While any type of beer may be soured, most follow traditional or standardized guidelines.
American wild ale Beers brewed in the United States utilize yeast and bacteria strains instead of or in addition to standard brewers yeasts. These microflora may be cultured or acquired spontaneously, and the beer may be fermented in a number of different types of brewing vessels. American wild ales tend not to have specific parameters or guidelines stylistically, but instead simply refer to the use of unusual yeasts.
Berliner Weisse At one time the most popular alcoholic beverage in
Berlin, this is a somewhat weaker (usually around 3% abv) beer made sour by use of
Lactobacillus bacteria. This type of beer is usually served with flavored syrups to balance the tart flavor.
Flanders red ale Flanders red ales are fermented with brewers yeast, then placed into oak barrels to age and mature. Usually, the mature beer is blended with younger beer to adjust the taste for consistency. This is also sometimes referred to as "flemish red".
Gose Gose is a
top-fermenting beer that originated in
Goslar, Germany. This style is characterized by the use of
coriander and
salt and is made sour by inoculating the wort with
lactic acid bacteria before
primary fermentation.
Lambic Lambic is a spontaneously fermented beer made in the
Pajottenland region around
Brussels,
Belgium. Wort is left to cool overnight in the
koelschip where it is exposed to the open air during the winter and spring, and placed into barrels to ferment and mature. Most lambics are blends of several seasons’ batches, such as
gueuze, or are secondarily fermented with fruits, such as
kriek and
framboise. As such, pure unblended lambic is quite rare, and few bottled examples exist.
Oud bruin Originating from the
Flemish region of Belgium,
oud bruins are differentiated from the Flanders red ale in that they are darker in color and not aged on wood. As such this style tends to use cultured yeasts to impart its sour notes. ==Gallery of European sour beer styles==