We Tasted and Ranked 12 of the Best Sour Beers

There’s no rule saying that you have to enjoy certain styles of beer at certain times of the year, but for me, spring will always be sour season. The weather’s finally nice but not unbearably hot, and everything’s in bloom — what better time to drink something fruity? The tartness kinds of jolts your tastebuds awake, and most sours are crisp and refreshing enough to feel seasonally appropriate without the lightness that the summer heat requires from a brew.

With that in mind, we rounded up 12 of the sours we could get our hands on the fastest here at InsideHook HQ — beer tastings wait for no one! — and asked eight of our staffers to taste them and rank each one on a scale of one to five, for a total of 40 possible points per beer. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the majority of the beers we tasted went over very well with our tasters; out of all the similar beer tastings we’ve done, I can’t remember another one with more fours and fives doled out.

Sour beer is an extremely broad, varied category, and this is by no means a comprehensive list. (To keep it simple, for example, we steered clear of goses for now; stay tuned for a separate gose tasting.) There are, however, some excellent beers here that absolutely bowled us over. Check out how they all fared below.

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12. Oude Gueuze Tilquin (17.5 points)

ABV: 6.0%

To be fair, this one was a bit of an outlier as the only gueuze we tasted. It’s double fermented, made by blending young and old lambics, giving it a strong funkiness that elicited some pretty harsh reactions from some of our tasters. “It’s giving essence of bile,” one wrote. Most found it to be simply too sour, but others were a little more generous, offering up comments like “I want to like it, but I’m not sure,” “Gets better the more you drink it” and “Have to sip and savor.”

11. Sierra Nevada Wild Little Thing (20 points)

ABV: 5.5%

Sierra Nevada refers to its Wild Little Thing as a “slightly sour ale,” but perhaps they should have been aiming for more than a slight sour flavor. Instead, our tasters picked up on an odd, cloying sweetness. “Tastes like fruit but also like soap,” one wrote. It’s made with guava, hibiscus and strawberries, but something about that combination of ingredients resulted in what another taster described as a “weird Jolly Rancher taste.”

10. Collective Arts Jam Up the Mash (22 points)

ABV: 5.2%

This mixed fermentation brew was significantly hoppier than any of the other sours we tasted, and a good portion of us found it to be not right for the style. (“It’s too bitter to be a sour,” one wrote.) Ultimately, however, that hoppiness seemed to be its one memorable quality: others described it as “a little forgettable,” “pretty low-key” and “boring.”

9. Victory Sour Monkey (24 points)

ABV: 9.5%

At 9.5% ABV, this sour tripel was by far the booziest of the beers we tasted. In some ways, its high alcohol content actually offset the sour flavor, and our tasters were pretty divided over whether or not that was a good thing. Some found it to be almost dangerously smooth; it’d be easy to accidentally drink too many of these. (“Goes down easy — too easy,” one taster noted.) One person in particular, however, absolutely loved it, writing, “I’ve never had anything like it. It’s sour but so much more — it has body, brains and beauty.”

8. Radiant Pig Juicy Fruit Sour (25 points)

ABV: 5.2%

This tropical-inspired sour is made with pink guava, papaya and ginger. One taster noted the guava came through strongly but also inexplicably identified a “weird peanut butter taste.” Perhaps it had something to do with its almost-creamy texture? “Good, traditional fruited sour,” another taster wrote. “Has a little bit of that milky vibe.” Others were less impressed: one singled out a “weird aftertaste,” while another wrote, “Very drinkable, but not knocking my socks off.”

7 (tie). Dogfish Head SeaQuench Ale (27 points)

ABV: 4.9%

Dogfish Head describes this brew as “a mash-up of a crisp Kölsch, a salty Gose and a tart Berliner Weiss.” It’s brewed with black limes, sour lime juice and sea salt, and it essentially tastes like the sour beer version of a margarita. “I love this and could drink it forever,” one impressed taster wrote. But several others lamented the fact that it didn’t seem sour enough and deducted some points for its relatively mellow flavor.

7 (tie). DESTIHL WiLD Sour Series, Synchopathic (27 points)

ABV: 6.0%

This dry-hopped sour earned some positive praise like “just the right amount of hops” and “very drinkable,” and it won over a few with its hints of citrus. But it had a piney, almost resinous aroma to it that one taster couldn’t quite get past, admitting that the “smell was kinda off-putting to me, so taste was immediately uninteresting.” Overall, most of our tasters found it to be pretty middle-of-the-road; it’s a good beer, but it failed to stand out from the rest of the pack.

5. SingleCut Kim Hibiscus Sour (30.75 points)

ABV: 4.2%

This fruited Berliner Weisse pours a gorgeous pink color, thanks to the hibiscus it’s infused with. And it doesn’t just look good, either: as one taster wrote, “Very drinkable. Hibiscus comes through.” It’s made with blackcurrants, but interestingly another taster picked up on a different fruity flavor. “Smells super floral, but the flavor is way more sour and grapefruity,” they wrote.

4. Threes Brewing Eternal Return Peach (31 points)

ABV: 6.0%

This American wild ale is aged in oak barrels with peaches, and while it generally received high marks from our tasters — “so elegant and balanced,” one raved — several people docked it a few points for its less-than-pronounced peach flavor. “Not that peachy, but great,” one wrote. “Subtle peach, maybe would’ve wanted more,” another said. “Wanted to feel like I was in the middle of a peach field.”

3 (tie). Brooklyn Bel Air Sour (32.5 points)

ABV: 4.5%

It’s only April, but Brooklyn Brewery’s Bel Air Sour had us dreaming of warmer weather. Several of our tasters pointed out it’d be perfect for a sweaty day, with one writing, “Refreshing, good beer for summer” and another noting that it “smells beachy, gives off summer vibes.” Its relatively low ABV makes it extremely sessionable, which means it’s a great day-drinking option. (One taster simply wrote, “Drink five at a BBQ.”) It’s a classic for a reason, and as one commenter put it, “They broke the mold with this one.”

3 (tie). Bronx Brewery City Island Sour (32.5 points)

ABV: 6.0%

Our tasters all agreed that this sour IPA is pretty much our platonic ideal for this type of beer. “This is everything I want a sour beer to be,” one raved, while another noted that it”tastes like a day in the sun.” The hops are subtle here, giving us just enough to make their presence known while still allowing for a crisp, refreshing overall flavor. As one taster wrote, “This feels like it’s the standard of what a good sour should be.”

1. Threes Brewing Eternal Return Raspberry (35 points)

ABV: 6.0%

Finishing just five points shy of a perfect score, this wild ale aged in oak barrels with raspberries won us over with its tart fruitiness. It’s got a nice crisp flavor that would pair extremely well with food. (As one taster wrote, “Would drink with a PB&J.” Another appreciated its pleasant nose, writing that it “smells like fruity pastries.” One even loved it so much, they found it to be in a class of its own, summing it up with one word: “Unparalleled.”