"What exactly is the idea of drinking sour beer? is it all about pucker up?" A newbie asked not so long ago, which bring up the question of "what makes a sour beer good? is it only about sour or what else?"
有新朋友问酸啤酒到底什么概念，是不是酸得让人脸挤成一团就算水准之作？怎样才是好喝的怎样才算不好喝？
酸啤酒（sour beer)是craft beer众多不同类型风格中非常重要一环，一些酿品也被誉为是最接近葡萄酒和香槟风味层次的啤酒，酿得好的酸啤绝不会只有酸的单元表现，而是多元层次可以让人在酸味基本层面中找到其他不同风味表现，是那种会让人感到幸福的美好。
Sour beers is of course an integral part of craft beer variants--and sour beers is definitely not just about being sour---a well made sour beer is surely much more than just the mono tone of sour but can be so nice it makes you feel such gratification
对新朋友来说，一个重要基本概念是，酸啤酒可分为天然发酵（spontaneous
fermentation)和酵母发酵（yeast
pitching)两大类，两者最大差别是天然发酵通过利用特定地区空气中自然滋生野菌发酵酿造，后者则是通过人手投放酵母，因为发酵体和发酵方式差别，两者之间完成酿品风味层次会呈现明显差异性。
Though for some reasons sour beers also probably one of the "lower acceptance rate or later in acceptance" type of styles for newbies--meaning comparatively newbies would mostly go into other " easier to accept" styles first before discovering eventually accepting sour beers.
对啤迷来说，天然发酵方式酿造而成的比利时天然发酵果酸啤酒（Lambic)是备受推崇的酸啤类型，这是有特定因素的，天然发酵方式除了需要看天气状况决定（只能在秋冬季节冷度合适时酿，热天高温是大敌）之外，酿造地也有其特殊性，只有在包含布鲁塞尔西南周边城乡，一个统称为Pajottenland区域内酿造的天然发酵酸啤酒才有资格用上Lambic名称，这区域之外任何酸啤酒，就算使用天然发酵方式酿造也不能自称Lambic。（一定程度上这解释了为什么好多欧美酿坊酸啤作品都使用wild ale或sour
beer字眼）
如果有人觉得Lambic特殊性只是因为区域名称使用限制所致，那不尽然，Lambic之所以会被啤迷推崇最主要是酿品水平风味层次与众不同，特别是一些酿坊的高水平“复杂版本”风味表现更是会让懂得欣赏的人惊艳回味。
If you are new to sour beers---there are obviously quite a lot to pick up---it would be helpful for newbies to take note that sour beers comes in 2 different ways----those which use Spontaneous Fermentation and those which do Yeast Pitching(which refer to manually adding yeast)---the biggest differences between the 2 is that Spontaneous Fermentation pretty much let good bacteria occurring naturally in the air to handle fermenting job---which is restricted to only during cooler/cold seasons of the year as heat/humid weather is not suitable for spontaneous fermentation. These two different ways of fermenting does bring out different types/flavour profile of sour beers.
To many sour geeks---it is no doubt that Lambic(which is a term referring to sour beers brewed with spontaneous fermentation method at a brewery/blendery located within the Pajottenland area in and around Brussels) is the most highly sought after/worship style of sour beers.
的确，酸啤酒当然不是只有比利时Lambic，以酸味为主轴啤酒类型不少，比如美式酸啤(American Sours/Wild Ale)，德式风格咸酸啤（Gose)或柏林酸麦啤(Berliner Weisse)，比利时旧式酸啤（Flanders Red/Blonde)等等，实际上，在鼓励创意的craft beer世界中，连强调啤酒花鲜香甘涩的印度淡陴(IPA)或是表现浓郁烤麦芽咖啡巧克力等风味为主的黑啤(Stouts)也出现融和酸味甚至以酸味为主轴的趣味实验版或常态版。
众多不同风味酸啤类型中，想了解什么是上佳酸啤酒，喝多几款不同类型比利时Lambic是绝对必要功课，比利时Lambic当然有不少上好酿坊/混酒作坊品牌选择，这其中绝对大师级酿坊Cantillon和 3 Fonteinen的任何作品，无论是Geuze,Framboise或Kriek或其他类型的入门级别或复杂高深作品都是开拓味蕾鉴赏力的美味选择。
Yes---there are many other different styles of sour beers apart from Belgium Lambic---for examples there are American Wild Ale/Sours---or German inspired Gose(sour & salty) or the sour wheat beer of Berliner Weisse---as well as the old bruin/red of Flanders styles sours----in fact there's even sour version of IPAs or Stouts to be found in the "anything is possible" creative world of craft beer including either experimental brew/fusion/play around one off or even regular releases.
本地craft beer市场能找到酸啤酒来说，基本状况只能以差强人意形容，选择有限情况下，想喝佳酿只能往外找，比利时当然最理想（其他欧美啤酒重点城市当然也很不错），亚洲的话东京大阪长期有不少优秀选择，台湾香港新加坡首尔上海北京曼谷不定期也有些不错选择。
有啤迷朋友说过，第一次喝酸啤後脸皱皱逃之夭夭的新朋友不是不能接受酸啤，而是味蕾还没能搞清楚自己喝到的是什么，况且，酸啤也有不同酿坊作品水准高低不一现象，难怪有啤迷霸道的说，“没喝过不同风味比利时天然发酵果酸啤酒（Lambic）基本不能说会喝酸啤酒”！
With so many different styles of sour beers---finding what's nice what's soso what's not nice is something newbies find it a little hard at times since " a sour beer is a beer which taste sour"---that notion is understandable when one is new to the sour beer game---while there is no short cut to improving one's palate appreciation ability--the one "MUST DO" any newbies to sour beers should do is--no matter how many other sour beers one has had---trying out proper Belgium Lambic is a must---while there are some very good Lambic out there---it might be easier to narrow down to 2 absolute legendery masters of lambic for newbies---seek out different styles of lambic( oude gueuze/kriek/frambois) from both 3Fonteinen & Cantillon whenever/wherever you can if new to sour beers---regardless either their entry level brew or more complex/hard to seek bottles---the lambics from these 2( and of course not only these two) will go a long way to opening the senses and palate appreciation ability of newbies.
If you are very new to sour beers---remember these:--
A geek friend once said " newbies who tasted sour beer/s and ran away with a twisted face---the reason why he/she ran away is not because he/she cannot accept sour---it's because his/her palate is not ready for sour beer---they simply cannot figure out what hit emmm"
Another geek friend went a step further by saying "if you have not tasted a few different styles of Lambic---don't say you know sour beers!"
