WEEK122---Talking SOUR--very briefly

We are all familiar with the basic taste profile when it comes to eating--sweet/sour/bitter/spicy/salty/umami.... perhaps what many people don't know is that all these different taste profile can actually be found in beer form.

吃东西有酸甜苦辣鲜，在Craft Beer 世界里，这些不同口味选择都能在啤酒中找到。啤酒能有酸味选择这件事，不是随便在酒中放点酸东西调调味就可以，作为Craft类别重要一环，酸啤酒本身就有好几个不同类别分支。

Let's touch very briefly about sour beer--while it could be totally unheard of for commercial lager drinkers that beer can be tasty sour--it is of course a much loved/very important category of craft.

虽说是酸啤酒，根据酿法风格可分为好些不同类别分支，比如比利时风格的Lambic, Flanders Red, Oud Bruin，德式风格的Gose, Berliner Weisse, 美式风格的American Wild Ale，都是酸味为主却不尽相同。

If you are totally new to sour beer category--here's some very basic idea:-

1) sour beer might sound kinda off-putting to many(especially male drinkers who prefer it "thick", i.e. IPA or Stouts drinkers)--but it's  mainly just imaginary obstacles/fear--while it's true some newbies might find the FUNK of Lambic NASTY--those who manage to overcome the initial resistance/fear would understand eventually how a nice bottle of sour can do to your palate / senses / enjoyment.

2) sour beer need not necessarily meaning so freaking sour til your tooth fell off--there are different layers to a sour beer--different level of sourness--different "thickness" of the body, different finishing--and if you have had some experiences drinking more lambic/sours from different makers, don't be surprised that some sour beers might taste a little sweet be it during the beginning, middle or back end of a sip.....(nope--not talking about the sweeten/sugar or syrup added version)

3) there are different styles of sours--there's the Belgium Lambic-- Flanders Red--Oud Bruin, German Berliner Weisse--Gose, American Wild Ale---each with notable sourness in the brew but with varieties of twist in between--depending very much on how it's brewed/what kind of fruits/food items added/ barrel used to aged....so on so forth...

Here's some very brief intro :-

LAMBIC-- a very unique brew from Belgium--in fact a specific region brew using the spontaneous fermentation method--meaning not using human made cultivated yeast but rather leaving the fate of brew to the natural surroundings/weather.

说是个人偏好也好，啤迷认同也好，提起酸啤酒一定要会比利时天然发酵果酸啤酒。

这是绝对宗师级别的酸啤酒，酿造有特定条件要求，比如说一定要在冷天气候才能酿，只能在特定地区利用空气中天然野生菌/酵母酿造，在橡木桶内熟成时间长，量少等等。

通过不同的水果或食材浸泡或调酒方式，比利时天然发酵果酸啤酒本身就有好几个不同分支，比如最受啤迷追捧的以下三款：-

Basically these are the 3 most sought after categories of Lambics:-

Kriek--sour cherries added --commonly seen as the most sour

啤迷看到这个字眼，大概会自动开始口水分泌，以酸度来说，这是所有不同分支中最酸的类别，基本概念是，用大量酸味樱桃浸泡原味天然发酵果酸啤酒熟成而得的酿品。

Framboise--raspberries added--the fruits influenced meaning it usually has a "thicker dark fruits/peel taste"-making it less sour.

也是用大量水果浸泡原味酸啤酒而得，虽然不同酿坊有各自做法，覆盆子（或称野草莓）是最主要重点，因为果味特性，喝起来不会像Kriek那么酸。

Gueze/Gueuze--a blended version of old and younger lambics--with distinct champagne-like bubbles characters, though some considerable years of aging would mellow down the whole thing.

这是混合酸啤酒，通过将不同年份原味酸啤酒，一般来说是一，二，三年，混合调制在橡木桶熟成而得，特点是口感有细腻类似香槟气泡，味道虽然还是以酸为主，对新朋友来说，只要能不被LAMBIC那股特有的香味（也有人觉得是臭味，跟蓝芝士或榴莲味道让人爱恨分明道理是一样的）打败，以酸度和口感来说，或许是个合适新人的切入点，

Flanders Red & Oud Bruin

Traditional brew from the Flanders region of Belgium--as the name/colors indicated--one could be tempted to simplified them as fruited sour red ale and brown ale but it's more than just that. 
Personally--the different between these two as compared to Lambics would be the obvious lack of FUNK, and to a certain extent a slightly more straight forward- very pleasant -more newbies friendly brew to start with.

啤酒中原本就有红啤和棕啤之分，这两个来自比利时北部的东北边和西北边的传统啤酒除了酿法和使用原材料有别，还是有相似之处，两者都不是真正意义上的天然发酵，一些酿坊作品喝起来微酸之余还会有甜味，虽说是比利时北部传统风格，CRAFT的世界有不少欧美酿坊在旧有风格中酿造自身版本致意或尝试旧风格新诠释。

Berliner Weisse
Most drinkers would know or tasted a German wheat beer/weiss bier before--it's sweet( at times overly sweet)/malty---well--think of the much less malty-sour & light body, refreshing version--that's the basic idea of a Berliner Weisse--it is something light and easy on the palate--i remember during a casual fine dining session--a certain berliner weisse was the perfect palate cleanser in between many courses. 

大家基本喝过的德国麦芽啤酒基本都带甜味，可以想象成反差版，将比较浓郁麦芽甜啤酒变成比较清淡带柑橘类酸味的易喝解渴啤酒，在一次用餐经验中，这款啤酒是非常好喝的“间隔酒”，不亢不卑的让味蕾舒适的从上一道菜中“醒过来”准备迎接下道菜。

Gose
This is a light and easy beer traditionally brewed with sea salt and coriander, those two would be the key ingredients where the basis of taste profile shaped--a sour and salty beer.
In the craft version nowadays though, brewers play around with a lot more other fruits/food items--the one thing that define this beer is that it shall remain a sour and salty influenced beer meant for easy drinking, meaning no amount of new twist would change those two key factors, for examples an overly fruity sweet gose will not be a gose no matter how innovative or new twist a brewer intended to bring on.

传统德式做法是一定有加盐加芫荽（香菜）酿制，是带咸味的酸啤酒，到了现在，不同酿酒师会加上自己的诠释，在传统酿法基础上或使用其他蔬果，或其他食材让这款咸酸啤酒带出新韵味。

American Wild Ale
There's no doubting the American craft prowess when it comes to turning certain styles into their stronghold--IPAs--NEIPA--Stouts comes to mind. While Lambic is uniquely the speciality of Belgium masters--the sour beer game has been something the American brewers pursuing and excel with nowadays, though it's very much subjective/debatable, the number of different styles of American sour beers listed on various beer ratings portals does indicate the strength of sour game in the US craft scene.

字眼中的WILD指野生菌/酵母，就像比利时天然发酵果酸啤酒那样，由此可见美式酸啤酒的借镜由来。有人说美式酸啤酒是在没有自身风格中寻找风格，因为美国啤酒基本以大手大脚投放啤酒花IPA和浓郁烈酒桶陈黑啤为人知，不过，这只是片面刻板印象，美国酿坊中有专注酿造酸啤酒的，虽然很大程度上受比利时宗师级LAMBIC风格影响，也蛮多向比利时或德国风格酸啤酒致意的相同风格酿品，无可否认的是，有好些美国酿坊的确把酸啤酒做的非常出色。

NOTE:- Beer Advocate listing is only for some added reading pleasure--not meant as any form of definite guide as we all know any top beer/best beer listing are very subjective.
以上所附不同类型酸啤酒排行榜单只是增添阅读乐趣，绝对不是买酒或啤酒人气指南。