Sour Beers: Friend Or Foe?

Sour beers are having a moment. Once hard to find, they're now widely available thanks to craft breweries. But what makes a beer sour?

Sour beers are fermented with yeast and soured with bacteria, usually lactobacillus—the same thing that sours yogurt. They're defined by their high acidity, which is derived from lactic-acid-producing bacteria. The result is a very tart flavour that can be as aggressive as sucking on a lemon or more balanced, like a sweet-and-sour candy.

Sours are popular because they attract a new set of drinkers. Traditional beers balance sweetness and bitterness, but sours drink more like white wines, balancing acidity and sweetness.

Sour beers come in many varieties, including Gose, Berliner Weisse, Lambic, Flanders Red Ale, and American Wild Ale. They can be mouth-puckeringly sour, barnyard funky, or fruity and light.

So, should you drink sour beers? If you're a beer lover, you'll appreciate the complexity. And if you don't usually like beer, you might enjoy a sour's fruity flavour.

What is a sour beer?

Sour beer is a unique style of beer with a distinctively sour, tart, or acidic taste. It is made using a variety of wild yeast strains and bacteria, such as Brettanomyces, Lactobacillus, and Pediococcus, which give it a more acidic taste than regular beers. Unlike other beers, which are brewed in sterile environments with specific yeast strains, sour beers embrace "wild" organisms to create a wide range of flavours, from intensely sour to light and fruity, and even funky.

Sour beers are typically brewed using multiple yeast strains and acid-producing bacteria, resulting in a more acidic taste. The wild yeast Brettanomyces, often called "Brett", is known for adding funky, earthy, and fruity flavours to the beer. Lactobacillus, a bacteria also found in yogurt, converts sugars into lactic acid, creating a tart flavour. Pediococcus, a related bacteria, can create diacetyl, resulting in a buttery taste.

Sour beers come in many varieties, with brewers constantly innovating and creating new styles. Some of the most common types of sour beers include:

• Gose: A refreshing and easy-to-drink German sour beer, often featuring salty, herbal, or citrusy flavours. It is highly carbonated and usually includes coriander and sea salt.
• Berliner Weisse: A light and dry German wheat beer, sometimes served with fruit syrup to add sweetness.
• Lambic: A complex Belgian-style beer with funky flavours, fermented with various wild yeasts and bacteria, resulting in a unique taste.
• Flanders Red Ale: A sour beer from the Flanders region in Belgium, known for its fruity, wine-like taste and copper colour.
• American Wild Ale: Brewed in America using various wild yeast strains and bacteria, often including Brettanomyces. It may feature fruity and earthy notes.

Why are sour beers popular?

Sour beers have become increasingly popular in recent years, with craft breweries across the United States and beyond experimenting with this style of beer. So, why exactly are sour beers so popular?

Firstly, sour beers offer something unexpected. Traditional beers typically balance sweetness and bitterness, whereas sour beers are more akin to white wines in that they balance acidity and sweetness. This similarity to wine often attracts a new set of drinkers, including those who don't usually drink beer but enjoy wine. The tart, funky flavour of sour beers can be quite aggressive, but some are more balanced, with a sweet-and-sour interplay.

Secondly, sour beers are often fruity and tend to be quite refreshing, making them perfect for warmer weather. The tartness is crisp and jolts your taste buds awake, while the beers themselves are usually not too heavy, making them seasonally appropriate. The addition of fruit can also tame the acidity of sour beers, making them more accessible to those who are new to the style.

Thirdly, sour beers are quite varied, with many different styles to explore, including lambics, goses, and Berliner Weisses. This variety means that there is a sour beer to suit a range of tastes, from those who prefer something light and tart to those who want something more intense and complex.

Finally, sour beers have a long history, dating back to the early days of brewing when all beers were essentially sour due to the presence of naturally occurring bacteria. While they fell out of favour for a while, sour beers have experienced a resurgence in recent years as craft brewers have delved into historic sour beer styles and found new ways to make them.

What are some good starter sour beers?

Sour beers are an acquired taste for some, and love at first sip for others. They are characterised by their sour, tart or acidic taste, often with fruity notes. The unique brewing process uses yeast and bacteria to achieve a bright, tart flavour.

• Gose is a refreshing, easy-to-drink sour beer that originated in Germany. It is often highly carbonated and features salty, herbal or citrusy flavours.
• Berliner Weisse is a light and dry German wheat beer. It usually has a slightly malty flavour and may be served with fruit syrup to add a touch of sweetness.
• Lambic is a Belgian-style beer that's loved for its complexity and funky backyard flavours. It's fermented with various wild yeast and bacteria, creating a one-of-a-kind taste.
• Flanders Red Ale comes from the Flanders region in Belgium and is known for its fruity, wine-like taste and copper colour.
• American Wild Ale is brewed in America and uses various wild yeast strains and bacteria, including Brettanomyces, which may feature fruity and earthy notes.

Other good options for beginners include:

• Russian River Supplication
• Dogfish Head Festina Pêche
• Deschutes The Dissident
• Victory Brewing Kirsch Gose
• Lindemans Oude Gueuze Cuveé René
• Cantillon Fou' Foune
• Green Flash Cellar 3 Flanders Drive

Are sour beers vegan?

The majority of sour beers are vegan-friendly, but some may contain animal products. For example, 86 out of 383 sour beers (23%) were found to contain animal products such as finings extracted from fish, pigs, or cows.

Some common animal ingredients used in beer include isinglass (a type of collagen derived from fish), gelatin (derived from cows or pigs), eggs, and lactose (derived from milk). These ingredients are often used as clarifying agents to improve the flavour, aroma, head retention, and mouthfeel of the beer, as well as to extend its shelf life and enhance its visual appearance.

However, it is important to note that beer is traditionally brewed without any animal-derived ingredients, and the process of making sour beers does not typically affect their vegan status. The addition of clearing agents or finings derived from animals is usually what makes a sour beer non-vegan.

To ensure that a sour beer is vegan, it is recommended to check with the brewery or look for labels indicating the presence of animal-derived ingredients. Some breweries may use vegan alternatives, such as mushroom or seaweed-based clearing agents.

• Breakside Passionfruit Sour Ale
• Jelly King by Bellwoods Brewery
• Yonder - Peach Cobbler
• Vault City - Wee Vault Wagon
• UnBarred - Apple Pie Pastry Sour
• Burning Sky - Monolith

What are some good styles of sour beer to try?

Sour beers are an increasingly popular style of beer that has become a favourite of craft brewers and drinkers alike. They are known for their lip-puckering, tongue-tingling tartness and refreshing, complex flavour profiles.

Sours are made by intentionally allowing wild yeast strains or bacteria into the brew, traditionally through wooden barrels or during the cooling of the wort in a coolship open to the outside air. The most common microbes used to sour beer are the bacteria Lactobacillus and Pediococcus, while the fungus Brettanomyces can also add some acidity.

Lambics

Lambics are a style of Belgian beer that relies on spontaneous fermentation from airborne wild yeast cultures and previously tainted barrels. The most prominent variety is the Fruit Lambic, which uses whole fruits like cherries, black currants, or raspberries to impart a noticeable sweetness. Lambics can also be blended with several seasons' batches to make gueuze. Pure, unblended lambics are quite rare.

Flanders Red Ales

Flanders Red Ales, or Flemish Reds, are carefully aged in casks and usually feature a blend of both old and young beer to create a distinctive flavour profile that's noticeably tart, sharp, sour, and fruity. They are typically reddish in colour and feature a moderate ABV level, usually between 4% and 8%.

Gose

Gose is a top-fermented German wheat beer that is distinguished by its use of salt and coriander. Most Goses are around 4% ABV. The sourness is created by the addition of lactic acid-producing bacteria (Lactobacillus) after the boil.

Berliner Weisse

Berliner Weisse is another German sour beer style, made from a combination of wheat and barley kilned at low temperatures. The beer is soured by the addition of Lactobacillus bacteria, typically during secondary fermentation. Berliner Weisses are quite low in ABV (traditionally not more than 5%) and often feature fruity flavours to balance out the sourness.

Oud Bruin

Oud Bruin (or Old Brown) is a style of beer from Belgium similar to Flanders Red Ale, but with a brown ale base instead of a red one. This beer is aged in oak casks for up to two years. The darker beer has a more malty, caramel taste compared to Flanders Red Ale, although the flavour profile varies. They typically range in ABV from 4-8%.

American Wild Ales

American Wild Ales tend not to have specific parameters or guidelines stylistically, but instead refer to the use of unusual yeasts. They usually feature some degree of sour character balanced with pronounced barnyard funk. They are much higher in ABV than other sour styles, often north of 7.5%.

Frequently asked questions