There's been quite a bit written about 'sour' beers in the CAMRA press recently, an article in the August edition of What's Brewing discusses Belgian beers, reminding me of my visits to my brother over the 15 years he lived in Brussels, and our visits to Cantillon Brewery (website) in Anderlecht. Luc De Raedermaeker's article looks at the different styles in Belgium, and specific for this blog are the Lambics and Gueuzes, which are spontaneously fermented ales (with local wild yeasts) from around the Brussels area that he describes as complex, sour and acidic.
I was never a great lover of these sour beers beforehand, but our wandering around the brewery, and tasting beers in the brewery, changed my mind quite a bit. Indeed the Cantillon Vigneronne (6%) I found to be like a rather fine dry white wine, perfect with fish dishes or just supping as a refreshing ale. The Vigneronne is one of Cantillon's rarer ales (less than 5% of the brewery's total production), and is a blend of lambics aged 16-18 months old, with Italian Muscat grapes added. If you ever see it, and it comes in 750ml bottles, I'd recommend buying some!
Chorlton Mango Sour
In Britain now though, with the recent trendy move among many smaller brewers to brew crafty keg beers, they not only appear to have been influenced by the big hopped craft beers produced in the USA, but also by the Saisons, Lambics and Gueuzes brewed in Belgium. There's a very interesting article in CAMRA's Autumn 2018 Beer magazine, written by Adrian Tierney-Jones called 'Supping on a sour beer style' which explains the different ways of brewing 'sour' beers. These are either by adding lactobacillus (the bacteria found in yoghurt) to the wort in the kettle, or by using wild yeast and ageing in barrels after fermentation, just like the Belgian brewers. I've even seen brewers adding salt, though that shouldn't be great for drinkers with hypertension!
Anyway, now I have a craft beer shop around the corner, the Eel & Bear (blog) I have been sampling some of these sour beers brewed in Britain. The first that I appreciated was from Manchester brewer, Chorlton Brewing Company (website), and their Mango Sour (4.5%), brewed with pale malt, mango extract, and Bramling Cross hops, I believe. This was draught, and packed a big fruity mango aroma and flavour with a hint of biscuit from the malt. Slightly hazy with plenty of body and a dry tart finish, a bit like an alcoholic smoothie, and not bad at all!
Next I had a "Gooseberry Gose" (apparently Gose is a German sour beer style) from Huddersfield brewer, Magic Rock Brewing (website), their 4.1% Salty Kiss, which is brewed with lager malt as well as extra pale malt, Cascade hops, gooseberries, sea buckthorn, and, you've guessed, sea salt! I couldn't quite work out the aroma, I wrote "a bit strange & sea-like", the flavour was gooseberry fruity and salty, with a dry sour bitter finish, and it's oddly refreshing!
I've also enjoyed a bit more colourful sour beer from Aberdeen brewer, Fierce Beer (website) and their 4.5% Very Berry, a "Sour Berry Ale." These tend to include wheat malt in the mash, so wheat malt as well, plus Chinook hops. Cloudy, of course, with a deep red colour and a big fruity aroma and flavour, raspberry, blackberry and blackcurrant, and a dry tart finish, very nice!
I've left what I consider the best to last, a collaboration between Buxton Brewery (website) and Norwegian brewer Lervig Aktebryggeri (website), that is, Trolltunga! This 6.3% 'Gooseberry Sour IPA' is named after a jutting rock in Norway (guess the translation!), 700 metres over lake Ringedalsvatnet. Trolltunga is a pale golden colour and has a subtle aroma, tasty gooseberry in the flavour, and a nice sour bitter finish. Like the Cantillon Vigneronne mentioned above, I wrote "would go well with fish!" I certainly like it, and have gone back for more, more than once. The photograph below is the draught version, which looks cloudier than from the bottle, however, I did pour it carefully for the photograph above, and there was still lees in the bottom of the bottle.
Trolltunga
Whichever, draught or from the bottle, with little lees or very hazy, I enjoyed the Trolltunga very much, and I will carry on drinking it every now and then, no doubt, cheers!
No comments:
Post a Comment