Sour Beer: The weird and Wonderful

The second style, meanwhile, can take up to three years. “Fermentation is done using a mixed culture containing interesting yeast variants such as Brettanomyces,” explains Shepherd, describing this culture as akin to a sourdough starter. “The hallmark of these kinds of fermentation is complexity and depth - however these gorgeous flavour profiles take time to develop.” These are aged either in stainless steel or in former wine, sherry or spirit barrels, and sometimes conditioned with local fruit.

There are numerous benefits to stocking both styles, as Brett Ellis of Wild Beer Co in Somerset explains. “They serve different purposes, and are for different occasions – they also offer different price points, at different ends of the price ladder. If you only stock entry level products, with nothing at the high end, you're not going to be able to upsell, other than selling more or switching them to cocktails.”

For Wardrop, certain sour beer styles can be a good introduction to the beer category in general. “We’ve focused on making sours more accessible using fruit forward flavours, and we’re now seeing more drinkers getting into craft beer starting with sours,” he says.

Shepherd agrees. “We find our ‘fresh’ sours often appeal to people who say they don’t like beer – they might be cider drinkers, or they might dislike the bitterness and hop characteristics of more traditional beer styles.”

The broad appeal of sour beers is key, believes Alex Handford of Hawkshead Brewing in the Lake District. “The appeal for us is to experiment with these wild materials not usually used in our beers, which gives us a different scope and flavours to target a wider range of beer drinkers.” 

There are other benefits too. “We have also seen people become more health conscious over the last couple years, so some sours within the category will have a lower alcohol content but still refreshing and full of flavour,” adds Handford.

Hawskhead is known for its Key Lime Tau sour beer, first brewed in 2015 with US-based Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project, part of the Trans-Atlantic Rainbow Project. The beer has since been released annually on Tau Day (celebrating the number tau, equal to pi doubled, on 28 June, or 06.28 in the US). Production was halted for a few years as a result of the pandemic, but the beer made its return this year.

“More recently we have been experimenting with some wild yeast strains, such as the innovative Lallermand Philly Sour creating a Flemish inspired sour red ale which has a tartness with flavours of gooseberry from the malts and yeast,” says Handford.

Among Wild Beer Co’s many sour beers is its Modus Operandi, which Ellis describes as “a blend of red wine and bourbon barrel-aged sour beer, with sour cherry notes and hints of chocolate – it will go perfectly with anything that red wine goes with, and has a price point that's along the lines of wine rather than beer, so you can extend the beer category into the celebration occasion, for example.”

Ellis, who was a chef before becoming a brewer, touches on one of sour beer’s most useful qualities – its food friendliness. Offering both acidity and carbonation, sour beers can match a variety of foods. “With that carbonation lifting everything, it's the perfect marriage that wine can't give, and nor can standard beer – but sour beer can. It opens up a realm of flavour combinations,” he says. As evidence of this, Wild Beer Co has held a number of food and beer dinners around the world, including with Michelin-starred restaurants.