Are Sours the new IPA in Craft Beer?
From the profusion of cans in my local off-licences it appears so to me.
I wholly welcome this development.
Despite IPAs fuelling the Craft Beer scene – I’ve never taken to them. Just too bitter for my palate.
But Sours?
That’s a different core taste element I can get into.
I picked these 3 sours up in shops. I’ve mainly given with on-line purchasing preferring the more random approach of finding out what’s on the shelves of establishments I visit.
Without further ado – in the order I tasted them – this is what I found.
Crooked Stave, Sour Rosé, 4%
Bit of a sweet tart nose going on. More tart & tannic palate. Lacks a little juiciness, quite dry. Rather short ending.
Finding this one too dry & over-cooked myself.
Wicklow Wolf, Raindrop, Mixed Berry Sour, 4.2%
Pours a cloudy red with free floating un-filtered remnants. Softly sweet tart on the nose. A balanced fruity juiciness combined with the dry tartness went down well.
Nice!
Lough Gill, Pain & Perfection, Mango, Passionfruit & Guava Pastry Sour, 4%
Pours a cloudy amber yellow. Sweet orange like aroma with a tart background. The juicy fruitiness dominates initially before that dry tartness follows. The finish is a wonderful melange of juicy dryness.
My kinda sour!
Thoughts
Clearly all sours are not the same.
Lough Gill’s Pain & Perfection was a clear winner with this trio – and I thoroughly enjoyed the tasting journey.
Maybe it was down to the raw ingredients used?
Whatever the reason – that juicy dryness is what I’m craving.
I suppose it takes me back to sucking fresh gooseberries straight from the fruiting plant. The succulent juices would be dripping from your mouth yet you’d experience a puckering dry tartness too.
A winning combination.
Sláinte
Crooked Stave website here.
Wicklow Wolf website here.
Lough Gill website here.
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