10 best sour beers to try

10 best sour beers to try at a glance

• Best cream sour: Brick Brewery Yuzu & Lychee Cream Sour, £3.20/330ml
• Best citrus sour beer: Pastore Limone Small Lemon Sour, £4.20/440ml
• Best tropical sour beer: Pastore x Clapton Craft Totalmente Tropicale Pineapple & Grapefruit Session Sour, £5.50/440ml
• Best mango sour beer: Vault City Triple Fruited mango, £3.50/440ml
• Best gooseberry sour beer: Magic Rock Salty Kiss Gooseberry Gose, £2.29/330ml
  
• Best Belgian sour beer: Oude Gueuze Vieille Oud Beersel, £6.75/375ml
• Best higher-strength sour beer: Wild Beer Co. Modus Operandi, £7.99/500ml
• Best non-sweet option: Thornbridge Brewery Love Among the Ruins, £7/375ml
• Best berry flavoured sour beer: Vault City strawberry sundae, £3.50/440ml
• Best Scottish sour beer: Holy Goat and Fierce Beer Terrorizer, £6.90/375ml

10 best sour beers to try in 2023

Brick Brewery Yuzu & Lychee Cream Sour

• Available from Hop Burns & Black (£3.20/330ml)

Best cream sour

A really light, pretty sour beer, in which yuzu and lychee offer lovely floral and citrus notes. A good intro for those new to the sour category.

Available from:
Hop Burns & Black (£3.20)

Pastore Limone Small Lemon Sour

• Available from Clapton Craft (£4.20/44oml)

Best citrus sour beer

This low-alcohol number is made with Sicilian lemons, pink grapefruit and mandarin, for a zingy, super-citrussy sour with creamy lemon notes. A sessionable beer for drinking when the temperatures soar.

Available from:
Clapton Craft (£4.20)

Pastore x Clapton Craft Totalmente Tropicale Pineapple & Grapefruit Session Sour

• Available from Clapton Craft (£5.50/440ml)

A Lilt-inspired sour that brings bags of tropical, funky pineapple flavour, followed swiftly by tart grapefruit. At just 3.8% ABV, it’s perfect for all-day sipping.

Available from:
Clapton Craft (£5.50)

Vault City Triple Fruited Mango

• Available from Tesco (£3.50/440ml)

Best mango sour beer
ABV: 6.2%

A fresh, juicy sour, rammed with mango flavour and aromas, gentle tanginess and a slightly saline edge.

Available from:
Tesco (£3.50/440ml)

Magic Rock Salty Kiss Gooseberry Gose

• Available from Magic Rock Brewing (£2.50/330ml), £2.29/330ml

Best
ABV: 4.1%

Lightly sour and tart with a briny edge and juicy gooseberry flavours.

Available from:
Magic Rock Brewing (£2.50/330ml)
Amazon (£2.29/330ml)

Oude Gueuze Vieille Oud Beersel

• Available from The Belgian Beer Co. (£6.75/375ml

Best Belgian sour beer
ABV: 6%

A blend of lambics, this has great effervescence and a fruity, complex tartness.

Available from:
The Belgian Beer Co. (£6.75/375ml

Wild Beer Co. Modus Operandi

• Available from Wild Beer Co (£7.99/500ml)

Best higher-strength sour beer
ABV: 7.7%

A barrel-aged sour red with lots of berry flavours.

Available from:
Wild Beer Co (£7.99/500ml)

Thornbridge Brewery Love Among the Ruins

• Available from Thornbridge Brewery (£7/375ml)

Best non-sweet option
ABV: 7%

Thought that all fruit beers were sweet? Think again. This poetically named Flemish-style sour beer won gold at the World Beer Cup Awards in 2016 and it's not hard to see why. Aged in Burgundy wine barrels with morello cherries for more than a year, this bottle delivers vivid fruit flavours combined with a punchy sourness. Complex and elegant.

Available from:
Thornbridge Brewery (£7/375ml)

Vault City Strawberry Sundae

• Available from Vault City (£3.50/440ml)

Best berry sour beer
ABV: 5%

A smooth and full-bodied strawberry sour made with Scottish strawberries. Drink with mac ’n’ cheese topped with pulled pork for a contrast, or to complement a dessert such as eton mess.

Available from:
Vault City (£3.50/440ml)

Holy Goat and Fierce Beer Terrorizer

• Available from Holygoat Beer (£6.90/375ml)

Best Scottish sour beer
ABV: 6%

Made in Dundee, this complex barrel-aged blackcurrant sour is a blend of 50% golden sour beer aged in a tank for six months (brewed at Holy Goat), plus a 50% rye sour aged in barrels for more than two years at Fierce Beer brewery in Aberdeen. Enjoy with steak, game, brie or chocolate.

Available from:
Holygoat Beer (£6.90/375ml)

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