Sour Ales (download our pdf flyer on Sour Ales)

Sourness is a key component of taste and flavor, but it is not something that North Americans typically associate with beer. Belgians and Germans discovered the refreshing and flavorful qualities of sour beers centuries ago and for many people, sour beers rank among their favorites. Like lemonade, many people are discovering that sour and tart flavors can be very refreshing.

Sour beers cover a wide range of flavors and styles and many people associate them more closely with wine styles and flavors than with other beers.

Berliner Weisse

Berliner Weisse is a type of wheat beer brewed exclusively in the area of Berlin, Germany.

Berliner Weisse contains only around 2.8% vol of alcohol, making it one of the weakest German beers. It is top-fermented, slightly clouded and relatively sour, so the taste of Berliner Weisse differs significantly from other German wheat beers.

It is typically served in a large goblet with a straw. Due to the sour taste, it is commonly drunk mixed with raspberry (Himbeersirup), lemon (Zitronensirup), or woodruff (Waldmeistersirup) syrup, and is then called Weisse mit Schuss (“Weisse with a shot of Syrup”). This mixed-drink is very refreshing in the hot summer months and is served throughout Berlin.

Flanders Red Ale

Flanders Red Ale is a style of Sour Ale usually brewed in northwest Belgium, the western part of Flanders. Instead of the typical brewers’ yeast, micro-organisms specifically chosen for the sour character they produce are chosen to ferment this beer. Lactobacillus is commonly used to produce a sour character attributable to lactic acid. Long periods of barrel aging are employed often as long as a year or more, to impart an acetic acid character to the beer. Red malt is used to give the beer its unique color and often the matured beer is blended with a younger batch before bottling to balance and round the character.

Flanders reds have a strong fruit flavor similar to the aroma, but more intense. Plum, prune, raisin and black cherry are the most common flavors, followed by orange and some spiciness. All Flanders red ales have an obvious sour or acidic taste, but this characteristic can range from moderate to strong. There is no hop bitterness, but tannins are common. Subsequently, Flanders red ales are often described as the most "wine-like" of all beers.

Flanders Brown Ale (Oud Bruin)

Oud Bruin, also known as Flanders Brown, is a style of Sour Ale usually brewed in northeast Belgium, the eastern part of Flanders. The name literally translates as "old brown", referring to the long aging process which can take up to a year. It undergoes a secondary fermentation, which takes several weeks to a month, and is followed by bottle aging for several more months. The extended aging allows residual yeast and bacteria to develop a sour flavor characteristic for this style. While some examples of an Oud Bruin may be aged in oak, typical beers in this style are not, and this is what helps Flanders Brown ales distinguish themselves from the more sour Flanders Red ales.

This style of beer is medium bodied, reddish-brown, and has a gentle malty flavor and no hop bitterness. The aroma is a complex mixture of fruits and estery smells of plum, raisin and cherry. The flavor is sweet, caramel, fruity, tart, and slightly acidic, caused by various bacteria in the maturation process. In a good example, the tartness is often balanced with a malty character, tasting of toffee and a giving a "sweet-and-sour" impression. Commercial versions may mix aged beer with younger, sweeter beer to temper the acidity and create a more complex flavor.

Lambics

Unlike conventional ales and lagers, which are fermented by carefully cultivated strains of brewer's yeasts, Lambic beer is instead produced by spontaneous fermentation: it is exposed to the wild yeasts and bacteria that are native to the Senne valley, in which Brussels lies. It is this unusual process which gives the beer its distinctive flavor: dry, vinous, and cidery, with a slightly sour aftertaste. Traditional Lambic brewers include Cantillon, Boon, Lindemans, Drie Fonteinen and several others.

Today the beer is generally brewed from a grist containing approximately 70% barley malt and 30% unmalted wheat. When the wort has cooled, it is left exposed to the open air so that fermentation may occur spontaneously. While this exposure is a critical feature of the style, many of the key yeasts and bacteria are now understood to reside within the brewery and its (usually timber) fermenting vessels in numbers far greater than any delivered by the breeze. Up to 86 microorganisms have been identified in Lambic beer, the most significant ones being Brettanomyces bruxellensis and Brettanomyces Lambicus. The process is generally only possible between October and May as in the summer months there are too many unfavorable organisms in the air that could spoil the beer.

Lambics typically require at least a year to completely ferment and mature, but some Lambics are aged as long as two to three years before they are consumed.

Hops are a key component of Lambic beers, despite the fact that it is usually impossible to detect the flavor of hops in them. Most Lambic brewers use old hops, perhaps two years old, that have long lost their bitter flavor and aroma. However, the hops still retain their preservative qualities and it is for this reason that hops are a necessity in Lambic beers.

Some drinkers prefer a sweeter taste than the Lambic provides. The addition of brown sugar to a Lambic creates a Lambic variant called Faro. It is an unblended three-year-old Lambic and is usually sold on draft, although a number of bottled versions may be found. The sugar was originally added directly at the table by the drinker and crushed into the drink with a mortar, and therefore did not add carbonation or alcohol to the beverage.

Fruit Lambics

Belgian beers have been brewed with a variety of fruits for centuries, even before hops became a common beer ingredient. Some of the best known Belgian fruit beers are the Fruit Lambics. The addition of fruit to the fermenting beer creates a new layer of flavor that is sometimes very subtle and sometimes very sweet.  Varieties of fruit used in Belgium include cherry (Kriek), raspberry (Framboise), black currant (Cassis) and peach (Peche). Kriek is a very popular and traditional flavor in Belgium and is found in Lambics as well as other beers, including other Sour Ale styles like the Flanders Brown (Oud Bruin) beer.

Gueuze

Many people decline to drink straight Lambic beers, as they can be quite intensely sour and funky. Blending Lambics of various ages can create a brew which is greater than the sum of its parts and this type of blend is called Gueuze. Gueuze is a mixture of young (one-year) and old (two and three-year) Lambics which has been bottled. A good Gueuze will be given a year to referment in the bottle, but can be kept for 10-20 years.