What Is Sour Beer?
- Dec 04, 2021
- 75
- tiantai
Beer aisles and bar menus have no shortage of popular styles like hazy IPA or crisp lager. But maybe you need to change it up, give your tastebuds a little surprise.
A sour beer, like a summertime glass of lemonade, might just be the pleasant pucker you’re after.
Sour beer is a broad category, with various substyles that all give special attention to the acidity level a drinker will perceive. That tartness, if it’s slight, can be pure refreshment. You’ll also find sour beers that stop you in your tracks — cheeks collapse and eyes squint. Craft brewers make all kinds, and you’re bound to find your favorites.
How sour beers are made can vary, but they all depart from the standard yeast strains of most ales and lagers, which require highly sterile environments. Sour beers opt for “wild” yeasts, and they also welcome friendly bacteria like lactobacillus, which you find in common groceries like yogurt or sauerkraut.
What Does Sour Beer Taste Like?
The prominence of sour flavor changes across different beers. With something like our Estate Melon Gose, a tart wheat ale, the acidity is generally mild on your palate — it’s crisp, makes you say Ahhh, and draws you back in for more.
Conversely, our Big Chico Kriek is more intense; odds are you’re sipping slowly. Ale yeast, wild yeast, and lactic acid bacteria all go toward its fermentation. Plus, we roll it away in red-wine barrels for more than a year, referment it with sweet cherries, and eventually give it one last touch: bottle conditioning with champagne yeast for those fine bubbles.
In the case of Brux, our 2012 collaboration with Russian River Brewing Co., its flavor has changed in delicious ways over the years. Brux is named for Brettanomyces bruxellensis, the wild yeast known for characteristics often described as funky, barnyard, or even fruity.
Derrick
Sales Manager
[email protected]
Tiantai Beer Equipment
A sour beer, like a summertime glass of lemonade, might just be the pleasant pucker you’re after.
Sour beer is a broad category, with various substyles that all give special attention to the acidity level a drinker will perceive. That tartness, if it’s slight, can be pure refreshment. You’ll also find sour beers that stop you in your tracks — cheeks collapse and eyes squint. Craft brewers make all kinds, and you’re bound to find your favorites.
How sour beers are made can vary, but they all depart from the standard yeast strains of most ales and lagers, which require highly sterile environments. Sour beers opt for “wild” yeasts, and they also welcome friendly bacteria like lactobacillus, which you find in common groceries like yogurt or sauerkraut.
What Does Sour Beer Taste Like?
The prominence of sour flavor changes across different beers. With something like our Estate Melon Gose, a tart wheat ale, the acidity is generally mild on your palate — it’s crisp, makes you say Ahhh, and draws you back in for more.
Conversely, our Big Chico Kriek is more intense; odds are you’re sipping slowly. Ale yeast, wild yeast, and lactic acid bacteria all go toward its fermentation. Plus, we roll it away in red-wine barrels for more than a year, referment it with sweet cherries, and eventually give it one last touch: bottle conditioning with champagne yeast for those fine bubbles.
In the case of Brux, our 2012 collaboration with Russian River Brewing Co., its flavor has changed in delicious ways over the years. Brux is named for Brettanomyces bruxellensis, the wild yeast known for characteristics often described as funky, barnyard, or even fruity.
Derrick
Sales Manager
[email protected]
Tiantai Beer Equipment
