What is Sour Beer?
Sour beer is beer which has an acidic and/or tart taste.
While sanitization is prioritized when brewing traditional beer, sours are often brewed in environments that intentionally allow wild yeast or bacteria into the brew. By introducing this acid-producing bacteria and other ingredients like fruit to the wort before and during fermentation, brewers are able to achieve a desired level of tartness.
Is Sour Beer Actually Beer?
Yes. Sours are indeed consider beer. Just like IPA and porter are types of beer, sour is also a type of beer.
While sours follow a similar brewing process as traditional beer, the main difference is usually found in the fermentation process.
Example of a Sour Beer
An example of a sour beer is Flanders Red from Destihl Brewery. This 5.9% ABV is a sour ale that tastes like tart cherry candy.
As part of their Wild Sour series, Destihl Brewery also brews Peach Cobbler, Leipzig-Style Gose Ale, Dragon Fruit Mango Sour Ale, and quite a few other sours.
Types of Sour Beer
- American Wild Ale
- Berliner Weisse
- Flanders Red Ale
- Gose
- Lambic
- Old Bruin