I have a love-hate relationship with Sour Beers. I love the funky wild sour notes, the radically different approach to brewing beer. But I also do not like it.
For just as a really difficult book that you read or a movie you watch, sometimes you really just want to relax and enjoy something like a cold beer. Sour beers, for me, is not a beer to drink when you just want to relax.
Either way, I was intrigued by these two beers, so I bought them. Again, they were much more expensive than regular beers, and drinking them as regular beers kind of makes for a hard pill to swallow. But drinking them as forms of artistic expression from the brewer makes it a little more palatable.
These beers, in the end, went down really well, despite my strange relationship with them. Here I share with you some of the tasting notes that I made.
Tamarillo-Granadilla Sour
Sour | 4.5 % ABV | 4 IBUs
It is always interesting to me how the sour beers have very low IBUs. I am no expert on the brewing process, but maybe there is something in the sour beer (stylistic or even fermentation-wise) that require low IBUs.
Either way, the first smell was beautiful grapefruit on my nose; but then granadilla (passionfruit). There was some sour but not that much; it was much more yeasty than the beer that I reviewed below (the other one).
The first sipe had a nice and thick mouthfeel to it, with so much flavour in that first sip. It had nice acidity, a lot of fruitiness, definitely a lot of passionfruit.
It was an incredible beer. Good carbonation but not a lot of lacing.
As I drink and it warmed up a bit, there was much more passionfruit flavours and notes, almost like the passionfruit skin that you can taste.
Hibiscus-Citrus Sour
Sour | 4.5 % ABV | 4 IBUs
The first smell of the beer was incredibly complex, it had roasted caramel notes then I was hit with loads of grapefruit, and only some other some citrus.
The first taste was not that sour but very fruity, with almost no detectable bitterness.
The first taste also had a nice and thick mouth feel, but sadly it had a slightly underwhelming taste, with very subtle flavours. It was still a very good beer!
Postscriptum, Cheers to Sours
In the end, these were some good sour beers. They are not everybody’s cup of tea (or beer), and they are definitely an acquired taste.
But I enjoyed them!
Cheers to the next round.
All of the musings and writings are my own, albeit inspired by these sours. The photographs are also my own, taken with my Nikon D300.