I’m heading for a beer tasting event. Sour Beers are the feature. My beer aficionado pals tell me these are the latest rage, taking over from IPAs. Comments?
I like IPAs, and I don’t like sour beer. I didn’t know IPAs have been the rage. I hope this won’t mean IPAs will become hard to find in the future.
Perhaps you could could do me a favor, and loudly say “Oh, this beer is awful! Too sour!” every time you try one. Nip this new rage in the bud.
ETA: No? Well, enjoy your event anyway. Is it outdoors? Those are lots of fun.
Pennsylvania beer laws are bizarre. It is not outdoors, but the bar does have outside patio seating (serving beer on a patio took a trial to force the issue). I LOVE IPAs and do not see them ever shrinking in market share.
Haven’t seen the sour beer trend take off here. Are they like gueuzes (which you can find at better liquor stores, but definitely aren’t ubiquitous)?
I’m not sure where you live, but at least around here IPAs have been HUGE for the past 5-7 years or so. Just about every beer company has an IPA or Double IPA or Super IPA or IPAx2 or So friggen Hoppy you can’t drink it. It seems like some beer companies try to make it so hoppy it’s almost a challenge to drink it. But I really hate IPAs so I don’t go anywhere near them anyways. I’ll just sit back and wait until there’s a Bock rage or Brown Ale Rage or Stout Rage.
Ugh. I feel the same way. There are IPAs I like, but I’m getting tired of this trend where brewers seem to believe that a hoppier IPA is a better one, regardless of taste. I don’t think that IPAs will ever become hard to find, but I do look forward to something else having the spotlight.
They can’t really take over IPAs because anyone can brew an IPA. Sour beers are difficult to brew, risky to brew, and usually expensive. They may be the latest craze among bleeding-edge beer geeks but sours are certainly not mainstream.
Stuff like Cuvee Des Jacobins Rouge. My local bar has that on tap fairly often. I enjoy it quite a bit, but one is usually enough.
The Wikipedia page for sour beer mentions lambics, gueuzes, and Flanders red ale— all of which I’ve tried and liked, but I agree they’re not something you want to power down a six-pack of.
Yes, gueuzes are included in the sour beer category.
And as Swords to Plowshares already mentioned, sour beer is risky and therefor expensive to brew. As such I doubt they will be a trend. I will say that when you get a good one, they can be a fantastic beer.
On a side note; It’s because of the unpredictable outcome of sour beer that the Belgians started fruit beers. Sour beer is essentially the father of fruit beers which I don’t like at all. Way too sweet.
As for IPA, not really a favorite of mine. Didn’t know there was a trend, but then I live in Asia so perhaps I haven’t noticed in the local beer market.
I have to agree with you Joey P. I’m very much not an IPA kinda guy but I have no problem finding something else. I just found the selection of sour beers in the Hollander group of bars and have to admit I like them A LOT. I don’t really see them being the rage among regular beer drinkers because they are quite expensive. I think I was paying something like $8-10 for a 10oz beer.
I like sours alot and don’t care at all for IPAs.
I sure hope so. Sours are my favorite, and my favorite of the favorites are Flanders Red Ales. I hope a sweeping trend causes them to be found in all my favorite bars, and I can actually get a beer I love when I go out instead of a beer I like.
Belgian styles in general have been on a huge upswing for the last seven years or so.
I tasted 33 beers today. Wow. And generous pours for a tasting.
Berliner Weissens, Flanders Reds and Oud Bruins, Fruit Lambics, Gueuze, Bretted and Wild Ales were the categories.
A fun day, but I sure like a Dale’s Pale Ale or a Bell’s Two Hearted Ale.
But the best part of the day was finding out that the turnout was so great, that they will be doing more events this summer.
(Allagash Interlude was awesome!)