As a Belgian I am obviously interested in sours. I was in California in June/July, mainly tasting West Coast IPAs, but also had a couple of American sours: from Russian River and from Prairie. The Russian River ones were, no doubt, world-class. I took a picture of the Prairie Ale, a “Belgian saison”, and immortalized in on my Facebook account with as comment “a composition of brett, saaz, and the sink”.
I didn’t take any notes as I was on vacation, so I can’t really describe the taste anymore.
Now, this beer has 98 on ratebeer. So what I have been wondering is: is that 98 indicative of how the American market perceives sour beers, and therefore of the real quality of those beers, or is this simply a freak accident - me not liking this particular beer? Anyone here who knows both American and Belgian sours and cares to comment?
The 98 just means about 3.75 overall score. The per style score means more to me, but only a little. Now, that is 97, so your point stands. But, is the beer a 37 or so on a 5-50 point scale? I think that’s about right, but I don’t know how much the brett has been working on that particular bottle you had.
I’m not a sour beer fan very much but IME Belgian sour beer brewers (and other European sour beer brewers) have mastered the art of BLENDING which makes sour beers much more appealing to me. American sour beers are just a little too “in your face” sour, they have not mastered nuance the way the Europeans have, But there are some who have gotten really close. Russian River is one. Jolly Pumpkin is another.
I’m a sour fan and I’ve gotten into making my own over a year now. I agree with Major’s comments that some American sours can really be too much " in the face" sour. That is the case for a lot of American brewers who like push the boundaries for different styles and sometimes I believe that some great beers can be the result of this approach. Of course, some can downright awful as well. Sometimes pushing the boundaries are necessary in order to find out how far you can go and maybe come out with the next great beer.
I have one of those in my cellar. Will have to try it today.
I have found some of the Prairie Artisan beers to be a bit spotty, but absolutely love their 'Merica. Their ‘clean’ saison is really nice. Seems like both saison and sour have become too much of a thing recently tho.
As mentioned, it feels like maybe we push toward much more intense flavors.
I have tried quite a few American and Belgian sours. As well as Brett beers. I keep trying to figure out what the appeal is. I think as a former winery worker, I have a very strong aversion to Brett and sour beers just seem weird to me.
Many American sours are young and unblended, or if they are blended they are blended across vessels of the same age. It is rare to find American sours that have 2-4 year old components that are less sour or have a softer acidity. (Some exceptions would include NB La Folie and Cascade’s sours.) So that is a big part of the profile of those beers. Lots of people here have a preference for the higher level of acidity so our brewers steer towards that preference.
I’m not particularly impressed by Prairie. I’ve tried a number of the beers and just don’t get the fascination. They’ve had some QC issues over the past couple years with infections, rusty bottle caps, etc.
I haven’t been impressed with any beer distributed by Shelton Brothers, especially Prairie. I had Prairie Birra and it was so bad I likely won’t buy one of their beers again. Nasty sharp metallic flavor. Everything I’ve tried that is distributed by Shelton Brothers is over hyped and/or overpriced. I believe Prairie is both. I know Cantillon is a Shelton Bros beer but I haven’t been able to try it. Mikkleller is good but overpriced. There is a large “beer geek” culture in this country that causes the hype around beer like Prairie and I think that helps drive up the ratings on beer review sites.
As far as American sour beer is concerned Side Project in St. Louis is amazing. It is well balanced and very easy to drink. I also enjoy the sour ales from New Belgium and the Saison-Brett and Love Child from Boulevard.
Did you just say that La Folie has a softer acidity than most American sours? I didn’t realize Warheads made beer. La Folie is one of the most tart sours I’ve ever had.
Extreme tart or sour does not bother me in the least. There are quite a few examples in Belgium, for instance Tilquin Oude Gueuze, or unblended lambics (e.g., from Timmermans). But that Prairie beer had some kind of in your face brett combined with the wrong type of hops that really repelled me.
EDIT: according to ratebeer, Prairie ale has saaz, ale yeast, wine yeast and brett.
I think the variation is large, like the craft beer industry itself. There are some excellent American brett and sour beers… Allagash, Jolly Pumpkin, and Russian River really do them well. On the other hand, there are a bunch of others that taste like a (dirty) kitchen sink… diacetyl, enteric, and other flavors from a “the more wild and uncontrolled, the better!” mentality.
