For many years, Derbyshire's Thornbridge has been one of my favourite breweries. Well known for their iconic Jaipur IPA, surely one of the UK's greatest and best loved beers, the Derbyshire brewery has been spreading its love of sour beers too.
When I first tasted Love Among the Ruins, a 7% barrel-aged sour made with cherries and aged in pinot noir casks, I was blown away by its flavour profile and complexity. It reminded me of some of those incredible Belgian brews (Lambics, Oude Gueuzes, Krieks etc.) that leave a flavour explosion on your palate that few other drinks can provide.
Many of us love the complexity of these styles of beer, but there's definitely a place for entry-level, straightforward sours that cleanse the palate and are easy to drink at any time of year or day!
At Thornbridge, they brew both complex and easy-drinking versions of sour beers, including regular kettle sours.
Kettle souring is a popular technique that allows brewers to sour unfermented wort in the brew kettle very quickly. Typically, the kettle is made from stainless steel, but it can also be copper. Once lactobacillus is introduced, the bacteria will consume sugars in the wort, transforming them into lactic acid, which imparts the tart flavour.
This method is in contrast to traditional sour beers that can age for months or even years in wooden barrels. They are left to sour spontaneously due to the action of naturally occurring wild yeasts and other microbes in the air, barrels, fruit skins etc..
George Tims pouring Thornbridge beers at this year's Brew//LDN
Earlier this year at July's Brew//LDN Craft Beer Festival, I caught up with George Tims, Sales Manager for Thornbridge, to talk about the brewery's sour beer program and, in particular, their new pink lemonade sour beer.
"It's called Allott", explains George. "It's our new core range kettle sour. This is a pink lemonade sour at 4.8% ABV, made using purée from Scottish raspberries, English strawberries and rhubarb plus lemon zest and concentrated lemon juice. It pours bright pink with a nice white head. It's a refreshing, accessible, entry-level sour that hopefully brings more people into these beers."
The puréed fruit gives the beer its pink hue and flavour. They carefully add just the right amount of lemon juice to ensure the result is not overly sour!
"We launched this five months ago in 330ml cans and 30L kegs", says George. "Since then, it's been really popular. Whether it's summer or not, we think it'll continue to be really popular with people who like sour beers and struggle to find an accessible, easy-to-drink one that's not 7 or 8% or barrel-aged. It's going really well for us."
Allott is listed in Morrisons stores around the UK for £2 per 330ml can. You can find it in bottle shops and buy online from the brewery's website as well. Thornbridge also exports to 40 different countries including France, Chile and Australia.
Allott is made using an entry-level wheat beer recipe with no hops. It is then kettle-soured with the fruit added a couple of weeks after. Around three weeks later, the beer is packaged.
Making an easy-drinking sour like this that's not too complex still takes plenty of skill, as George explains. "You can go very wrong using fruit, in the way it ferments in a sour. So we're proud that we get it right every time and it's not coming out a grey colour, for example. It's always a nice pink colour and that's the way it's meant to be."
"It's a commercially ready beer for us", adds George. "It has to be brewed on a regular basis. As much as we'd love to spend more time on our sours, unfortunately we're at capacity. This beer is core range for us. We want to keep it brewed often and get it fresh in the can and into customers' hands as quickly as possible. So, the kettle sour process works for us. We always aim to have a core sour beer that changes over time. When we have time and space, we'll make another sour again and add to the range."
Thornbridge also has seasonal sour releases and when they're gone, they're gone! These included for July, a 4.5% ABV Mojito Sour, made with fresh mint and lime. This was another kettle sour and sold in 440ml cans and 30L kegs.
The brewery currently has three barrel-aged sours in stock, made with pediococcus, lactobacillus and brettanomyces, including Love Among the Ruins. "They're more of a labour of love", describes George, "with nine months of hard work or a year in some cases. They're a different species altogether."
There are many different styles of sour beers. It's a wide category, if you can even call it that. "That's the thing", adds George. "Sour comes in many different hats. You sometimes find something so sour, you think you don't like it. With these beers, it's about finding one that you like and then that's all you'll drink for a little while. For me, it took 15 or 20 different beers. Limoncello IPA by Siren, a long time ago, was the first sour beer I liked. Then it went on to Tilquin and others."
For many people, sour beers are just, well, too sour! They're not for everyone. They're certainly more in demand now than they used to be, but are they just a passing fad? George remains optimistic. "I think sours are here to stay. Unfortunately, our cooler climate doesn't always cater for it. People think it's a summer drink, especially with the fruit I expect. Magic Rock has Salty Kiss in their core range. The Kernel always has a rotating sour and Brick Brewery has sour beers, so I don't think they're going anywhere. I doubt we'll see the demise of sours. If it were a fad, it would have gone by now! It might only have a small bit of market share, but it's here to stay!"
The tartness of a sour beer, like the acidity in a white wine or cider, can match well with different styles of food. George suggests a few options. "With a beer like Allott, typically a light fish or white meat dish with lime or spices should go well. I like my food to be just as vibrant as my beer. I don't want one to overpower the other. So I prefer something that's quite spicy and zingy. Something like fish tacos with salsa is what I'd go for with this beer. With more complex ones, I'd go for cheese, particularly the funky, barrel-aged sours with funky cheeses. A rich chocolate pudding can often pair well with some of the more berry-based sours. Also, with beer dinners, we have sour beers as palate cleansers. We use them like a sorbet - nice and cold to refresh your palate before you go on to your next complex beer or dish."
🍺 With all that in mind, I'll be raising my next glass of beer to toast a sour future. Cheers! 🍺
