Sour beer, lambic, et cetera

Question

As a long-time, sometime, home brewer and beer enthusiast—though hardly a connoisseur—with an interest in different styles of beer, I was intrigued by Pietro's question re: bottling blended sours:

Bottling Blended Sours

I once ordered a genuine Belgian lambic at some pub (I forget where, when, and what label was on the bottle) and thought it had to be spoiled.

It's my understanding that lactobacillus fermentation is responsible for, among other things, traditional-style pickles and saurkraut, and partly responsible for lambic as well as other 'wild' beers. Sourish and cloudy I expected, foul I didn't. Now I'm wondering if anyone can recommend a brand, and a supplier in Southwest British Columbia or Northwest Washington, who can provide an example so I can decide whether or not it's something I'd like to drink and eventually try to reproduce.

Answer 1

Driftwood, here in Victoria, brews Bird of Prey and Lustrum as seasonal release, both sour ales. If you're in Vancouver, you might be able to find a bottle or two at a specialty private liquor store.

Answer 2

It is indeed not just lactobacillus, but usually a mix of lacto, pediococcus, enterobacter, acetobacter, Brettanomyces, Saccharomyces, &c.

There are a number of excellent US sour producers in that area, regionally, but from further afield that you should have distribution of. I believe very few are doing a traditional Guezue Lambic, but many are doing really wonderful sour beers in a broader stylistic range.

Names that come to mind include:

• Cascade (Portland, OR)
• Logsdon Farmhouse Ales (outside Hood River, OR)
• The Bruery (Placentia, CA)
• Russian River (Santa Rosa, CA)
• Lost Abbey (San Marcos, CA)
• The Rare Barrel (Berkeley, CA)
• Jolly Pumpkin (Dexter, MI)
• Allagash (Portland, ME)
• Crooked Stave (CO)
• New Glarus (WI)
• New Belgium (CO)

See RateBeer's Sour/Wild Ale top rankings for more excellent examples and breweries.

RateBeer's Gueuze/Lambic top rating list is mostly dominated by the traditional Belgian names: Cantillon, Drie Fonteinen, De Cam, Boon, Tilquin, Hanssens, &c. These are harder to find domestically, and expensive due to import overhead, but often worth it.