Beer style of the week thread - Belgian Sour Ale Edition

Yeah, we've got Founders. I like their stuff.

The Abyss used to be my absolute favorite beer. Now it's all bourbon barrel aged (and $20 a bottle), so I haven't had one in a long time. Before The Abyss, my favorites were Pike XXXXX and, even more so, Hales Pikop Andropov because they were the darkest, heaviest, most ass-kicking stouts I could find.

Fun story about Pikop Andropov: Big group camping trip out on the coast. I stop by Hales and pick up a keg of the stuff to bring along. This stuff was like drinking 9% delicious tar, and we're all pounding it like crazy. By about midnight, I was shitting black. A couple hours later? I was shitting Pikop Andropov. Looked exactly the same coming out as it did coming in, only the smell was so foul that it made normal shit smell like perfume. And we're ALL just running to the little pit toilet, shitting black, and crying from the stench of the place. I'm betting many a tent were just thrown away after that trip... Lesson learned: Imperial stouts are one of the best beers for every occasion except heavy all night drinking.

If you ever get a chance, and you like Rasputin, a visit to North Coast is totally worth it. Their fruited Berliner Weisses are fantastic, Rasputin on nitro, and they always have special one-off things only available there. And for what it's worth, the stretch of Highway 1 from where it forks off 101 to Fort Bragg is the craziest stretch of road I've ever driven. Had the ol' minivan's tires squealing in almost every corner! This was a stop on family vacation a couple of summers ago: For the kids, it was a drive down the Oregon coast, down to Fort Bragg, then east to my dad's place near Tahoe. For us? One rule: Every lunch and dinner of the whole trip at a different brewery (ended up being 12 total). Pretty sweet trip, and the brewery that caught us most by surprise (in a good way) was 7 Devils in Coos Bay.

/yet more csbs

Last tim I did the Deschutes Brewery tour, they pretty much gave me ass much Abyss as I wanted at the end in the tasting room. Got decently loaded on amazing beer for zero dollars.

YellowSnow said:

1to392831weretaken said:

GrundleStiltzkin said:

NoWarningJustDawg said:

YellowSnow said:

GrundleStiltzkin said:

1to392831weretaken said:

If any of you snow people ever head up to Baker, stop by North Fork Brewing and open your wallet. They have killer sours for such a podunk out of the way little brewery. They're awfully proud of them, though. Taught me to always ask for the price before the growler fill. "SIXTY-SEVEN DOLLARS!?"

That is a great little brewery.

ATBS, I loathe sours.

Your hatred of Euro Fag beer causes me much befuddlement.

#MeToo
There's so much there. Disliking all sours is pretty understandable and common. Clean German and Austrian lagers and less clean Czech ones? Hybrids like Kolsch/Altbier? Hefeweizen? Belgian wit? The entire range of Belgians? Abundance? Janet Reno?

Sounds like a lot of haie in his life, but I'll repeat: To each their own.
Cheers--

I tried hard to like Belgians, to fit in you see. I've been to Monk's in Philly several times. I'd still probably dig Delerium Tremens. It's been so long I can't really remember the exact reasons why, but I think it's the yeast strains used. I don't like the banana-y esters or the bubblegummy flavors.

I can enjoy a good lager on occasion, same with an Alt or Kolsch. Alaskan Amber was my favorite beer for a long time. But I don't care for the malting style of the German dark beers.

Over time, I found what I enjoyed most are the English-originated styles. Porters, stouts, IPA, pales, and my GOATs, Imperial/Export Stouts.

Could have typed this myself. My Belgian phase was more because I liked them (and hated money) than to fit in (fitting in would be PBR at that time). funny you mention Delirium Tremens. Ever had the Nocturnum? I swear they drug that stuff. First two I attempted to drink--attempted--resulted in me forgetting I was drinking before the bottle was empty and getting into some giddy shenanigans that may or may not have involved public nudity. In fact, I believe the second one resulted in scaling a building downtown and getting a blowie on the roof. I also liked Unibroue's stuff, particularly the Trois Pistoles. Abt. 12 from St. Bernardus was also up there.

Nowadays, I rarely touch the Belgian stuff, mostly because I'm a poor and have drawn a hard line in the sand on how much I'm willing to pay for a bottle of beer. Which leaves plenty of room for my go-to dark beers. There are just too many amazing porters and stouts that at $10/sixer to be spending $12 for a 750 of Abt. 12. Lately, just based off of what's in the grocery store at the moment, I usually pick up whatever's on sale between:

Fremont Dark Star
Worthy Lights Out Stout
Black Raven Coco Jones
Sierra Nevada Narwhal Stout (if on sale)
No-Li Wrecking Ball Stout (if on sale)
North Coast Old Rasputin (if on mega sale)
Or I head a few blocks away to my brother's house, where he has a keg of Icicle's Dark Persuasion (fucking love this stuff) on nitro.

There's a non-dark beer I've been going through at an embarrassing rate lately, and that is New Belgium's Nitro Cold Brew Cream Ale. 5%, light, chuggable: PERFECT shop beer. Haven't made a straight cut since discovering it...

/csb

IFL Fremont Dark Star. So thick and syrupy.

Fremont BBA Spice Wars may be my favorite dark beer. Regular Dark Star is also great. I have 30+ bottles of barrel aged stuff aging right now. Really looking forward to opening the various Big Bad Baptist releases.