NEW YORK CITY — Pungent brews are giving a new tang to the city's beer scene.
Sour beers — made with wild yeast or bacteria and sometimes aged for years — produce a huge variety of flavor, from mildly tart to downright funky like wet hay, and they are growing increasingly popular among city drinkers, experts said.
“Sour beers really stretch and challenge what you think beer can taste like,” said Leland Estes, the general manager of craft beer bar Clinton Hall in the Financial District. “There are weird, wild and wonderful flavors — and it’s something that’s become a lot more popular over the last year with customers.”
Sour cherry, tangy lemon, horse-blanket and balsamic vinegar are a few of the flavor profiles you’ll find in the fizzy brews.
Each beer gets its unique taste from the type of yeast or bacteria added, as well as how, or if, the beer is aged, said Rob Kolb, co-owner of Long Island City’s Transmitter Brewery, which specializes in sour beers.
Brewers can use bacteria to sour the mash — the mush of hot water and malts that forms the basis for beer — or add a wild yeast or bacteria during the fermentation process, or do both.
Some brews are then aged for years in former wine barrels, or other containers, sometimes with the addition of fruit, like citrus or cherries.
Several strains of bacteria are used to tang up the beer, including lactobacillus — the same culture you’ll find in yogurt, though it’s not live in beer.
Other brewers use an older technique — an open fermentation process allowing whatever yeast and bacteria is in the air to hop into the beer.
Europeans, especially in Belgium, have been souring brews for centuries. Lambic ales, which often are made with fruits, are a common, palatable version.
The recent sour beer trend in the United States, and particularly in New York City, has been fueled “by beer geeks," said Henry James, the general manager of The Pony Bar which specializes in craft beer.
“Breweries have been opening up across the country, trying to do something different, create a new spectrum of flavors,” said James. “It’s really different flavors and now, in the last year, we’ve seen more people interested in trying something new, something unexpected.”
Experts said the brews are also becoming more popular in food pairings. Transmitter Brewery has one of its sour beers featured in a food and drink pairing at upscale restaurant Eleven Madison Park.
“The beers have complex flavors, more like wine, and it sort of lends itself to food,” said Kolb.
DNAinfo New York compiled six places for you to pucker up and try sour brews on tap. The beers change frequently, so these offerings may be replaced by other sours within the week, but often come back into rotation.
Clinton Hall
90 Washington St., Financial District
Cerise Sour Blond — this blond ale is aged for months in wine barrels, with cherries, and fermented with a special in-house sour culture. The bubbly light beer has a deep tart cherry flavor. $14 for 10 ounces.
Bourbon Sour Porter — this black brew has flavors of coffee, bourbon and chocolate and a deep, funky kick. $14 for 10 ounces.
Blind Tiger
281 Bleecker St., Greenwich Village
Allagash Interlude — the brew, aged for three years in its Maine brewery, has the flavor of dark fruits with a strong sourness, said Luke Mason, the bar's assistant manager. He described the tasty beer as having notes of strawberry "mixed with a Warhead" — the very sour candy. $7.50 for 8 ounces.
Cuvée Des Jacobins Rouge — this red ale from Belgium has malty sweetness with a sour tang. $7.50 for 8 ounces.
The Pony Bar
1444 First Ave., Upper East Side
Almanac Farmer Reserve Citrus Cezanne — the northern California brew is aged in wine casks with strains of yeast that give this citrusy ale a sour twist, with notes of oak from the barrel. $6 for 8 ounces.
Tørst 615 Manhattan Ave., Greenpoint
Beerbera — the tart berry flavors are the highlight of this wild Italian ale. $9 for 5 ounces.
Sour Bikini — the refreshing IPA is lightly tart with a lemony taste and a little hoppy. It's the kind of brew you can sip all day at the beach, Tørst said. $5 for 5 ounces.
Alewife
5-14 51st Ave., Long Island City
Birrificio del Ducato Baciami Lipsia — this ale hails from Italy and is aged in wine barrels with pink salt, giving a boost to its sour profile. $10 for 12 ounces.
Transmitter Brewery
53-02 11th St., Long Island City
For a taste of wild and sour beers from the source, head to Transmitter Brewery. The LIC brewery offers tastings on Fridays from 5 to 8 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays from noon to 5 p.m. Currently available for a taste is its F7 brew, a beer soured with lactobacillus, then fermented with a wild yeast. Kalb, the brewery's co-owner, said the brew has a citrusy flavor, with a bit of barnyard funkiness, thanks to the wild yeast. The taste, he said is like "a lemon-lime pie with a horse blanket."
