A 12-pack of 4 delicious sours.
DESTIHL brewing has really made a name for themselves, especially when it comes to sours. Go to their taproom in the lovely little town of Normal, Illinois and you’ll find no shortage of sours to try from. It’s part of the WiLD series, which explore various interpretations of wild ales and includes flavors like a Key Lime Gose, a piña colada sour, and fruit flavors of apricot, blueberry, cranberry. The list just goes on and on and I love it.
For a sour beer fan, it’s paradise. Their variety pack features four of their sour staples, including the Synchopathic, Flanders Red, Here Gose Nothin’, and the Lynnbrook®.
In my opinion, sours make the perfect Sunday hangover beer. So guess what I did this past Sunday? Here’re some odes to sours and the wild madness they often inspire.
Synchopathic – 6.0% – Dry Hopped Sour Ale
“Synchopathic is the cool harmonization of a refreshingly tart and acidic sour ale with citrusy, fruity, & floral dry-hops normally in concert with pale ales, with totally rad aromas and flavors reminiscent of grapefruit, orange, lemon, tangerine, pineapple and hints of pine, giving way to a biscuity-crackery malt back beat, low bitterness and a dry finish to bring everything in synch.”
I can’t say I’ve had too many hoppy sours. But holy shit. The floral flavor from the hops imparts a strong gin-like feel. And it pairs with the other notes of citrus, lemon, and resiny christmas tree pine. It’s sort of like a gin sour. Usually most sours I’ve had lean heavily into juicy fruit flavors, so this takes a minute to get used to. But after the first two sips, I’m sold. Hop all the sours!
Throwback poem time! This poem was originally written back in 2013 during the height of the Glenwood gang years. I chose to revisit (and rework) this poem because the strong floral notes in the Synchopathic brought to mind many wild nights that started by sipping on a pint of warm juniper-packed gin. So here is To Summer Nights (2019 Edition).
‘To summer nights
manic n’ wild,
The fan spinning mad
leaping off the ceiling
It was all we had to beat sticky heat
That and some gin over ice
And this all with you
We would dance free and crazy to Chubby Checker
Causing mummified floorboards to creak
‘Til we thought they’d give out n’ roar
crashing down
And we would all die drunk
young
happy
And free
This all with you,
Shouting in the dark
Howling dogs in the streets,
searching,
searching for fun,
screaming,
Screaming lost souls of saints
yearning
Yearning to be saved
This all with you
Swimming together
In a trespassed pool
Among the stolen hours
baptizing ourselves
Each other
Playful splashes
From holy waters
gentle kisses
Endorsed by angels
Into the night,
Letting Miles Davis
and that heaven-sent trumpet
Sweetly serenading
Softly to sleep
This all with you
Visions
Everything infinite
just how great it was
to be alive
To be in love
to be young
to be sad
Dreamers happy tired hopeful angry
This all with you.’
Flanders Red – 5.9% – Flanders Style Red Ale
“Flanders red is a sour ale offering an initial impression of tart cherry candy, dissipating into a complex palate of bright acidity with a backbone of caramel and biscuit malt and minimal hop character. The dry, wine-like finish accentuates the complex malt profile and bright fruit notes showcased in this brilliant, red-colored interpretation of a Belgian-style Flanders.”
You definitely get those cherry notes. Sharp, tart cherries, and hints of strawberry, and at first it’s almost like a cherry wine, albeit a tart/vinegary wine, but then flows into a noticeable caramel, biscuity like malt to really balance all that cheek puckering cherry sour out.
‘You were an American blue
I burned wine red
isn’t that what
everybody
they always said?
I always preferred when
colors
complement
And oh
you charmed me
with
kisses of
cherry
And oh
I tried to
impress you
by crooning
blue
It was a dance, to a sad song
never meant to last long
came,
went
but oh ain’t it pretty
when the colors complement?
Here Gose Nothin’ – 5.2% – Gose
“We threw caution to the wind with our interpretation of a Leipzig-style Gose, featuring complex aromas and acidic flavors contributed by indigenous wild yeast and lactic fermentation. Lemon, lime and other citrus-like qualities are balanced by the spicy character of coriander and a mineral-mouthfeel from French sea salt, resulting in a refreshing beer that was worth the risk.”
Definitely a classic gose. Instead of relying on outside flavors for juicing it up, it has that simple sea water saltiness and subtle lemon-limeness to it. Like a salty 7-up, or maybe a lemon-lime carbonated Gatorade, with extra electrolytes and without all the sweetness and sugar. If you haven’t had a gose before 1) what are you doing with your life? 2) this is a great one to start with.
‘To me you were the moon
shining, silver, cool
as the night
and as cold as it too
your lips like the sea
currents calling to me
to be betrayed by the fire and spice
the avarice inside
and I,
didn’t know
any better
so I went after
here goes nothing but
boy it was something
To me, you were the moon
electric and cool
And I, just a firework,
aiming high
bursting burning too bright
a falling star
Trying to reach you.’
Lynnbrook – 4.2% – Berliner Weiss
“Lynnbrook, named after our founder’s family farm, is a wild Berliner-style Weisse with raspberries added. The result is a refreshing, fuchsia-colored beer with an aroma of raspberry-lemon giving way to hints of brie with subtle lemon and yogurt-like flavors supported by tart, fresh raspberries and underlying lactic sourness.”
It’s a sharp, cheek stinging raspberry-lemonade beer with just a few underlying hints of wheat malt flavor. But that wheat is hard to catch, cause really, it’s all bitey tang in the most refreshing of ways. So to recap. Raspberry-lemonade but beer, with lowkey notes of wheat cracker malts to balance out the sharp tart raspberry juice flavor.
‘Shooting
a star
a ship across galaxies
of prairie grass
and pretty pink asters that flutter in the wind
you’ll never know much you mean to me
I could stare into your cornflower blues for eternity
in this total euphoric state of
being.’