Which American brewery produces the best sour beers?

Russian River - 43%
Jolly Pumpkin - 21%
Cascade - 8%
New Belgium - 4%
New Glarus - 4%
Lost Abbey - 3%
Allagash - 2%
Avery - 1%
Bruery - 1%
Ithaca - 1%
Captain Lawrence - 1%
Goose Island - .8%
Cambridge - .8%
Tröegs -  .6%
Other - 2%

423 Votes

I've got to say that the results to this poll were surprising.  I was expecting Russian River (my favorite) to win, but getting as many votes as numbers 2-5 combined?  Damn.  I think their sours not only tend to be the most consistent but also their best beat anyone else's.  What is their secret? In my opinion: control, time, and blending.  They go to great lengths to control the timing and amount of microbes each beer receives, killing most of the resident microbes in the barrels between each beer (150-160 F pressure wash).  After a clean primary fermentation they remove the yeast and pitch about 1,000,000 cells of Brett per ml (according to Vinnie the 100,000 cell noted in Yeast was incorrect) followed a few weeks/months later with their house lactic acid bacteria culture (amount varies).  They age their beers longer in barrels than many other American producers, using a temperature (62 F) and humidity controlled warehouse to minimize seasonal variation.  Tasting and dumping "off" barrels before blending using acid beer (Sonambic) and Brett positive beer (Sanctification) as needed to dial in exactly the balance they want for the particular beer.  Sadly a lot of these methods are difficult to implement at home, but they are clearly worth considering.

I was surprised to see Jolly Pumpkin and Cascade so high, and Lost Abbey so low on the list.  I'd guess distribution plays a big roll in JP's 2nd place, while some of their batches are remarkable, due to less control (they rely on wild microbes that have colonized their barrels) and time spent in the barrels they have more variation (not that this is necessarily a bad thing since they pleasantly surprise me sometimes).  Cascade certainly makes some really unique sour beers missing that lack a funk character (they only use a house culture of Lactobacillus) so I can see that their beers might really appeal in particular to Brett sensitive people.  Is Lost Abbey having a quality control/image problem?  I think their "on" batches have been right up there with some of the best American sours (they certainly get stellar ratings on RB/BA), but they have put out some clunkers (not to mention their carbonation and customer service issues).

The rest fell about where I expected, for the most part I suspect the issue is limited production/distribution.  I've heard that The Bruery, Captain Lawrence, and New Belgium are all stepping up sour beer production significantly in the next year or two, so hopefully American sour beers will become a more frequent sight at the local beer store.

Who did I miss for those with "Other" votes? Upland? Trinity? Iron Hill? Alpine? Freetail?

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