A Guide to Sour Beer for Wine Lovers

If you love wine, you'll love these sour beer suggestions from our resident beer expert

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Monk’s Café Flemish Red Ale

Some of you might be familiar with the famed Monk’s Café in Philadelphia, Pa. This ale actually hails from Belgium but Brouwerij Van Steenberge makes it specifically for that Philly restaurant.

Even though it comes from Ghent, Belgium, it is a pretty tame selection as sours go. The aroma is smoky and very mild and the flavor features raisins, plums, dates and a light sour tone. It’s sweet without being too tart and Monk’s even describes it as a palate cleanser.

You can get this ale in stores, but I highly recommend taking a jaunt to the café itself and pairing this brew with the pomme frites.

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Tags: Wine Education, Clare Goggin Sivits, beer

Comments

Bud Taste

1117380 15

Petrus Aged Pale Ale should be listed as well, not to mention Duchesse de Bourgogne and Vichtenaar.

Jul 04, 2012 at 1:41 PM
cubanazo

168718 1

where can I get the sour beers in your article

Jul 04, 2012 at 3:55 PM
steve16046

Hand of Snooth

1085122 825

Cantillon Gueuze 100% Lambic is my favorite Gueuze. Such a great job of blending of the various lambics. Not saying it has to make 'the list', just one I personally enjoy.

Jul 04, 2012 at 6:32 PM
Jildaz

476658 146

I'm very happy to see this. I've been wanting to find out try other sour beers. I'm a big fan of Duchess de Bourgogne. Merci.

Jul 04, 2012 at 7:53 PM
Clare-
Goggin-
Sivits

Hand of Snooth

1066509 621

Hi all -- thanks for the comments! Cubanazo, I purchased these beers at a Whole Foods in New York City. Unfortunately, I'm not sure where they would be available near you but I certainly encourage you to keep an eye out for them.

Jul 05, 2012 at 11:18 AM
ecs2014

520845 30

To clarify, the Woods by Cisco is a series. Monomoy Kriek is only one of several beers that are released throughout the year. My personal favorite is Lady of the Woods, which is usually available in late winter.

Jul 05, 2012 at 2:18 PM
aylwin-
forbes

481651 14

Obviously impossible to cover all the bases in an article like this, but I would like to throw in Cascade Brewing in Portland as one of my favorite sour brewers. They have a wonderful range of barrel-aged beers that when assembled together is beautiful both in range of color and taste.

Some of these are not for the uninitiated; I remember offering a Duchesse de Bourgogne to an Englishman at dinner and he practically spat it out.

Jul 06, 2012 at 12:18 PM
WhereTheWI-
ldBeersAre

1118132 8

Nice article and another thumbs up for Cascade out of Oregon. Cheers, Jeff - WHERE THE WILD BEERS ARE

Jul 09, 2012 at 12:25 AM
Leann Dubh

1121094 9

Some other breweries that make great sours (some have already been noted): Cantillon, Drie Fonteinen, Verhaeghe, Cascade, Russian River, Allagash, Panil, etc.

Jul 23, 2012 at 12:45 AM