One of the oldest brewed alcoholic beverages of this world, beer has always found a large population of the enthusiasts irrespective of the century it was being brewed in. Over time, some styles have been invented, some lost and some reintroduced after a century-long gap.
Sour beer is one of the oldest types of beer styles. Found to be brewed since the beverage’s inception, sour beers were popular and regularly brewed in the olden times. And since its return in the last 5 years, the beer style has been garnering a fan following across the globe.
To understand the basics, sour beers are beers which have a sour flavour profile that is akin to citric tartness or the flavour of sour fruits. It is achieved through the addition of Lactobacillus or Pediococcus bacterias and Brettanomyces yeast. Many breweries avoid stepping in to produce the beer style because of the infamous Brettanomyces yeast. Known to be a beer spoiler, the yeast is responsible for contaminating many fresh batches of other beers at various breweries, unfortunately turning them into undrinkable beers. But when used under supervision, the yeast proves to be the perfect facilitator of the sour beer brewing process.
Sour beers are matured beers that were traditionally aged in oak barrels. Instead of adding specific microbes in the brewing batches as it’s done these days, old-time brewers would let natural environmental microorganisms work their magic on the beer batches. For this reason, one could differentiate between different regional sour beers just by the flavours alone, in olden times.
Sour beers come in different varieties, the most popularly brewed ones being
- American Wild Ale – The variety does not have any particular guidelines but is brewed with a mix of ale yeast and Brettanomyces yeast.
- Lambic – This type of Belgian wheat beer uses yeast and microbes from the surrounding environment instead of adding selective cultivated yeasts to the brew. It is aged for one year.
- Gose – It is a German sour beer that is brewed with salted water and spiced with coriander. It’s popular in the US.
- Flemish Red – It’s a Belgian beer that packs a fruity flavour profile. Similar to wine in the aspects of flavour and appearance, it packs a complex fruit-forward flavour.
- Berliner Weisse – it’s a low ABV German wheat beer that has a subtle sour profile and high carbonation. It’s a Berlin speciality and is lightly malty and fruity in its taste.
While India hasn’t come around to brewing commercially-available sour beers yet, it would be interesting to see how our citric-sour loving population reacts to this beer style. What do you think?
