Hello friend Beersapiens!
We are already in the middle of summer, and if you are not lucky enough to be on vacation, surely you will be looking for shade in the streets and on the terraces. But no matter how hot it is, you still love beer and you dream of cooler beers, less dense and with less alcohol content.
That's why I want to talk to you about a perfect beer-style category for these months: sour beers, Sour Ales and their sub-styles, especially Berliner Weisse.
What did you say their names are?
If you haven't heard of these beer categories before, don't worry. Although in recent years the number of followers of the sours has grown a lot, it has been a style that has had a hard time carving out a niche in the market.
The translation of its name from English is a mixture between sour and acid, and this gives us a clue to its main characteristics. Beers sour are aromatic, generally low in alcohol and very refreshing! For all these reasons, it is a beer that can be liked by both experts in crafts as well as those looking for a drink "that doesn't taste too much like beer".
A bit of history
Although, as I have already told you, it is not one of the best-known styles, it may be the origin of all kinds of current beers, because before almost all the malt that was fermented was somewhat bitter . We can say that humans stopped drinking sour beer when Monsieur Pasteur “discovered” the method to stop biogenesis, also known as pasteurization.
As Christian DeBenedetti indicates in an article on the origin of this variety published in the New York Times, those responsible for this style prevailing were “pre-modern sanitation and bacteria, still little known but usually of natural origin”. These elements are the source of sours' acidity, as well as their strong flavors and aromas, sometimes compared to leather or smoke.
In Europe, legend has it that it was at the beginning of the 18th century and in northwestern Belgium when this style began to be officially produced. In the small town of Itterbeek, situated in the Seine Valley, Jacobus Walravens set up his own farm with a café, an orchard and a malting room. He called it Brasserie de la Taupe , the brewery of Topo . It was 1702 and the beginning of lambic beer, which he would brew with wild yeasts unique to that area .
As a curiosity, when the style sour arrived in the US, in the early 1970s, consumers often returned the bottles thinking that it was bad. But these early beers laid the groundwork for increasingly sour beers.
The Wild Beers: Brewing
They are also known as “wild beers”. And it is not because they were made in the Belgian forest with moles, but because wild yeasts, bacteria and even fungi were incorporated into their fermentation.
Right now you may be wondering: bacteria and fungi? Yes, what for other beers is considered a manufacturing error, for sour it is an essential step. Bacteria give beers sours that distinctive flavor, while yeast adds the earthy quality. They are generally enriched with two types of bacteria and one type of wild yeast.
The first bacterium to be added is Lactobacillus (exactly, the one in yoghurts for digestion), a bacterium that converts sugars into lactic acid that helps to quickly lower the Wort pH The second is Pediococcus, a bacterium from the same family that is used to add acidity. This is metabolized without oxygen, and the longer it is in the beer, the higher the acidity of the beer. And the other necessary element is the wild yeast called Brettanomyces (the “Brett” for friends).
What types of beers are Sour?
According to the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP), European sours are divided into two main categories: German and Belgian, which in turn are organized into various sub-styles.
To start, today I'm going to talk about the Belgians:
- Lambic : in its basic version is a self-fermenting beer that originated in the Senne valley near Brussels. It is a beer that has wheat in the recipe and its flavor is acidic and very fruity.
- Fruit Lambic: these are lambic beers aged for one year to which fruit is added in order to macerate the beer with these fruits. The traditional fruit styles are Kriek (with morello cherry), Framboise (with raspberry) and Pêche (with peach)
- Gueuze: is a blend of Lambics aged for one to three years. The more it is aged, the more nuances it will bring and the less noticeable the carbonation will be.
- Flanders red : This native Flanders style is aged for two years in cedar barrels. This gives it flavors and aromas of cherries, currants, balsamic vinegar and wood.
- Flanders Brown or Oud Bruin: this brown version is a bittersweet beer dominated by caramel and dark fruits such as raisins, figs and dates.
At Beer Sapiens we have 8 examples of the Sour style . Believe me, it's taking you a while to try these sour and wild beers!
Sources: delgranoalacopa.com, loopulo.com, Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP)
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