Style family · 5 styles · node 07 of 11

Sour

Kettle sours to spontaneous wild ales — the family runs from quick-turn fruit vehicles to foeder-aged patience projects. The labels tell you which: check the barrel and fruit language on the label.

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Labels: 1,845
This week: 8
Median ABV: 5.9%

Styles in this family

Fruited Sour 1,064Wild / Brett / Lambic-style 375Gose 246Kettle Sour (other) 99Berliner Weisse 61

Fruited Sour1,064 labels: Kettle sours with fruit, including the smoothie and slushy end where purée dominates and the label reads like a farmers' market. The fruit list is legally required, so these labels are unusually legible and easy to date. High volume, fast turnover: the approval date is close to the shelf date here.
Wild / Brett / Lambic-style375 labels: Mixed fermentation, Brettanomyces, spontaneous and lambic-style beers, Flanders reds and browns: the patience end of sour. Labels are few and deliberate, often naming a barrel, a foeder, a vintage or a blend number. These labels reward slow reading and are among the most collected on Hop Grail.
Gose246 labels: Salted, coriander-spiced sour wheat beer from Leipzig, now more often a fruit vehicle on American labels. The label almost always says gose and names the fruit; salt and coriander appear in the fine print. Summer-weighted labels, quick to brew and quick to release.
Kettle Sour (other)99 labels: Kettle sours without fruit, and tart ales generally: lactobacillus-soured, quick, clean. A smaller node than fruited sour because most breweries add fruit before the label goes in. Where a label says simply sour ale or tart ale with no fruit named, this is where it rests.
Berliner Weisse61 labels: Light, tart wheat sour in the Berlin tradition, usually under 5%, often fruited in its American life. Labels are fewer than gose and skew toward breweries that also make kettle sours. Berliner on the label is reliable; look at whether fruit or syrup is named alongside it.