GettyImages-541266758
Taste in beer is subject to fashion, which is subject to where we are as a society. What was new yesterday is old today. What was old then is as new now as a classic style of sour beer.
Before refrigerators, before Louis Pasteur, before biochemistry solved the enigma of fermentation, all beer was sour. Beer begins as barley or wheat, which is germinated into malt and soaked in warm water to derive a wort, which renders the carbohydrates of glucose and maltose. Yeast ferments those carbohydrates into alcohol.
For the thousands of years before brewers knew what yeast was, they depended on wild yeasts to spontaneously ferment their beer. Brewers also depended on bacteria like lactobacillus, pediococcus, acetobacter, and brettanomyces for the aromas and flavors of their beer. These microorganisms were thriving in their fields of barley and wheat, in the oak trees they used for barrels to age their beer, and all around them in the air where they were. These microorganisms the brewers depended on were native to their geography. Where they were defined their styles of beer.
After the discovery of yeast in the 19th century, a majority of brewers adopted single strains of proprietary, factory yeast to make as much identical beer as possible. The practice yields brewers mass market advantages but strips their beers of the complexity wild yeasts and bacteria provide. The minority of brewers who stuck with the practice of fermenting beers spontaneously saw their sours fade into shadows of factory ales and lagers.
Now sour beers are new again. The famous classic styles are lambic and gueuze, Flanders Red Ale, Oud Bruin Ale, Gose and Berliner Weisse. They’re refreshing by themselves and ideal companions for food. They’re pleasing and mysterious, complex, dynamic, and engaging.
Lambic and Geuze
Lambics are native to southwest Flanders, which is the Dutch region in the north of Belgium. The grain bill of lambics is made up of unmalted wheat and malted barley. The wort for the beer cools overnight in the open air, where it collects wild yeasts and bacteria. The beer then ferments and ages in large oak barrels for at least a year. Lambics are funky, bright, and can be used to make related styles of beer. Older and lambics are mixed to make a style called gueuze made by adding whole fruit, fruit pulp, or fruit juice to a lambic as it ages in its oak cask.
Which lambic to look for: Brewery Cantillon Gueuze Lambic
Flanders Red Ale
The tart quality of Flanders Red Ale owes to the bacteria thriving in oak barrels. These microflora define the Flanders Red style by introducing themselves into the beer while it’s aging. The beer has a medium body, bracing acidity and layers of complexity, with characteristic flavors of cherries and currants. The style is commonly referred to as the pinot noir or Burgundy of beer.
Which Flanders Red Ale to look for: Duchesse de Bourgogne.
Oud Bruin Ale
Oud Bruin is a Belgian sour from East Flanders. Brown ale is aged in oak casks for as long as two years to ferment, mature, and develop its acidity. Older batches are then mixed with younger beer. Fruity, malty aromas and flavors characterize the style.
Which Oud Bruin Ale to look for: De Brabandere Petrus Oud Bruin
Gose
Gose is an unfiltered sour wheat beer from the Lower Saxony region of Germany. The style hadn’t been made for the better part of a century until a brewery located an old factory worker who happened to remember the recipe. The malt bill of Gose consists of at least half malted wheat, along with malted barley. Coriander and salt are added. Gose is a low alcohol, lemony beer, with bright acidity and earthy spice.
Which gose to look for: Gasthaus & Gosebrauerei Bayerischer Bahnhof Leipziger Gose (the brewery which revived the style).
Berliner Weisse
The malt bill of classic Berliner Weiss is divided between malted wheat and malted barley. The style is mildly sour, with a light, fruity character and less than 2.5% alcohol. Berliners commonly flavor the beer with extracts of raspberry or Woodruff, a sweet, earthy, hay-like herb.
Which Berliner Weisse to look for: Professor. Fritz Briem 1809 Berliner Weisse
