So, some people may feel sour about August – summer nearing its end up north, hurricane season, back to school schedules, and fewer vacations days, but we can enjoy and explore sour beers in August as well!
What is a sour beer? In olden days, many beers had sour flavors due to being stored in wooden barrels. Wooden barrels are porous, hold microbial populations in the wood, and are hard to fully clean after each use. All of these traits lead to sour beers. Porous wood allowed in oxygen which bacteria that produce sour flavors need to be active. Those microbes were present in the wood and are very hard to clean out. The sour flavors were tangy from lactic acid and to stronger, vinegar (acetic acid). Lactic acid is produced by lactobacillus and acetic acid is produced by acetobacter. There are also wild yeasts in the wood like Brettanomyces that provide funky flavors to these beers.
In the mid to late 1800s, technology advanced in brewing and the sour flavors from these microbes was reduced and eliminated by the use of glass and metal to package and store beer.
Sour beers to try in August – Bayerischer Banhof Berliner Weisse, Westbrook Gose, Rodenbach Grand Cru (Flanders Red Ale), Cantillon Grand Cru (Lambic), Cantillon Gueuze, and Boon Oude Geuze. These may be hard to find but your local craft brewer may make these styles of beer. Below is a description of these types of beer.
Berliner Weisse and Gose are German beers that are tart with lactic acid. The beers are fermented with a mixed culture of brewer’s yeast and lactobacillus. Both of these beers contain wheat as well as barley. Berliner Weisse is tart, very light wheat dough flavor and highly effervescent! Gose is very similar but is more bitter as well as being brewed with coriander and salt. In the U.S., craft brewers make these styles with added fruit.
Lambics, gueuze, Flanders Red and Oud Bruin are all sour beer styles from Belgium. Lambic and gueuze are spontaneously fermented with bacteria, wild yeasts, and other organisms for fermentation. Lambics are fermented and then stored in large oak foders (barrels) for up to three years, enhancing the souring process and the production of a host of very funky flavors. Gueuze is a blend of old and young lambics to get very specific flavor and effervescing beverage. Flanders Red and Oud Bruin are also aged beers that are on the tart side but are very fruity due to the malts used and the aging process. Flanders Red Ale and Oud Bruin are not spontaneously fermented so do not have the pronounced funky flavors of lambics.
American craft brewers are now making sour beers based on many styles. There are sour IPAs, sour blond ales, sour red ales, etc. Many have fruit as well. Kettle sour is one term used. After the wort has been boiled, lactobacillus is added to the wort and allowed to ferment for 24 to 48 hours. The lactic acid is produced and then the wort can be boiled again, killing off the lactobacillus. Brewer’s yeast is then added to the sanitized sour wort and regular fermentation occurs.
Enjoy a sour beer in the month of August as we all transition to the late summer and fall months.
