A great excuse to celebrate Scotland's epic brewing scene, International Sour Beer Day is upon us (September 8).
And to find out what Scottish beers are worth checking out, we've enlisted the help of craft beer guru Jehad Hatu of Glasgow's Grunting Growler.
Jehad said: "Lip puckering, face scrunching and eyes squinting. We’ve all been there before. It’s our bodies natural reaction to all things sour such as lemons, vinegar, unripe fruit and even beer.
"Yup, that’s right. Some beers are sour. If you’ve tried them before, then you know exactly what I’m talking about, but if not, you’re in for a tasty treat.
"Sour beers have been around for hundreds, even thousands of years, but recently they have become more popular with the rise of independent craft breweries.
"Their taste, as the name implies, is sour, and the acidity can vary from soft lemon acidity to sharp vinegar sourness. Their abv can vary from a low 4% to 10% or even higher. Some of them are aged in barrels, and many modern ones are brewed with various fruit additions.
"But why are they sour?
"Well, these beers are brewed with natural bacteria called Lactobacillus. I know, I get it- it totally sounds weird to drink beer that has been purposely infected with bacteria, but trust me, it’s perfectly normal. It’s really no different to how they make yoghurt or even cheese.
"Basically, the bacteria eat the sugars in beer and then convert it to lactic acid which creates the sour flavours we taste when drinking this mighty fine beverage.
"So, in celebration of International Beer Day, here are seven different Scottish sour beers that would hold their own on the world stage."
1. Vault City – Pimms Sour // Portobello, Edinburgh
Jehad said: "Vault City exploded onto the Scottish craft beer scene back in 2018 as a dedicated sour producing brewery.
"Fast forward to 2021, and they continue to make some of the most exciting modern, fruit forward sours not only in Scotland, but across the UK.
"This cocktail-inspired sour beer has been concocted with strawberry, orange, mint, and cucumber, and at 4.7% abv it’s the perfect tipple to drink all night long."
2. Overtone – Pink Lemonade // Yoker, Glasgow
Jehad said: "Much like Vault City, this Glasgow-based brewery is still relatively young only having set up in 2018.
"While I associate Overtone predominately as an IPA-producing brewery, they also make some mighty fine sours.
"This sour beer took me down memory lane as it reminded me of one of my favourite drinks while living in the States, Pink Lemonade.
"The beer has been brewed with lemon and limes which makes it sharp upfront, but it is rounded out with a subtle fruit sweetness with the addition of raspberries."
3. Holy Goat Brewing – Astral Destiny // Dundee, Scotland
Jehad said: "Holy Goat are the youngest of all the breweries on the list, but their infancies definitely doesn’t hinder their ability to put out amazing beers with depth of complexity.
"Having only launched in June 2021, this young brewery has easily become my go-to for sour beer.
"Astral Destiny is the birth child of two beers that have been blended together. The first half is a golden sour ale that was fermented using Holy Goat's house ale strain and then fermented in stainless steel for 3 months.
"The second part was originally brewed at Fierce Beer, and then aged in white wine barrels for 2 years.
"These 2 beers were then blended together and refermented using 300 g/L of whole raspberries from a farm that is 7 miles from the brewery.
"The result is a structured sour beer with raspberry fruitiness upfront and a long dry finish. This beer can be drunk young, or it will age over time.
"As the brewery itself states, 'this will only get weirder'."
4. Up Front Brewing – Scottish Strawberries // Glasgow, Nomadic Brewer
Jehad said: "Up Front Brewing are a nomadic brewing company which means they rent other breweries equipment to make their beer.
"This means that they have super low overheads which allows them to spend more time on research, recipe development, experimentation, and ingredients. And let me tell you, this next beer really proves it.
"This beer is a fruit daiquiri-inspired recipe brewed with 200 g/L of Scottish strawberries, fresh lime juice and zest, and a good bit of black pepper.
"This beer is THICK, and I mean that in the best way possible! Smoothie-like fruit mouthfeel, sharp acidity with some pepperiness in the backend for a little curve to throw into the mix."
5. Tempest – Raspberry Crush // Tweedbank, Scotland
Jehad said: "Tempest Brewing are the veterans of the group having been around since 2010. I have so many great things to say about this brewery, but the one thing that sticks out the most for me is their versatility.
"Tempest have the ability to brew amazing hoppy beers, super crisp lagers, thick tasty stouts, and even lip-puckering sours.
"Raspberry Crush, as the name implies, is a super crushable sour beer brewed with Scottish raspberries. I love that this beer isn’t overly sour so it’s perfect for a long drinking session, or for those that are new to the style.
"And even though this beer is only 4% abv, it still has amazing mouthfeel since it was brewed with oats, and a little bit of lactose (non-vegan friendly). I give this beer 3 S’s; sessionable, smashable, and smoothly-sour."
6. Fallen Brewing – Sterliner Weisse // Kippen, Scotland
Jehad said: "Please welcome another great veteran to this list of Scottish sour beers. I still remember when Fallen Brewing was pretty much a one-man band operation being ran by owner Paul Fallen.
"At the time I was still operating Grunting Growler as a pop-up shop when Paul dropped off some samples for me, and his beers absolutely blew me away. Their beers continue to amaze me ‘til this day.
"This beer has a really cool beginning as it was first brewed as part of BrewDog’s collab fest that they host each year. Basically, each BrewDog bar does a collaboration beer with a local brewery, and “Sterliner Weisse” is the creation of Fallen Brewing and BrewDog Sterling.
"This Berlinerweisse-style beer weighs in at a super sessionable abv of 4.0%, and it has been brewed with passionfruit and peach. The first sip hits you with sweet and sour flavours of the passionfruit, then small undertones of peach and to finish with a pleasant dryness on the backend. Another sour smasher to add to the list."
7. 71 Brewing – Passionfruit Pochanga // Dundee, Scotland
Jehad said: "71 Brewing set up in 2016 and were the first active brewery to be in the city for over 50 years. Since then, they have gone on to make some super exciting beers including this passionfruit and blood orange sour.
"While the fruits are similar to the last beer on this list, both beers are very different. This sour beer from 71 brewing is higher in abv (7.4%) which gives it more mouthfeel, and it has more acidity to it.
"Both beers are equally great, but each beer is made for different occasions, and different beer drinkers. The passionfruit and blood orange combination makes it tastes like sunshine in a glass."
If you fancy any of these beers, or would like to see what else Jehad has on offer you can find out more at gruntinggrowler.com.
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