Menu
Illustration brief: style-accurate beer in appropriate glassware, showing true colour and head
Beer style
Sour and mixed fermentation
A diverse family in which acidity and fermentation-derived complexity are central features.
Typical parameters
- Fermentation
- Mixed, spontaneous or controlled lactic fermentation
- Alcohol
- % ABV
- Bitterness
- IBU
- Colour
- SRM
Sensory profile
History
Acidic beer traditions predate modern pure-culture brewing. Belgian lambic and red-brown ales preserve historic mixed-fermentation methods, while modern brewers also use controlled kettle souring.
How it is brewed
Acidity may be created before the boil with Lactobacillus, during mixed fermentation with bacteria and Brettanomyces, or through spontaneous inoculation. Oxygen control, time and microbiological hygiene are critical.