I am not fond of some styles of beer, Pilsner and Stout are two but I can and will still drink them.
But some beers that are deliberately messed with, are just wrong and so are the people that drink and champion them.
First and the worst
Sour Beers
I will start with these, as they are the worst but what are they. As far as I can tell that are made from, presumably good beers, that are deliberately soured, using aged off beer or Lactobacillus (a lactic acid bacteria) to produce a foul tasting product that is still called beer.
Here is one example, with a warning
Brouwerij Rodenbach, Rodenbach from Belgium
5.2% Sour Ale very sour and vinegary, not nice at all, had it on draught and it was bad then but I was convinced to give it an other go, it was the wrong decision. It tastes like Cameron's Strongarm when the barrel has gone off. Just ask anyone for North East England what that is like.
Next is,
Imperial IPA, Double IPA - Double/Triple Hopped Beers.
Hoppy beers are nice, for example IPA is a well loved beer worldwide, so why mess with it. It seem to have come from the USA, where as an over reaction to years of tasteless beers, beers are now being over hopped. Its not just the USA doing this, I had a really bad one in Belgium. There is just no need for is, you do not need to over hop beer.
Here is the one I had last night
BrewDog, Tesco Finest American Double IPA from Scotland
AKA, BrewDog Hardcore IPA, 9.2% deep amber colour with a very thin head, sweet citrus and blackcurrant aroma (dont know what citrus though), taste is hops hops hops, the USA would love it, I didn't it was overpowering and foul.
Lastly, for now,
Fruit Beers
I do not mean beers that have a fruity taste, I mean beers that are brewed with fruits or have added fruit in them. They are usually too sweet and sickly. To make things worse, some of them are also soured. Although fruit beers are not as bad as the other two, as many ladies that would not normally drink beer like them. If people want fruit in their alcohol, there is always Pimms No 1.
You are right, those top two are styles that are a lot harder to enjoy initially. However, there are a few good IIPAs/DIPAs out there that don't insist on punching your tongue with hops. I'm not sure if you'd be able to get them in the UK, but Avery's "Maharaja" (which I reviewed in May) is an excellent example of one. Sour beer seems to be a slowing growing trend in the US the same way that IPAs started out. Only time will tell. I remember I had a similar red, sour beer from the UK (Old Slug? Old Speckled Hen? I can never remember) and I didn't car for it much at the time.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the Comment, Old Speckled Hen is not a sour, if it was, it was off.
ReplyDeleteI love sour beers...especially sour fruit beers like cantillion or oude geuze kriek.
ReplyDeleteIm also a big fan of IIPA and some of the big hop bombs from the USA (and the UK) although sometimes they are too much and i just fancy a pint of something golden, light and fruity.
that said there's not many styles im not fond of although I do get sick of a lot of the brown bitters that everywhere seems to do that are all very similar which is where i think the love for trying diferent beers came from especially as if they aren't kept well they start to tasty eggy and off.