When Dave Brodrick, owner of the Blind Tiger Ale House in the West Village, tried to serve his patrons a classic sour Belgian beer called Cantillon Lambic in the late ’90s, they wouldn’t have it.
“Our customers said, ‘This is bad beer! We’re not going to drink it,’ ” he recalls. “We couldn’t give it away.”
Now, Cantillon is one of the most sought-after beers in the world, commanding $80 for a 750ml bottle, and bars and restaurants across the city are serving a new wave of wild, funky brews to quench a growing thirst for sour suds. And, at the annual NYC Beer Week, which kicks off Friday, there’ll be several opportunities to try locally made tart and pungent beers, like Peekskill’s Aristocrats Sour Ale and Brooklyn Brewery’s new Wild Streak.
While the phrase “sour beer” might have once conjured up memories of skunky American pilsner chugged on a warm summer night, these are far different sips. They’re intentionally brewed to be tart, using wild strains of yeast or bacteria similar to those used to make yogurt, and then often aged for months or even years. The results are unique, highly acidic beers with vibrant flavors and aromas, ranging from lemon and green apple to balsamic vinegar, stinky cheese and horse stables.
They’re “great flavors that you can’t get from any other beer,” says Sam Richardson, co-owner of Other Half, a new brewery in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn.
These typically light, clean-tasting beers are in sharp contrast to the heavy, hoppy brews, like India pale ales, which have been all the rage in recent years.
“Sours are the cool thing now,” says Benjamin Weiss with the Bruery, a California craft brewer that supplies the Blind Tiger Ale House and has seen a big increase in the demand for its tart brews over the past five years. “It’s what the cool craft beer kids are drinking at the cool craft beer bars.”
But sours aren’t just for hipsters sipping suds at beer-geek bars like Tørst in Greenpoint or the Jeffrey on the Upper East Side. They’re also on the menu at fine dining establishments.
Eleven Madison Park serves a number of sour beers, both from Belgium, where the form originated, and from newer American breweries like New York’s Peekskill Brewery. The restaurant’s beer director, Sarah Monroe, says the style’s refreshingly tart characteristics provide a snappy contrast to rich dishes like fatty foie gras. “Sours are dry and palate-cleansing, which makes them extremely food-friendly,” she says.
And local breweries are shifting into high gear to accommodate the growing demand for them.
Other Half’s Richardson previously worked for Brooklyn’s KelSo brewery, where, he says, they couldn’t make sour beers quickly enough.
“Every time we made a sour at KelSo, it sold out really quickly,” he says. At his new brewery, Richardson hopes to dedicate 10 percent of his production to sour brews. As he puts it, “I don’t see this trend going away anytime soon.”