There are few beer styles as self-explanatory as sours. As the name suggests, this is a style of beer known for its sour, acidic flavor profile. This unique taste comes from the use of various bacteria and yeasts added during the brewing process. Bacteria include Lactobacillus, Brettanomyces, and others. These ingredients add funk, barnyard flavors, acidity, and a ton of lip-puckering tartness.
But just because two beers are labeled “sour ales”, doesn’t mean they’ll necessarily taste anything alike. Brewers add various fruits and other ingredients to round out the flavor notes. On top of that, the different bacteria and yeasts add different flavors and aromas as well.
To help you on your sour beer journey, we turned to the brewing community for help. We asked a few of our favorite craft beer experts and brewers to tell us the best sour beers to drink right now. Keep scrolling to see all of their picks.
Backacre Sour Golden Ale
Suzanne Schalow, CEO of Craft Beer Cellar in Belmont, Massachusetts
ABV: 7.5%
Average Price: $28 for a 750ml bottle
The Beer:
Backacre Sour Golden Ale is simply divine and impressive beyond words. Perfectly balanced acidity leans against a light, wispy shredded wheat-esq body. It’s Simply stunning.
Tasting Notes:
It has an intimidating acidic, citrus, and wild yeast aroma that simply dares you to indulge. And be glad you did, because the playful yeast and fermentation organisms are all in the right order here and have found harmony with grain and water.
Whiner Le Tub
Joe Straitiff, brewing manager at Half Acre Brewing in Chicago
ABV: 6.5%
Average Price: $13 for a six-pack
The Beer:
Whiner’s Le Tub. What’s not to love about a blended, partially barrel-aged, wild farmhouse ale that’s available in cans year-round? This beer is impressively complex but still easy to drink. It’s also dangerous at only 6.4% ABV.
Tasting Notes:
Le Tub is tart, zippy, and refreshing. Waves of lemon and white wine blend with subtle Saison funk.
Rodenbach Classic
Nico Freccia, co-founder at COO at 21st Amendment Brewery in San Francisco
ABV: 5.2%
Average Price: $16 for a four-pack of 16-ounce cans
The Beer:
Rodenbach for sure. The original Flemish Red Ale has just the right amount of tartness to balance out its full body. It’s a great beer to start your sour beer journey and one you’ll come back to again and again.
Tasting Notes:
It has massive complexity from the oak foeders that it is aged in. Well balanced, tart, and absolutely delicious.
Cantillon Gueuze
George Hummel, grain master of My Local Brew Works in Philadelphia
ABV: 5%
Average Price: $25 for a 750ml bottle
The Beer:
I’m not always a fan of modern sour beers. Often, I observe, yes that brewers can make a sour beer, but should they? But one thing you can’t go wrong with is Cantillon Gueuze. This is the beer I believe all the other sours wish they were.
Tasting Notes:
Just a huge funky depth of flavor. Hay, barnyard, and lemon zest all greet the nose and taste buds. It’s not a beer I could drink all day. But I find it very refreshing and great with food.
Russian River Compunction
Fal Allen, brew master at Anderson Valley Brewing Co. in Boonville, California
ABV: 7.4%
Average Price: Limited Availability
The Beer:
Pretty much any sour beer made by Russian River is going to be a winner, but I think my favorite of theirs is the Compunction. It is a mixed fermentation that takes almost a year to complete in wine barrels. After which the beer is aged for an additional three to four months on pluots (which is a cross between a plum and an apricot).
Tasting Notes:
This blonde ale is complex, contemplative and unique. The pluots give Compunction a beautiful light purple/pink color. The beer has an overtone of the pluots and their tartness, mixed with the aroma and flavors of the bacterial fermentation and the Brettanomyces. It is all rounded out with hints of the oak barrel and the wine that was previously in it. Complex and funky, yet refreshing and enjoyable. Masterly designed and stunningly executed.
Alesong Touch of Brett
Ryan Pachmayer, head brewer at Yak and Yeti Restaurant and Brewpub in Arvada, Colorado
ABV: 8.6%
Average Price: $18 for a 750ml bottle
The Beer:
Alesong’s Touch of Brett is one I look forward to drinking every year. It’s their most award-winning beer for a reason. Almost infinitely complex, with the Brett blend in French oak barrels at a higher ABV level. The team in Eugene has really created a winner with that beer.
Tasting Notes:
The nose is citrus and funky Brettanomyces. The palate is filled with grapefruit, lemon zest, and tart barnyard funk.
Side Project Pulling Nails
Garth Beyer, certified Cicerone and owner of Garth’s Brew Bar in Madison, Wisconsin
ABV: 7%
Average Price: $40 for a 750ml bottle
The Beer:
Pulling Nails from Side Project is always a go-to when I’m looking for wild, blended, complex, yet balanced beer. The level of depth that you get when tasting it is – pardon the pun – wild.
Tasting Notes:
You’ve got flavors ranging from oak and chardonnay to peach pit and tangerine bitter peel. As it changes temperature, the complexity shifts into an entirely different flavored beer. This isn’t just a beer, it’s a flavor journey.
Rodenbach Grand Cru
Jared Williamson, lead brewer at Schlafly Brewing in St. Louis
ABV: 6%
Average Price: $16 for a 750ml bottle
The Beer:
Rodenbach Classic is one of the benchmarks of Belgian sour beers and the first one I really fell in love with. Just the right level of sour and a hint of sweet fruitiness, this Flemish Ale is one to admire. But its Rodenbach Grand Cru brings it to a whole new level.
Tasting Notes:
This blend of Flanders red ales is known for its mix of tactic acid tart flavor, oak, and ripe fruit. It’s definitely worth trying if you enjoy the original Rodenbach.
Dewey Strawberry Pretzel Salad
Andrew Hueston, USBG bartender at El Vez in Philadelphia
ABV: 4%
Average Price: $20 for a four-pack of 16-ounce cans
The Beer:
Dewey Beer Company Strawberry Pretzel Salad. This sour is so bizarre but so good. It’s based on a local dessert that the people of South Delaware will fight you to the death if you insult it.
Tasting Notes:
This very unique beer is known for its mix of salty, tart, fruity, and refreshing flavors. It’s the kind of beer that needs to be tasted to be believed.
Plan Bee Barn Beer
Frederic Yarm, USBG bartender at Josephine in Somerville, Massachusetts
ABV: 5.5%
Average Price: $9 for a 750ml bottle
The Beer:
Barn Beer from Plan Bee Farm Brewery is one of the most elegant wild ales that I have ever tasted. The coolship method and the brewery’s location inside a barn inoculate the beer with microbes.
Tasting Notes:
This adds lightly tart cider, earthy leather, and pineapple accents to this farmhouse beer that is bolstered by lemon and pine notes from the hops.
