What Is Sour Beer? Styles, How It Is Made, and What to Try First
Sour beer is any beer brewed to taste tart on purpose. Where a pale ale gets its character from hops and a stout from roasted malt, a sour gets its character from acid, produced by bacteria and wild yeast that most brewers spend their careers keeping out of the brewhouse. The result ranges from a light, lemony Berliner Weisse at 3 percent alcohol to a dark, vinous Flanders red aged for years in oak. We brew fruited sours at Uncommon Path Brewing in Fort Lauderdale, so this guide is written from the brewhouse side: what actually makes a beer sour, how the two main methods differ, the styles you will see on tap lists, and how to choose one if you have never tried one.
What makes a sour beer sour
Acid. A standard beer finishes around pH 4.1 to 4.5; a sour beer usually lands between pH 3.0 and 3.6, which is closer to orange juice than to a lager. That acid comes from microorganisms, mainly Lactobacillus, the same family of bacteria used in yogurt and sauerkraut, which converts sugars into lactic acid. Some sours also use Pediococcus, which produces lactic acid more slowly and in larger amounts, and Brettanomyces, a wild yeast that does not make much acid on its own but adds the funky, hay-and-leather aromas people associate with lambic. In a conventional brewery these organisms are contamination; in a sour program they are the recipe. The brewer controls how sour the beer gets through temperature, time, and when the souring step happens.
Kettle sours: the fast method
Most sours on a modern taproom list, including ours, are kettle sours. After the mash, the brewer cools the unfermented wort to roughly 95 to 115 F, pitches Lactobacillus, and holds it for one to three days until it hits the target acidity. The wort is then boiled, which kills the bacteria and locks in the sourness, and the beer is fermented with ordinary brewing yeast like any other ale. Because the bacteria never touch the fermenters, hoses or barrels, a kettle sour can be made on the same equipment as an IPA without risking the rest of the lineup. Kettle sours are clean and bright, lemony rather than funky, and are usually ready in two to four weeks. That is what makes them the natural base for fruited sours and smoothie-style sours.
Mixed fermentation and barrel-aged sours: the slow method
Traditional Belgian sours, and the American wild ales modeled on them, take the opposite approach. The beer is fermented and aged with a mix of brewing yeast, Brettanomyces, Lactobacillus and Pediococcus, usually in oak barrels or foeders, for anywhere from six months to three years. The organisms work in sequence, the oak lets in a little oxygen, and the beer develops layered acidity plus the earthy, funky character that a kettle sour never gets. Lambic goes a step further and is spontaneously fermented, meaning the wort is left open to the air overnight so the local wild yeast and bacteria inoculate it, then aged in barrels. These beers are expensive to make because they tie up tank and barrel space for years, and the results vary batch to batch, which is why they cost more and are often blended.
Berliner Weisse
A German wheat sour, traditionally around 3 to 4 percent alcohol, pale, highly carbonated, and sharply tart with a lemon-and-bread character. In Berlin it is served with a shot of raspberry or woodruff syrup to cut the acidity. It is the base style for a large share of American fruited sours, which is why you will see a beer labeled Berliner Weisse that is purple and pours like a milkshake. Our All the Crust series uses this style as its starting point before the fruit goes in.
Gose
Another German style, from Leipzig, brewed with coriander and a small amount of salt. A gose is tart like a Berliner Weisse but rounder, with a saline finish that makes it unusually refreshing in South Florida heat. Most goses are 4 to 5 percent alcohol. Fruit goses, especially with lime, grapefruit or passion fruit, are common and work well because the salt amplifies fruit flavor.
Fruited and smoothie sours
A kettle sour that gets a heavy addition of fruit puree after fermentation, often several pounds of fruit per gallon. The fruit adds sugar, body and color, and the acid keeps it from tasting like juice. Smoothie sours push this further with lactose or oats and enough puree that the beer pours thick and opaque. These are the sours most people try first because the fruit does the introducing. They are also the ones we brew most often at Uncommon Path: our All the Crust sours are fruited Berliner Weisse-style beers, usually brewed at higher strength than the traditional style, and the fruit changes with each batch. Check the beer page to see which one is on tap.
Lambic and gueuze
Lambic is the spontaneously fermented sour of the Senne valley near Brussels, aged in oak for one to three years. Young lambic is rarely sold on its own. Gueuze is a blend of one, two and three year old lambic that referments in the bottle, giving it champagne-like carbonation, sharp acidity and a dry, funky, sometimes cheesy character. Kriek is lambic refermented on sour cherries, framboise on raspberries. American breweries cannot legally call their beer lambic, so look for the terms "spontaneous ale", "coolship" or "méthode traditionnelle".
Flanders red and oud bruin
The sours of West and East Flanders in Belgium. Flanders red is aged in large oak vats for up to two years and blended young and old; it is reddish-brown, tart, and tastes of cherries, balsamic vinegar and oak, which is why it is sometimes called the most wine-like beer. Oud bruin is darker, maltier and less acetic, aged in steel rather than oak. Both sit around 5 to 7 percent alcohol and pair well with red meat and rich cheeses.
American wild ale
A catch-all for American sours made with Brettanomyces and bacteria that do not fit a Belgian or German template. They can be pale or dark, hopped or not, fruited or not, and range from lightly tart to aggressively sour. If a tap list says "wild ale", "mixed culture" or "barrel-aged sour", expect funk and oak alongside the acid and expect the price to reflect a year or more in barrels.
How sour is sour? Reading a tap list
Brewers rarely print pH, so use the style and the description. "Kettle sour", "fruited" and "gose" usually mean clean, moderate tartness. "Berliner Weisse" on its own, without fruit, is sharper. "Wild", "Brett", "mixed culture", "gueuze" and "Flanders" mean funk and more complex acidity. Words like "smoothie", "lactose" or "milkshake" mean a sweeter, thicker beer where the sourness is balanced by sugar and body. If you are unsure, ask for a taster; every taproom on our Fort Lauderdale breweries list pours them.
What to eat with a sour beer
Acid cuts fat and salt, so sours work like a squeeze of lemon. A fruited sour or gose is excellent with fried food, tacos, goat cheese and anything with chili heat. Flanders red and oud bruin pair with steak, duck and aged cheddar the way a red wine would. Gueuze is a natural match for oysters and mussels. At our taproom the usual order is a fruited sour with a wood-fired pizza that has some fat to cut, like a pepperoni or a white pie.
Where to try a sour beer in Fort Lauderdale
Uncommon Path Brewing at 710 NW 5th Ave usually has a fruited sour on tap alongside our lagers and hazy IPAs, and you can order a flight to compare it against something clean. Invasive Species Brewing in Flagler Village and Orchestrated Minds Brewing in Dorsey-Riverbend both rotate sours regularly, and Tarpon River Brewing downtown lists sours among its house styles. For barrel-aged and wild ales, bottle shops carry Belgian gueuze and kriek year-round. Our breweries in Fort Lauderdale guide has addresses and hours for all of them.
What is sour beer?
Sour beer is beer brewed to be intentionally tart. Bacteria such as Lactobacillus, and sometimes wild yeast such as Brettanomyces, produce lactic and other acids during brewing, dropping the beer to roughly pH 3.0 to 3.6. Styles range from light Berliner Weisse and gose to barrel-aged Flanders red and lambic.
What makes a sour beer sour?
Lactic acid produced by Lactobacillus (and in slower, barrel-aged sours, Pediococcus). Wild yeast like Brettanomyces adds funky aroma but little acid. Brewers control the sourness by choosing the organisms, the temperature, and how long the souring step runs before the beer is boiled or blended.
What is the difference between a kettle sour and a barrel-aged sour?
A kettle sour is soured with Lactobacillus in the brew kettle for one to three days, then boiled and fermented normally, so it is clean, bright and ready in a few weeks. A barrel-aged or mixed-fermentation sour is aged with bacteria and wild yeast in oak for months or years, producing funkier, more complex acidity at a higher cost.
Is sour beer high in alcohol?
Not necessarily. Traditional Berliner Weisse and gose are 3 to 5 percent alcohol. Fruited sours and imperial versions can run 7 to 10 percent, and some barrel-aged sours are stronger still. Check the ABV on the tap list; the tartness does not tell you the strength.
Is sour beer gluten free?
No. Sour beers are brewed from barley and often wheat, so they contain gluten unless the brewery specifically labels the beer gluten-free or gluten-reduced.
Which sour beer should I try first?
Start with a fruited kettle sour or a fruit gose. The fruit and moderate acidity make them the easiest introduction. Move to an unfruited Berliner Weisse or gose next, then to a Flanders red or gueuze once you know you like acidity.
Does Uncommon Path Brewing make sour beer?
Yes. Our All the Crust series is a rotating line of fruited Berliner Weisse-style sours brewed in Fort Lauderdale. The fruit and availability change by batch; the beer page shows what is currently on tap.
Uncommon Path Brewing — 710 NW 5th Ave, Suite 1071, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33311.
- Address
- 710 NW 5th Ave, Suite 1071, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33311 (Progresso / Flagler Village (Thrive Art District))
- Hours
- Mon–Thu 12 PM–10 PM, Fri–Sat 12 PM–11 PM, Sun 12 PM–8 PM (America/New_York)
- Phone
- (954) 765-6016
- Price range
- $$
- Parking
- Free street parking on NW 5th Ave and the surrounding Progresso Village blocks
- Seating
- Indoor taproom plus open-air patio seating
- Dogs
- Dog-friendly patio
- Families
- Family welcome — kids can order from the food menu
- Food
- Wood-fired kitchen on site: pizza, wings, salads, handhelds and shareable plates
- Live music
- Live local music every Friday night
- Trivia
- Jeopardy! Bar League every Tuesday at 7 PM, hosted by Geeks Who Drink — free to play
Call Uncommon Path Brewing at (954) 765-6016 or email events@uncommonpathbrewing.com.