Tasting Four Blended Sour Beers

Somehow I’d forgotten that it had been almost a year since I convinced my friends Alex, Peter, and Nathan to spend a day blending and bottling my beers. I don’t think it is that hard to make a B+ sour beer from a single batch of wort, fermented in single fermentor, but doing better than that takes a lot of luck even for the best brewers in the world. The only way to consistently get terrific is to become a master of blending multiple batches together.

Rather than post detailed tasting notes for each of the four blends, I thought I’d give a few notes on what I think about the beers, how they compare, and what I learned. Tasting notes of each of the base beers are linked from the formulas

Nathan's
33% Dark Saison III
33% Irma
33% Apple Brandy Golden

Appearance – Reddish-brown, thin tan head.
Aroma – Waxy, red berries (Irma), slightly boozy, and mild vinegar (Apple Brandy Golden).
Taste – Balanced acidity (not much acetic) with some sweetness. It is slightly wheaty in the finish.
Mouthfeel – Medium bodied for a sour beer. Medium-low carbonation.
Drinkability – I like the flavor more than the aroma, overall a solid sour that grew on me as it warmed.

Alex's
50% Apple Brandy Golden
30% Berliner Lambic
20% Dark Saison III

Appearance – Burnt-orange, very poor head retention (and none of these beers are great).
Aroma – Similar to Nathan's with its hints of acetic, but it has more oak. Cleaner with less overt fruitiness.
Taste – The acidity is big and bright, only slightly acetic. The same balance as a good Flemish red, minimal funk.
Mouthfeel – The oak adds more tannins than the other beers have.
Drinkability – A more drinkable version of a Flemish red, crisper and drier.



Peter's
66% Berliner Lambic
18% Buckwheat Amber
16% Apple Brandy Golden

Appearance – The palest of the group, brilliantly golden.
Aroma – The cleanest of the aromas, fresh hay, apple, and slight perfume.
Taste – Bright snappy acidity, slightly stodgy malt, dry, I think it needs a boost from something.
Mouthfeel – The crispest of the bunch. Similar carbonation to the rest, but it would benefit from more.
Drinkability – I like this considerably more than Berliner lambic straight (we put half onto cherries too).

Mine
40% Buckwheat Amber
40% Dark Saison III
15% Berliner Lambic
5% Apple Brandy Golden

Appearance –The darkest of the blends, brown with red highlights.
Aroma – Big earthy buckwheat honey, almost as strong as in Dark Saison III, but it is muted somewhat.
Taste – The flavor diverges from the dark saison, with a rounder, toastier flavor. Moderate sourness.
Mouthfeel – The fullest of these beers, and the lowest level of carbonation.
Drinkability – I like this quite a bit more than the straight Saison III. It has a better balance, and is easier to drink.


So what did all of that blending and subsequent tasting teach me?

There are definite thresholds where certain flavors cross from undetectable to prominent very quickly. My blend, despite only containing 7% more of the Dark Saison III than Nathan's, had a much stronger buckwheat honey aroma. Similarly it can take relatively small additions to correct perceived issues as with Pete's augmentation of the Berliner lambic.

Especially when bottle conditioning trying to figure out how the beer will change is one of the most challenging tasks.  I initially really liked Nathan's blend, but as time has gone on Alex's has caught up to and maybe passed it. It makes me appreciate the defense Lauren Salazar (New Belgium's blending guru) gives for the decision to pasteurize the "Lips of Faith" bombers of La Folie.

However, despite the challenge and mystery of the blending arts, I think all four of us did a very good job on our first real attempt at blending these beers. None of the results are perfect, but I think all of them are better than at least some of their component beers. Hopefully I find an excuse to do something similar again when I have another round of sour beers ready to be bottled.