Sour Beer
Sour has an intentionally acidic, tart or sour taste. The most common sour beer styles are Belgian: lambics, gueuze and Flanders red ale.
At one time, all beers were sour to some degree. As pure yeast cultures were not available, the starter used from one batch to another usually contained some wild yeast and bacteria. Unlike modern brewing, which is done in a sterile environment to guard against the intrusion of wild yeast, sour beers are made by intentionally allowing wild yeast strains or bacteria into the brew. Traditionally, Belgian brewers allowed wild yeast to enter the brew naturally through the barrels or during the cooling of the wort in a Koelschip open to the outside air – an unpredictable process that many modern brewers avoid.
The most common agents used to intentionally sour beer are Lactobacillus, Brettanomyces and Pediococcus. Another method for achieving a tart flavor is adding fruit during the aging process to spur a secondary fermentation or contribute microbes present on the fruit's skin.
Because of the uncertainty involved in using wild yeast, the sour beer brewing process is extremely unpredictable. The beer takes months to ferment and can take years to mature.
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Liefmans$25.99
Infinitely complex in aroma and flavor with notes of maltiness and tartness throughout. An unsurpassed old brown with the richness and complexity o...
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Brouwerij Omer Vander Ghinstefrom $12.00
The beer Cuv�e des Jacobins is unblended old lambic, aged for at least 18 months in (French) oak barrels from the cognac region. These oak barrels ...
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Rodenbach2 reviewsfrom $9.99
Rodenbach Alexander was brewed for the first time in 1986 on the occasion of Alexander Rodenbach's 200th birthday and is now back by popular demand...
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Brouwerij Verhaeghefrom $10.50
Duchesee de Bourgogne is the traditional top fermented reddish-brown ale from the West-Flanders region of Belgium. This refined ale also known as "...
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Rodenbach$17.99
The brewer allow the beer to macerate with fresh cherries, raspberries and cranberries. After this maceration in oak, the beer re-ferments in the b...
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Dollar Bill Brewing$18.99
2019 Spring Parlay - Red Ale aged in Apassimento barrelsSpring ushers in an exciting new season of longer days and warmer weather. Cold mornings gi...
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Boatrocker Brewers & Distillers$17.99
We've been developing the cultures of wild yeast and bacteria for our barrel program for many years, and through a carefully monitored solera progr...
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Hop Nation$13.99
The latest Site Fermentation Project can release is RED RABBIT a Flanders Red style, in which we took the cherries used in Lapin and added them to ...
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Against the Grain$19.99
This is the beer you seek, you covet it. Your eyes move up and down the bottle, sating [sic] your need for this beer. Concupiscent and red, you can...
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3 Ravensfrom $5.50
A complex and easy-drinking sour red beer created by blending barrel aged mixed fermentation sour ale and whisky barrel aged vinegar with a light a...
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Deschutes Brewery$44.99
Fermented for more than 18 months in isolation from the rest of the beers, The Dissident is a distinctive Oud Bruin, Flanders-style brown ale, with...
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Deschutes Brewery$44.99
Fermented for more than 18 months in isolation from the rest of the beers, The Dissident is a distinctive Oud Bruin, Flanders-style brown ale, with...
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Deschutes Brewery$54.99
Fermented for more than 18 months in isolation from the rest of the beers, The Dissident is a distinctive Oud Bruin, Flanders-style brown ale, with...
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Garage Project$34.99
Oud Bruin, the traditional brown ale of Flemish Belgium, here painstakingly recreated and lovingly tended by Dave Bell, our Wild Workshop brewer. P...
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Hop Nation$29.99
Fermented in barrel and One year in pinot and shiraz barrels, Flanders red style mixed fermentation. Flavours of Candied apple, cigar box, balsamic...
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De Struise Brouwers$59.99
Dark Horse Reserva is a hybrid dark sour ale, somewhere between a Dirty Horse and an Earthmonk. Spontaneously fermented and aged for 4 years on som...
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Brouwerij 't Verzet$11.99
Lactic acid dominates the first taste. After recovering from the sourness you discover aromas of green apple, wood, bread and red fruit. The sourne...
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Jolly Pumpkin$37.99
La Roja, an artisan amber ale brewed in the Flanders tradition. Deep amber with earthy caramel, spice and sour fruit notes developed through natura...
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Rodenbachfrom $5.50
A blend of 75% young beer fermented in steel tanks and 25% old beer aged 2 year in large oak casks. Rodenbach bears the proud title of "the most re...
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Brouwerij Verhaeghe$8.99
�Vichtenaar� is a beer, brewed with roasted malts, spicey hops, fruity yeast and soft water, pumped up from a 172 m deep well, guaranteeing constan...
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Brouwerij Omer Vander Ghinstefrom $7.99
Originally called "Ouden Tripel", this ancient West Flanders Brown beer has found a newlan as a regional specialty under its current name: "Bellege...
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