Sour beer hits the NYTimes

[randy_byers]

Sour Beer Is Risky Business, Starting With the Name

A pretty good article that includes some things I didn't know. For example, Allagash (a brewer in Portland, Maine) is also experimenting with exposing its wort to wild yeasts and bacteria. Three of the brewers they talked to for the article made beers that I wrote about recently: Vinnie Cilurzo of Russian River Brewing, Peter Bouckaert of New Belgium Brewing, and Ron Gansberg of Cascade Brewing. It was also interesting to me that the Great American Beer Festival first started judging sours in 2002 and now judges them in four categories: Belgian-style lambic or sour ale, American-style sour ale, German-style sour ale, and wood- and barrel-aged sour beer. Wonder what is considered American-style?

Comments

[reverendjim.livejournal.com]

Ta, that was interesting. I'd not come across the problem of Brett contaminating "ordinary" beers before. I suppose that's because the Belgian lambic brewers tend to only make lambics, so they don't have that problem. The few that do make other beers generally get them made at another brewery.
Also the use of various wine barrels was something else I didn't know. The traditional lambics are aged in sherry casks, but I don't suppose there are too many of those in the US.

The GABF etc "styles" are often a source of amusement to me. I think they're currently up to about eighty and rising with increasingly Jesuitical hair-splitting and meaninglessness. Surely a Belgian lambic is by definition a "Belgian-style lambic". But also is "wood and barrel-aged" as they all are. So what category do they fall in to?

As to American-style... Er, I've just tried looking at the description and am not much the wiser. Wood/barrel-aging seems to be out and I think it's open to a wider range of base beers, so may include things like sour stouts. These seem to be last year's winners, so if you know any of them it might give you some clues.

Gold: Rosso e Marrone, Captain Lawrence Brewing Co, Pleasantville, NY
Silver: Raspberry Torte, Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant, Wilmington, DE
Bronze: Diamond Kings ‘09, Brugge Brasserie, Indianapolis, IN

Whereas one of the winners in that category in the Beer World Cup is from Denmark. Beer styles are just turning up everywhere.

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

Hm, Denmark again. Have to keep an eye on those guys.

Haven't had any of those medal-winning American-style sours, and I'm not sure that I've heard of any of the breweries either, unless it's Iron Hill.

One of the sour beers we had in our recent sampling had been aged in a port cask, but I don't remember now if that was an American beer or Belgian.

And yeah, I was fascinated by the stuff in the article about Brett, as you so familiarly call it. (Well, it's easier than remembering the full name.) I started to imagine a war between the wineries and the breweries, with raiding parties burning infected barrels, burning breweries to the ground, burning piles of brewer's underwear.