favorite sour comercial beers?

[ReverseApacheMaster]

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.

 

[staytuned]

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!

 

[surume]

Cantillon - Gueuze 100% Lambic, although its a pain in the wallet.

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

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.

 

[staytuned]

Great information. The idea with culturing Das Wunderkind would be to get the Saison strain, wild yeast and bacteria at once.

 

[Haputanlas]

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.

 

[BryanThompson]

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.

 

[Bonde]

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.

 

[loftybrewer]

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*

 

[Haputanlas]

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.

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/718/2184

 

[Haputanlas]

By the way, i wasn't trying to correct you. Just stating something