What food pairs well with sour beer?

Sour beers don’t just make excellent palate cleansers between courses – they’re a match made in heaven with a variety of foods. The acidity of this type of beer makes it versatile enough to work well with a wide range of cuisines, complementing savoury and spicy dishes in particular. A sour beer would pair well with fatty, salty, or fried foods like: •Cuts of ribeye beef, cured/smoked meats, or sausages•Greasy French fries or onion rings with burgers•Strong cheeses like sharp cheddar, goat, or gorgonzola•Seafood like clams, mussels, and oysters served with lemon•Tex-Mex like fajitas or enchiladas with chilli and cheese. This type of beer also works with egg dishes like omelettes, and even creamy desserts. From spicy Indian curries to hearty British stews, or even backyard summer barbecues, sour beers can be a refreshing pairing for all kinds of meals. Look for foods that balance the distinct flavours of your sour beer of choice and you can’t really go wrong.

Sour Beer

Q: What does sour beer taste like?

It’s as simple as it sounds – a sour beer is intentionally made to have a tart or acidic taste. Other beers, like pale ales, focus on the earthy bitterness of hops and fruity undertones. Sour beers lean into the acidity of sour and sweet fruits to complement the tanginess caused by the lactic acid bacteria and wild yeast they’re fermented with. Sour beer is sharper on the tongue, but like all beer styles, some sour beers lean into the strong flavour and even enhance it with other sour ingredients, like lemon, while others try to balance it with sweeter fruit flavours. Some brews can be mouth-puckeringly sour, and some can have a refreshing amount of crisp acidity that leaves you wanting another taste. At Wild Beer Co, we offer a selection of sour beers inspired by summer fruits, whiskey sours, and barrel-aged wines. Whether you enjoy the pairing of sourness with passionfruit and hibiscus, aged hops and nectarine, or simple lemon and salt, each one of our sour beers has a deliciously tart and invigorating flavour. If you have a high tolerance for bitterness, why not try sour for a change?

Q: How should you serve sour beer?

As with any beer, you don’t want to serve sour beers too cold or too warm. Overly chilling beers can mask their flavour, while beers can taste unpleasantly flat at room temperature or above. Most beers are best served within the 4–13°C (40–55°F) range, either straight from the fridge or after allowing them time to warm up a little. When it comes to sour beer, it’s best to serve it at what’s known as ‘cellar temperature’ – the 10–13°C (50–55°F) range. This provides the best drinkability, as anything lower could dull the flavours and anything higher could reduce the carbonation. While some people like to drink straight from the can or bottle, some prefer to enhance the drinking experience by pouring their sour beer into a glass – but which beer glassware is best for sour beers? You can serve beer in snifters, tumblers, or even wine glasses, but your best bet for enhancing the aromatic experience of drinking sour beer is a stemmed tulip glass, like our Wild Beer Teku glass. These are also great for elevating the visuals, as fruity sour beers have lovely colours that look stunning in tulip glasses when photographed for social media.

Sour beers are our passion; the essence of what we aspire to create at Wild Beer Co. The tradition of barrel-ageing and blending means our sour beers are made to be consumed over time. The journey from subtle acidity to boldly complex flavours is a reward in itself. Our unique use of natural ingredients creates an authentic sourness that leaves layers of refreshing tanginess and addictive waves of flavour on your palette.

Barrel-Aged Sour Beers

Looking for something a little different than a standard fruity pale ale? Just like lemonade and summer fruits, sour beers make a truly refreshing... Read more

Barrel-Aged Sour Beers

Looking for something a little different than a standard fruity pale ale? Just like lemonade and summer fruits, sour beers make a truly refreshing drink for people with less conventional tastes. So why not try a sour beer to shake things up and give your tastebuds a pleasantly shocking surprise?

Beer is already an acquired taste for some, just like black coffee or dark chocolate – but sour beers take this a step further by pairing bitter hops with a twist of acidic tartness.

While it might seem like a boundary-breaking approach with a niche following, it’s actually one of the oldest styles of beer. Once upon a time, most beers would be sour due to limited preservative options, but this style fell out favour with modern brewing methods. That is, until the craft brewery movement brought it back into the limelight.

Unusual on the first try yet brilliantly fruity, thirst-quenching yet moreish, mouth-puckering sour IPAs are an exciting alternative to traditionally hops-heavy beers. Made using wild bacteria and yeast allowed to ferment for months and mature for years, producing lactic acid that lends a remarkably tangy flavour, this sour beverage is definitely not your average beer.

Browse our selection of delicious sour beer flavours below to find your perfect palate-refresher.

Sour Beer Bottles, Mini Kegs, and Mixed Cases

At the Wild Beer Co, our first-ever product was a barrel-aged sour beer, and we’ve continued to experiment with fruit-flavoured beers of all kinds ever since. Our range of sour beers has now extended to include a variety of barrel-aged beers that transform red wines and whisky sours into sensationally sharp-tasting brews.

If you’re new to the world of sour beers and not quite sold on the concept yet, be sure to read through our guide to sour beer – you’ll soon see that there’s nothing to be scared of! Once you look through our selection, we’re certain one of our fruity sour beers will catch your eye and get your tastebuds tingling.

Often session-strength or above, these powerful beers are best enjoyed slowly, sip by sip. We’ve even provided examples of the best foods to pair each sour beer with, so check out the product page for your chosen flavour to learn more about that particular brew before you buy.

We have a range of sour reds to choose from, plus white wine, barley wine, and whisky inspired flavour profiles. Whether you prefer a blend of stone fruits, a partnership of passion fruit and pink pepper, or a sweet edge of apricot and nectarine in your sour beer, we have something for everyone – wherever you might be in your sour beer journey.

Our flavours are available in a range of bottle sizes between 330ml–750ml, while our special ‘Sleeping Lemons’ citrus sour beer is available in 440ml cans or 5L mini kegs. If you want an expert introduction to sour beers, we also sell a mixed case with four of our most popular flavours. Or, if you’re done dipping your toes and ready to dive right in, why not try building your own bundle?

Sour Beer FAQs

It’s as simple as it sounds – a sour beer is intentionally made to have a tart or acidic taste. Other beers, like pale ales, focus on the earthy bitterness of hops and fruity undertones. Sour beers lean into the acidity of sour and sweet fruits to complement the tanginess caused by the lactic acid bacteria and wild yeast they’re fermented with.

Sour beer is sharper on the tongue, but like all beer styles, some sour beers lean into the strong flavour and even enhance it with other sour ingredients, like lemon, while others try to balance it with sweeter fruit flavours. Some brews can be mouth-puckeringly sour, and some can have a refreshing amount of crisp acidity that leaves you wanting another taste.

At Wild Beer Co, we offer a selection of sour beers inspired by summer fruits, whiskey sours, and barrel-aged wines. Whether you enjoy the pairing of sourness with passionfruit and hibiscus, aged hops and nectarine, or simple lemon and salt, each one of our sour beers has a deliciously tart and invigorating flavour. If you have a high tolerance for bitterness, why not try sour for a change?

As with any beer, you don’t want to serve sour beers too cold or too warm. Overly chilling beers can mask their flavour, while beers can taste unpleasantly flat at room temperature or above. Most beers are best served within the 4–13°C (40–55°F) range, either straight from the fridge or after allowing them time to warm up a little.

When it comes to sour beer, it’s best to serve it at what’s known as ‘cellar temperature’ – the 10–13°C (50–55°F) range. This provides the best drinkability, as anything lower could dull the flavours and anything higher could reduce the carbonation.

While some people like to drink straight from the can or bottle, some prefer to enhance the drinking experience by pouring their sour beer into a glass – but which beer glassware is best for sour beers?

You can serve beer in snifters, tumblers, or even wine glasses, but your best bet for enhancing the aromatic experience of drinking sour beer is a stemmed tulip glass, like our Wild Beer Teku glass.

These are also great for elevating the visuals, as fruity sour beers have lovely colours that look stunning in tulip glasses when photographed for social media.

Sour beers don’t just make excellent palate cleansers between courses – they’re a match made in heaven with a variety of foods. The acidity of this type of beer makes it versatile enough to work well with a wide range of cuisines, complementing savoury and spicy dishes in particular.

A sour beer would pair well with fatty, salty, or fried foods like:

Cuts of ribeye beef, cured/smoked meats, or sausages
Greasy French fries or onion rings with burgers
Strong cheeses like sharp cheddar, goat, or gorgonzola
Seafood like clams, mussels, and oysters served with lemon
Tex-Mex like fajitas or enchiladas with chilli and cheese

This type of beer also works with egg dishes like omelettes, and even creamy desserts. From spicy Indian curries to hearty British stews, or even backyard summer barbecues, sour beers can be a refreshing pairing for all kinds of meals. Look for foods that balance the distinct flavours of your sour beer of choice and you can’t really go wrong.