Is sour the new Hoppy?

[motobrewer]

i can get cantillon kriek at my local grocery store (sendik's)

 

[arturo7]

Russian River Tasting

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f20/russian-river-tasting-huntington-beach-219337/#post2569363

 

[TheZer]

Redlight Redlight in Orlando FL usually has at least one sour on tap.

 

[mrbowenz]

Sour beer trends will be shorter lived than high hop-oriented beer, look for the next trend to be historical beers and a return to normalized gravities and traditional flavors, even session beers with flavor, sour beer has a very narrow market appeal, historical ales and beers have a wide deep-reaching broader market, this started already, but will not catch on till next year full force. IPA's will remain strong for a decade longer at least.

 

[MDRex]

A full flavored session beer trend would be nice. Although I would love to see more sours.

 

[JoeBronco]

Sour beer trends will be shorter lived than high hop-oriented beer, look for the next trend to be historical beers and a return to normalized gravities and traditional flavors, even session beers with flavor, sour beer has a very narrow market appeal, historical ales and beers have a wide deep-reaching broader market, this started already, but will not catch on till next year full force. IPA's will remain strong for a decade longer at least.

IPA's had a very narrow market appeal at one time as well. Sour is big in Belgium right now. Its already touched the US market and while its a small fraction of breweries brewing sour beer, it is catching on. I like how the article points out that it will bring more of the wine drinkers into the craft world. I do believe that is true, whyle sour beer may not be for us IPA guys, it may bring an entire new group of brewers into the mix. I say embrace progression, growing craft brewing will only make it more popular.

 

[JeepDiver]

Toured Avery last year, and they had several sours and "funky" beers on Tap in the Tap Room. Did a tasting of a few, and none were undrinkable. A couple were really good, and a few were strange. I defaintly liked them better than most IPAs but I'm not a hop head at all

 

[lurker18]

I think right now sours are too broad a description. Flanders Reds I really like (Monk's Blood, Rodenbach, Dutchess), but I hate the only geuze that I tried (St. Louise) and Krieks are just as bad. I haven't had a really good example of Krieks or Geuzes, so to say that is a little hard on the two, but if they are all considered sours then 2 of the 3 types that I mentioned are really bad, but 1 of the 3 are great, and I seek them out all the time.

To say sours are going to be the next big thing is stretching it a little. The time that it takes to make some of these beers is taking a lot of the breweries out of the market. To have 3 years of production sitting in a cellar waiting for the right time needs very deep pockets to get started. Perhaps that is the draw to these right now, the true beer drinkers appreciate the effort and time that goes into a bottle, and that alone sways the taste. Would we all think the same if they could bang these out in two weeks like everything else?

 

[JeepDiver]

Sour can be anwhere from a little to a lot. Most of the ones at Avery were tangy, but not make your mouth pucker sour. Same as IPAs, there will be some very mellow ones and some way over the top, but there is a lot of room between, even for the BMC guys to get into the game for mass market. Something that is just a little different, but not really sour to the point of calling it that.

 

[Brewpastor]

The beer world is a big place and filled with many different brews. It does seem like the sour beers are the hot new thing, but my question is what will come next? Maybe those brews made by chewing on the grain and spitting it into the fermenter?!

Drink what you like.

I am impressed by the willingness to try new things and follow passion. Glad we have pro brewers that live that out.

 

[FatMonsters]

I have tried a couple of sours and they are nice from time to time. I wouldn't want everyday, but they are a nice change of pace. I really liked Ommegang's Zuur.

 

[motobrewer]

i would like sour without bile

someone point me to one of these

 

[arturo7]

Describe what you mean by "bile."

 

[JoeBronco]

Bile or gall is a bitter-tasting, dark green to yellowish brown fluid, produced by the liver of most vertebrates, that aids the process of digestion of lipids in the small intestine.

Not how i would have imagined a sour beer to taste.

 

[emjay]

Unfortunately, here in the craft-beer cesspool of Ontario, where one giant monopoly really only stocks a token amount of non-standard imports (half of which are just awful eastern European crap), sours aren't all too available, although if you don't mind spending $15 a beer or more, some bars/pubs in downtown Toronto have pretty massive beer lists with a ton of quality stuff.

The only thing remotely resembling a sour in stores here, carried year round, are the fruit lambics Mort Subite kriek and Mort Subite framboise. I really like the stuff though, and it's definitely one of my go-to-beers on my occasional trip to the liquor store. Whether Mort Subite is generally well-regarded among sour beers, I don't know, but that sour bite to these beers is absolutely fantastic, and having been a hophead pretty much since I started drinking beer, I can say I'd probably be into sours just as much - if not more - if I had more exposure to them. Lindeman's geuze was supposed to be a seasonal offering a little while back, but unfortunately it got canceled. Still, with a limited selection of beers here, probably 90% of what I buy are hoppy APAs and IPAs, Trappist beers, Mort Subite, and a TON of Unibroue's Belgian-style ales... in fact, Trois Pistoles was the first beer I ever bought for myself (having tried BMC junk, I looked for reviews on the net hoping to find something I might like)... and that single decision is what led to me being where I'm at now.

 

[Mustangj]

I tryed a true lambic about a month ago and i'm hooked on sours. The sound of a sour beer to me didn't even sound good.


My fav sour is Jolly Pumpkins Noel De Calabaza

 

[BrewNinja1]

I sure hope its the new fad. Ever since I tried my first one about 6 months ago, Ive tried every one I can get my hands on (which I admit is not many since I really am not a lambic or gueze fan...or didnt have one I liked yet). There is 1 place here that has monks on tap (and that is their only sour). Most bars have 0. So far my favorite is still Enigma from New Glarus Brewery. Its out of production now, but I still have 2 4packs stashed away. Wish I would have bought more. It made start my first two sour batches though.

 

[ACbrewer]

Well I find this funny because back in October I screwed up bottling sanitation and created 2 cases of sour beer. I pretty much find it undrinkable - It was supposed to be Midwest's Deap Dark Wheat... But I've not dumped it, can't bring my self to and given cash flow, haven't needed the bottles. They are still sour. I didn't realize I was at the start of a new fad..

Flavor you ask. Well I bottled a lambic this fall it was fermented using the Wyeast lab's Lambic blend. That is sour but not overly so. This missed and is very sour in comparison. I'd recently figured out away to take the sour out, leaving a beer that I will drink, but wouldn't dare share.

 

[SumnerH]

Well I find this funny because back in October I screwed up bottling sanitation and created 2 cases of sour beer. I pretty much find it undrinkable - It was supposed to be Midwest's Deap Dark Wheat... But I've not dumped it, can't bring my self to and given cash flow, haven't needed the bottles. They are still sour. I didn't realize I was at the start of a new fad..

This is like saying that I screwed up a batch and it had this horrible bitter aftertaste, which was pretty much undrinkable--it has little relation to what a well-crafted hop bomb will taste like.

Randomly infected beers aren't likely to be very drinkable, and a well-crafted sour is a totally different thing.

 

[JoeBronco]

ACbrewer - Send us one of your "sour" beers and well see how it tastes. Who knows you may be on to something here. Although you may just have a skunked batch.

 

[ACbrewer]

Well I was 'rescuing' one tonight... - I add a common houshold alkali - and sampled the unrescued - just incase it is ok. The sour seems to be mellowing it was stronger about 2 months ago... which prompts a question. Shelf life of glass beer? 6 months? brown glasses in box so light is very limited, it woudl be caps and O2. I mean this could be pleasent beer in another 3 to 6 months..

Send you one... herm... Was thinking I could mail it as 'sour dough starter' lol...

 

[madbaldman]

Redlight Redlight in Orlando FL usually has at least one sour on tap.

Never heard of this place before. Just looked them up and they are in bicycle range of my place. Balwdin Park is at the end of Cady Way Trail (one of my regular bike rides). I think I'm going to cry.

 

[mrbowenz]

http://beeradvocate.com/forum/read/3504413#3504543

 

[JoeBronco]

I had a few Russian river sours this weekend. at first i HATED it. It grew on me to the point where i tasted every sour they had (like 5 of them) and came home with one.

My suggestion is to pair with food, it really evens the sour out and makes it more enjoyable.