing beer.

+1 on Berliner Weisse....my absolute favorite style of sour, and I've just recently discovered this

 

[chalkdust41485]

I have to show props and give a nod to Jester King's Boxer's Revenge.

 

[TheKeg81]

I like Dutchess du Bourgogne (sp). It was the first sour I tried and got me started on them. Funny thing was I got it not knowing it was a sour and almost poured it out thinking it had gone bad, even though I was somewhat enjoying it. Monk's Cafe is a decent one I've seen quite a few places, and not near as sour as DdB.

I also got to try a Rodenbach a few months back while on a business trip. I rather enjoyed it too, found it more like Monk's than the DdB.

 

[WineIsRed]

...Any Jolly Pumpkin Beer. ....

IMHO - just make sure Bam Noire isn't the first Jolly Pumpkin beer you try. I love sours, but was barely able to choke this one down (and other sour aficionados I know dumped theirs down the drain).

I look forward to trying more Jolly Pumpkin beers, as many respected people speak highly of them.... but I'll stay far away from the Bam Noire.

... just my $.02, and worth about that.

 

[edmanster]

cantillon gueuze is a classic and got my attention.. really, just look for anything with flemish, flanders, farmhouse, oud bruin, berliner, lambic, cuvee, kriek, framboise, roeselare, gueuze, ect.. idk if there's more but looking for most of those names will get you there.. should make a list for sure
Edit: some saisons are mildly tart and sour..

 

[MrOrange]

IMHO - just make sure Bam Noire isn't the first Jolly Pumpkin beer you try. I love sours, but was barely able to choke this one down (and other sour aficionados I know dumped theirs down the drain).

I look forward to trying more Jolly Pumpkin beers, as many respected people speak highly of them.... but I'll stay far away from the Bam Noire.

... just my $.02, and worth about that.

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.

 

[zmanzorro]

+1 on New Belgium's La Folie. A few years ago, I also had their Eric's Ale. Haven't seen it anywhere since. Was that just a one time thing, or has anyone else seen or tasted it?

 

[QuaffableQuips]

If you're able to get Odell beers, they currently have an Oud Bruin called the Meddler that is quite tasty.

Also, another vote for Petrus and La Folie.

 

[wkaidy]

thanks for the help everyone. ive herd sours develop with age. would it be wise to grab a couple bottles of something and let one age for a few months?

 

[bobbrews]

Cisco Lady of the Woods - Green label, white writing, bomber sized bottle with a caged cork. Sour as ever, pale, highly carbed, rockin' head, with tropical fruit notes and light oak. I'm surprised no one has mentioned them so far being a Mass. Brewery and all.

Anything from Cantillon is amazing. Fantome makes some good, funky brews but they're not extremely sour per se. You can get Oude Tart from The Bruery and Hanssens Oude Kriek on the East Coast, but they are just "good" IMO. The Jolly Pumpkin sours take awhile to become good and fully carb up. I've had more than a few flat ones. Keep your eye out for Captain Lawrence sours, and German Berliner Weisses if you can find them.

You'll find that most of the excellent sours with a decent price are on the West Coast. Russian River, Lost Abbey, and Cascade Brewing make some of my favorite sours. You'll have to trade for those. Jackie O's out of Ohio also makes some excellent sours.

 

[MrOrange]

thanks for the help everyone. ive herd sours develop with age. would it be wise to grab a couple bottles of something and let one age for a few months?

I know that when a blender makes a gueuze that they carefully blend different vintages to achieve a certain taste. This doesn't mean that you can't age it but will be different than what the person blending it was trying to achieve.

 

[JordanThomas]

IMHO - just make sure Bam Noire isn't the first Jolly Pumpkin beer you try. I love sours, but was barely able to choke this one down (and other sour aficionados I know dumped theirs down the drain).

I look forward to trying more Jolly Pumpkin beers, as many respected people speak highly of them.... but I'll stay far away from the Bam Noire.

... just my $.02, and worth about that.

Wow! I was going to RECOMMEND Bam Noire. Bam Biere is also a classic. Weizen Bam if you want the wheaty version, or ES Bam if you want the hoppy version.

I have been meaning to try Oro de Calabaza, as I've heard that is their best... Others say La Roja, but I cannot find a Flanders that I've ever enjoyed, so it's hard to pull the trigger on a $13 bottle.

 

[AventinusCam]

My favorite is tough. Really it comes down to 3: Cantillon Lou Pepe Kriek, Russian River Supplication and New Belgium La Folie. I hate and love this thread at the same time. I love talking about sours, but now I have a massive urge to go blow some big bucks at my local bottle shop.

 

[45_70sharps]

I live on the Washington coast. I've been wanting to try sour beer also but I have never seen it.
Anyone know of a good sour beer that's available in the Northwest?

 

[bobbrews]

I live on the Washington coast. I've been wanting to try sour beer also but I have never seen it.
Anyone know of a good sour beer that's available in the Northwest?

Hunt for Cascade Brewing.

Cascade Bourbonic Plague
Cascade Vlad The Imp Aler
Cascade The Vine
Cascade Apricot Ale
Cascade Nightfall Blackberry
Cascade Cuvée Du Jongleur
Cascade Sang Noir, Rouge, or Royal

 

[JordanThomas]

I thought JP distributed to the Pacific Northwest?