There are wine people, beer people, and people who love beverages of all kinds. If you’re solely a wine person, you might be wondering how you could get into beer. The answer is sour beer.
Sour beer comes in many flavors and styles. Many times they’re wild fermented with all sorts of different yeasts, and all sours include some degree of tartness and fruitiness. They’re crisp, refreshing, and food-friendly, just like wine.
With the help of VinePair’s tasting editor, Courtney Schiessl, we came up with a list of what sour beers to drink depending on the type of wine that you like.
Cru Beaujolais — Rodenbach Grand Cru
Both are fresh with flavors of tart cherry and cranberry. Rodenbach features a slight caramel sweetness from oak aging and a little bit of wood, while Cru Beaujolais has rustic earth notes.
Albariño from Northern Spain — Grimm Ales Rainbow Dome
Tart apricot and peach are the flavors tying both of these drinks together. Albariño, specifically from Rías Baixas, will have a little more minerality and apple, while Rainbow Dome has a subtle taste of citrusy hops.
Gewürztraminer from Northern Italy — Brooklyn Brewery Bel Air Sour
Gewürztraminer from the Alto Adige region is dry, with notes of lychee and spice. Bel Air Sour has a bit of lychee sweetness as well, with a slightly bitter finish and a lemonade sour taste.
New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc — Victory Brewing Company Sour Monkey
Grapefruit, lemon, tropical fruit, and green bell pepper dominate Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand. Sour Monkey has a subtle sweetness, and notes of green apple and lemon.
German Riesling — Breakside Brewery Passionfruit Sour
German Kabinett Riesling (or fine riesling), is slightly sweet with tastes of ripe peach that is reminiscent of Breakside Brewery’s semi-sweet passionfruit notes. Both are also refreshingly tart.
Bugey-Cerdon French sparkling wine — New Glarus Raspberry Tart
Bugey-Cerdon, non-vintage sparkling French wine, is light, bubbly, slightly sweet, and easy drinking. New Glarus, with it’s low alcohol (4 percent alcohol by volume), is also easy drinking — one of the most easy drinking beers around.
Muscadet — Westbrook Brewing Company Gose
Goses are salty, sour, full of coriander, and, in this case, lemony. Muscadet has the bright acidity to match, along with rocky and saltiness.
Loire Valley Cabernet Franc — Russian River Brewing Company Consecration
Russian River Brewing is no stranger to being compared to wine. It’s made in the heart of California’s wine region, aged in barrels previously filled with Cabernet Sauvignon, and tastes like currant and red wine. Cab Franc from the Loire Valley — with its tart cherry and earthy funk — is a perfect pair.
Lambrusco — Allagash Coolship Red
Lambrusco, the fun sparkling red, has notes of cranberry, raspberry, and dark earth. Coolship Red is aged on raspberries for six months, has some oakiness to it, and has a tartness matching that of Lambrusco.
Jura Chardonnay — Petrus Aged Pale
Chardonnay comes in many forms. In the Jura region of France, Chardonnay has flavors of lemon, yellow apple, is rustic and funky, and a little nutty — just the right match for the sharply sour crisp apple and oak undertones of Petrus Aged Pale.
