BTN: Sour beers at the Jug Shop

The Jug Shop in San Francisco takes their sours seriously, so when they schedule a tasting of 28 mouthwatering brews, one scrambles to adjust schedules to attend. As did I. Most of the brewers and beers are familiar to me (though Norway is a fun emerging region for sours), but it is especially helpful to taste them in comparison with their peers as well as check in on how they're changing in bottle and across batches. Gueuze continues to blow my mind, the aging potential of Italian sours makes me very excited, and it is educational to see the variation across time and batches for American sours I love. Do wish we had more access to Cascade here, but with the choice evident below, it's a great time to be a sour beer lover.

First up from Belgium was the Oude Gueuze Tilquin à L’Ancienne, which smelled tart, yeasty, great beautiful fruit depth here. There's some fruit skin elements, and tart yet deep fruit, taste very pure, very superb with laserlike focus. The Cantillon Classic Gueuze has a fuller, fleshier nose, and while tart, is also meatier with some leatherlike quality to it. The nose develops as it opens, tender and soft, dark inward and beautiful in the mouth. What an experience! Onto Switzerland and the 2010 BFM Abbaye De Saint Bon-Chien smells of sweat and earthy, slightly filthy nose, but in a way that I found quite ethereal. The taste is more creamy, warming vanilla, noticeablely rich in comparison to the previous two. Certainly too rich for me in this company. Italy's Birra del Borgo L'Equilibrista has an explosion of fruit on the nose along with a highly unusual note of mushrooms. Light, frothy and soft in the mouth, very winelike, aromatics here are beautiful and the mouthfeel is solid, but the taste feels a bit empty and edges to far into bitter territory.

New York's Ommegang Aphrodite has a tart berried nose, nice enough, but the simple warm flavors of fruit aren't interesting at all on the palate. Pass. Back to Belgium. The Hanssens Oude Gueuze smells earthy and dirty, with a suggestion of banana thrown in. Cheese even? The taste is pure, puckering and elegant, delicate and precise. What beauty! This has what I love about gueuze! The Hanssens Oudbeitje Lambic has a crazy nose I can't really describe, but I did like it. Strawberry overload in the mouth, not ripe ripeness. This is kind of like a sour dessert--I might even learn to like this, but right now it's just striking me as plain weird. The Hanssens Experimental Raspberry has a lovely fruit-driven nose that is simple and tart with nice raspberry. The taste is really off, weird funk, tart, little integration, feels like this is an awkward place if anything, or perhaps bottle variation. I've had bottles before and there's always plenty of funk, but this strikes me different. The Hanssens Oude Kriek smells of sweaty cherries, rather filthy. Dark fruit and plenty of it on the palate, intense, dark, aggressive, some balsamic vinegar notes that remind me of Flemish styles as well. I rather liked the major focus of this beer's flavors.

Back to Italy, and the 2009 Panil Barrique Batch #11 smells of tart root beer candy, crazy soil and cake, weird. It tastes dark, pure but so much soil piled on top that it is hard to enjoy. Evidently it tasted even more of dirt upon release, so hopefully more time will treat it better. The 2011 Panil Barrique Batch #13, on the other hand, smells like a toasty Christmas: wild, complex and spicy. It is pure, giving and rich (at the moment), outstandingly dark and woodsy. This is mighty incredible. Looking forward to seeing how it develops (a recent experience with a 2006 Panil Barrique makes me very excited about what these beers achieve over time). Belgium's Lindemans Gueuze Cuvée René has a tart simple nose, appetizing and likable. It tastes tart, thin, and simple, likable enough. California's Russian River Temptation Batch 06 has a nose that is lovingly deep. What depth! Needs time, however, as that depth on the nose isn't reflected in the palate at all--feels quite shallow. Give it time.

Alaska! The Anchorage Whiteout Wit has a nose of purity, crisp, wheatful, playful. Tastes of purity, elegance and refreshment. An accomplishment indeed. The Anchorage Love Buzz Saison smells wonderful, the beer goes forwheat, rosebud, aromatics, pomegranate. Though creamy in flavor, it is not creamy at all in texture, loving and giving with fruit, leaf, skin, flavors are big here and this is a very giving beer. The Anchorage Bitter Monk didn't do well among the crowd, but I've had this beer on numerous occasions before and this wasn't the best setting for it. Funky bitter hops - the wonderful lightness and elegance get lost in this setting. I still love it.

Michigan! The Jolly Pumpkin Bam Bière has a flowery, somewhat lactic nose, and tastes dark, fruity, aggressive skins, a dark quaffer, quite delicious. The Jolly Pumpkin Bam Noire (bottled 12/10) has a really pretty nose, soft and beautiful. Taste dark roasted fantasticness, purity and darkness, this is drinking just wonderfully at the moment. The Jolly Pumpkin Oro de Calabaza (bottled 8/11) smells a little bit of breakfast cereal, but seems shutdown. A tart butterbomb at the moment, could be a weird batch, but I just suspect it's in a weird place. The Jolly Pumpkin Luciérnaga (bottled 6/11) is bright, vibrant and zesty on the nose, crunchy and grain, it strikes me as a bit more Flemish in style, fuller and fleshier version of sour, lovely and superb. Yum.

Belgium! The Oud Beersel Oude Geuze Vieille has an absolutely killer nose, a nose that speaks volumes. Purity elegance, purity and purity. What a beer. The Oud Beersel Framboise smells of raspberry BBQ sauce, wow! Textured with dark great fruit, not overpowering with the raspberry element, just plain good beer. The Oud Beersel Kriek smell dark juicy and fruity, taste just slight hint of fruit there with lots of frothy dark flavors. A dark mysterious beer. The Strubbe Ichtegem's Grand Cru is a favorite of mine, more layered meaty BBQ notes, this is great food beer. The Rodenbach Grand Cru smells beautifully of tea and smoke and tastes frothy, sweet tangy, it's approachable but oddly seems to lack the complexity I crave--more of a ying-yang effect.

Norway! The HaandBryggeriet Haandbakk has great smoke on the nose, and there seems to be plenty of richness combined with elegance here, a touch of the Flemish tang, but more of interest than the previous. A hard beer to pin down and I adore it for that reason. The HaandBryggeriet Hesjeøl smells very tealike and just screams smoke on the palate, full and smokey. Likable.

Finish up with Germany's classic Leipziger Gose, don't expect me to pick up on the nose after the smokers, but solid palate cleanser, and a very good beer.

Nice Keith,

Thanks for the notes -I love sour Beer. The Gose is a very special one. It is one of the few German exceptions to the old Reinheitsgebot as it is brewed with sea-salt and coriander which gives it that awesome and refreshing lemony flavor. You almost have to drive to Leipzig to get it in Germany, but I used to be able to order it stateside by the case for about $80 for the big bottles.

Also worth inclusion in the sour beer kingdom is Berliner Weiße. It is probably most famous with the addition of Waldmeister (Woodruff) or Raspberry Syrup, but it is great on its own (and its like 2,5% alc.)

Cheers,
Bill

Keith, do you happen to know the vintage on the Ommegang Aphrodite? No, I'm not kidding. They insert a live yeast into their brews before capping; so they age very well. Haven't had the Aphrodite, but have enjoyed other brews from them (after proper aging!).

The Gose is a very special one. It is one of the few German exceptions to the old Reinheitsgebot as it is brewed with sea-salt and coriander

How does that exception work? Is the Reinheitsgebot just a recommendation/quality seal of approval and not an actual law?

The Gose is a very special one. It is one of the few German exceptions to the old Reinheitsgebot as it is brewed with sea-salt and coriander

How does that exception work? Is the Reinheitsgebot just a recommendation/quality seal of approval and not an actual law?

Rahsaan,

I’m far from a beer expert (just an enthusiast!) but I believe that Gose has grandfather status because it was part of an older brewing tradition before unification. The Reinheitsgebot was originally a Bavarian law that later became the standard used throughout Germany. Leipzig was part of Saxony and therefore not subject to Bavarian regulations. The Reinheitsgebot has been challenged a few times and the restrictions lifted for beer sold in Germany, but brewed in other Countries sometime since the adoption of the EU (all beer SOLD in Germany used to have to have been brewed according to the Reinheitsgebot). Nowadays, with few exceptions, all beer brewed in Germany must be made only from barley (or wheat –a somewhat later amendment), hops, water, and yeast (yet another addition to the original rule after the discovery of yeast and its role in fermentation.) But I have seen Gruit beer (beer brewed from ‘other’ ingredients such as different herbs and spices in the Belgian style) brewed in Germany.

That is my understanding. Perhaps someone else has more information.

Cheers,
Bill

Keith, do you happen to know the vintage on the Ommegang Aphrodite?

Carl, I not entirely sure, but suspect 2010.

Also worth inclusion in the sour beer kingdom is Berliner Weiße.

Without a doubt, Bill. Though my introduction to the style while living in Germany, the Kindl, didn't win me over to the style, the versions making it over to US shores these days are stunning refreshers--I particularly love the Fritz Briem.

The Gose is a very special one. It is one of the few German exceptions to the old Reinheitsgebot as it is brewed with sea-salt and coriander

How does that exception work? Is the Reinheitsgebot just a recommendation/quality seal of approval and not an actual law?

I’m far from a beer expert (just an enthusiast!) but I believe that Gose has grandfather status because it was part of an older brewing tradition before unification. The Reinheitsgebot was originally a Bavarian law that later became the standard used throughout Germany.

I am curious about this as well, in particular, how the Reinheitsgebot has actually shaped availability of beerstyles in German brewing. 'Cause there's an oft-repeated claim that the extension of the Bavarian rules to other parts of Germany that followed in the decades after unification yielded the extinction of old-skool brewing traditions (especially in the north) that depended upon ingredients not permitted by the Bavarian approach. But the Reinheitsgebot was more lenient with regards to top-fermenting beers (for example, wheat allowed in Weissbier while prohibited in Bavarian bottom-fermenters) and clearly some wild and crazy beerstyles did survive despite the spread of the Bavarian regulations. If anyone knows of some good sources on the historical impact of the Reinheitsbegot, I'm all ears! Interesting stuff.