beer column
my notes from yesterday's beer column on cbc radio one's on the coast with laura lynch
aka "the sour hour"
aka "the sour hour"
While it may not
have had an official designation, 2015 really was the year of the sour in
Vancouver. 2015 saw so many local
breweries embrace the sour, and the brewer’s challenge at the BC Beer Awards
saw 26 breweries enter a sour for judging. If you haven’t yet tried sour beers, I
strongly suggest that you do. Especially
if you don’t think you’re a beer fan.
The number of people I hear about who never liked beer before but are
loving sour beers is astronomical!
There is a bit of
experimentation with wild yeasts going on (aka spontaneous fermentation, the way beers are soured in Belgium by leaving the beer out in the elements to allow natural yeasts to infect it), but most local brewers are using
other methods to sour their beers.
Classic sour styles like the lambics made in Belgium take a year or more
to develop their sour characteristics.
Local brewers don’t really have the time or space to capture spontaneous
yeast and then allow the beer to sit in barrels for a year or more and still keep
up with the demands for their regular beers.
There is also the worry that by allowing any infected beer into the
brewhouse, all the beer could get infected.
Not that some brewers aren’t still taking on that challenge – like Storm
Brewing, Parallel 49 and StrangeFellows.
But you can make sour beers without the major time and space
commitment and without the risks. These
methods are referred to as “quick souring”.
One method of quick-souring is using a sour mash. This method relies on the natural amount of
lactobacillus found on malted grains.
You add warm water to the grains and leave them to steep overnight to
activate the lactobacillus. This way it
develops the acidity and tartness in a sour.
It is easy in that you just take those steeped grains the next day and
continue to make the beer as usual.
Unfortunately, it is an unreliable method as many other things grow on
the malt as well as the lactobacillus!
What has become more popular lately is the kettle sour. This is a safe and reliable quick-souring method,
which means that making sour beers has become very affordable – a win for the
breweries and sour fans like you and me!
In a nutshell, after the grains are boiled to extract their
sugars, but before fermentation and the addition of hops, lactobacillus is
added. It does its work for about 48
hours, lowering the ph of the wort, and then the brewers continue brewing as
usual. Brewers can then add fruit or
other ingredients to the beer to add different flavours, or they can blend the
sour beer with non-sour beer to get a more interesting final product.
Fun fact: While most
breweries use lactobacillus that they buy from a yeast broker, some are using
greek yoghurt in their kettle sours!
But what's a new innovation without some controversy? Some beer purists are worried that brewers without souring
experience are now jumping into the ring and producing inferior product. They worry that this will ruin the reputation
of sour beers in the public eye. Definitely anyone putting out inferior beer brings does no one in the industry any good. But, for me - and I think the Vancouver beer community as a whole judging by
how many breweries are brewing kettle sours and how they’re being embraced by
drinkers - so long as the product is good, I’m not going to discriminate based
on method. I do think it is important
for breweries to make the distinction though in marketing their sours, whether
they are kettle sours or traditional aged sours. From a consumer standpoint, it’s also
important that quick-soured beers are priced accordingly.
Some sour styles lend themselves better to kettle souring
than others. Berliner Weisse and Gose
for example, are perfect for kettle souring.
The more complex Flanders Reds and Browns cannot be achieved by kettle
souring. They require inoculations with
different bacteria over time.
Tasting:
The very
popular Breakside Brewing La Tormenta is a dry-hopped sour ale. This is a kettle soured beer blended with a
non-sour beer, and dry-hopped.
Breakside Brewery is located in Milwaukie, Oregon, just
outside of Portland. Breakside is one of
the forefront kettle souring breweries.
Its head brewer, Ben Edmunds, along with 2 other Portland brewers (Ben Love and Sean Burke) presented the
method to the 2015 Craft Brewers Conference, so these guys really know what
they’re doing!
La Tormenta is dry-hopped with Citra, Mosaic and Equinox
hops. Tropical and citrusy hops join the
sweet tartness of the soured beer.
La Tormenta is available in bottles at Firefly, Brewery Creek and Denman Liquor, and on tap at Alibi Room and St. Augustines.
La Tormenta is available in bottles at Firefly, Brewery Creek and Denman Liquor, and on tap at Alibi Room and St. Augustines.
Beer Picks:
Local examples of kettle-soured beers:
Cantus Fermus – Main Street Brewing’s winning BC Beer Awards
sour, Checkpoint Charlie Berliner weisse, and Red Reifel Rye Saison are all
kettle sours. Available in rotation at
the tasting room and in bottles.
Powell Street Brewing’s Dark Sour with cherries, and
currently on tap at the tasting room, the Amarillo Sour. Also available in 650ml bombers.
R&B Brewing’s Kettle Sour Export Stout has just been
released. Look for that at your private
liquor store in 650ml bombers. This is a
limited release, so if you see it, get it!
Tofino Hunt & Gather kettle sour with salal berries and
blackberries – this was a fall seasonal.
You may still find a 650ml bomber in a private liquor store.
Four Winds Nectarous – BC Beer Awards people’s choice award
winner – is a limited release dry-hopped kettle sour. If you missed it this time around, fear not,
it will be back around again. Corked
750ml bottles.
More reading on sour beers:
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