Sour Beer
Sour has an intentionally acidic, tart or sour taste. The most common sour beer styles are Belgian: lambics, gueuze and Flanders red ale.
At one time, all beers were sour to some degree. As pure yeast cultures were not available, the starter used from one batch to another usually contained some wild yeast and bacteria. Unlike modern brewing, which is done in a sterile environment to guard against the intrusion of wild yeast, sour beers are made by intentionally allowing wild yeast strains or bacteria into the brew. Traditionally, Belgian brewers allowed wild yeast to enter the brew naturally through the barrels or during the cooling of the wort in a Koelschip open to the outside air – an unpredictable process that many modern brewers avoid.
The most common agents used to intentionally sour beer are Lactobacillus, Brettanomyces and Pediococcus. Another method for achieving a tart flavor is adding fruit during the aging process to spur a secondary fermentation or contribute microbes present on the fruit's skin.
Because of the uncertainty involved in using wild yeast, the sour beer brewing process is extremely unpredictable. The beer takes months to ferment and can take years to mature.
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Garage Projectfrom $5.99
Kettle soured wheat, lightly salted and infused with white peaches - a delicate three way salty, sweet and sour balancing act. A little bit of whit...
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Garage Project$37.99
Three, itʼs the magic number. OTP - a special series of sours, each batch combining a trio of unusual ingredients based on the perfect principle of...
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Garage Project$42.99
Is it a beer? Is it a wine? Whole bunches of Sav Blanc grapes, stems and all, dumped into a big amphora with our specially prepared wort and left t...
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Garage Projectfrom $6.99
Beyond the Pale, a Garage tradition celebrating New Zealand’s own fantastic Fringe Festival with a very special avant-garde offering.This year our ...
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Single Fruit - Cherry is the first of our Harvest series, a blend of oak barrel sour beer, infused with Montmorency cherries from Springbank Or...
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Garage Project$39.99
The first in a very special series of beers that capture the essence of Wild Workshop. Two parts New Zealand grown pilsner malt to ...
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ParrotDog$11.99
New Zealand grows more boysenberries than anywhere else, thanks to people like Glen. The fruit from his farm gives this beer its maroon hue and tar...
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Garage Project$39.99
You can have too much of a good thing. London, October 17 1814: one of the Horse Shoe Brewery’s massive beer vats collapses releasing over half a m...
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Deep Creek Brewing Co.from $8.99
With the tropical aroma and flavours of sweet pineapple and a hint of fresh mint overlaying a light zesty citrus base, this is the perfect refreshe...
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8 Wired Brewing Co.from $7.99
Who doesnt like a fresh raspberry sour? This one is brewed with freeze dried oregano, basil and thyme. Fruity, cmmplex, effervescent and bery refre...
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Garage Project$33.99
It�s the elephant in the room � an �artful� blend of mixed ferment beers, created with Michael Parekowhai and inspired by his playful sculptural pa...
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Isthmus Brewing$8.99
Gone Troppo is kettle soured and fermented with mango and passion fruit pulp. It has loads of tropical fruit flavour and aroma, with a tart and ref...
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Urbanaut Brewing Co$10.99
Beer Blender - Blood Orange Kveik IPA 6.5% x Mosaic Mango Sour 4.5% (2 x 250ml Can) Each BEER BLENDER contains 2 x 250ml beers designed to beenjoye...
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Duncan's Brewing$11.50
Duncan's Boysenberry Ripple Ice Cream Sour shows just how versatile beer can be! Get ready to bend your mind and your taste buds as you smash down ...
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North End Brewingfrom $5.99
Just because something is small doesn't mean it won't pack a punch. The little, delicate, dried flowers of the hibiscus plant are a case in point a...
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Garage Projectfrom $5.50
Grapefruit, cucumber and celery - unusual ingredients which combine to create a delightfully clean sparkling sour beer. Kettle soured and infused w...
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The latest release in our ongoing serious of foraged flower ferments. For this brew, freshly harvested whole bines were plunged into a light golden...
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Garage Projectfrom $5.50
Buy the ticket, take the ride. We�re going on a trip and you�re invited. Never mind the kool-aid, this is the Electric Dry Hop Acid Test. Kettle so...
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Garage Project$13.99
In Japan, during the briefest of seasonal windows, green yuzu on the cusp of ripeness is combined with crushed green chilli and salt, then fermente...
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8 Wired Brewing Co.$22.99
�Gypsy Fruits� is a grapefruit version of �Gypsy Funk� a barrel aged Sour IPA 8 Wired released a few years ago. They took a sour beer that was aged...
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8 Wired Brewing Co.$18.99
This IPA was not only brewed with a ludicrous amount of hops but also fermented with Brettanomyces Bruxellensis. The little critter that many brewe...
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Deep Creek Brewing Co.from $8.99
A classic Berliner Weisse style sour with the addition of raspberry and mango pulp. Up front fruity tartness of raspberry balanced by a touch of ma...
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Garage Project$33.99
Barrel-Aged Blended Sour with Golden Kiwifruit, Mango & Passionfruit Neighbours, everybody needs good neighbours. With a little understanding...
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Garage Projectfrom $6.99
Dragon fruit, galangal and pandan leaf sour. It’s that time again, time for something less ordinary. Now a Garage tradition, every year Beyond the ...
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Deep Creek Brewing Co.from $9.50
A limited release from our Tiki Range of fruit cocktail inspired sour beers, Waikiki is reminiscent of summer days with fresh watermelon pulp hand-...
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Garage Projectfrom $7.99
Muse: Au Naturel - our Wild Workshop ‘house sour’, a pristine blank canvas that invites creative possibilities. Fermented with Lactobacillus and ou...
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Garage Project$34.99
Oud Bruin, the traditional brown ale of Flemish Belgium, here painstakingly recreated and lovingly tended by Dave Bell, our Wild Workshop brewer. P...
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North End Brewing$8.50
Farmhouse brewers in Wallonia on the Belgian - French border produce incredibly complex and yet refreshing beers that combine spicy yeast cultures,...
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Yeastie Boys$9.99
Step back in time with this complex yet refreshing historical German-style session beer, which we�ve given a modern cocktail twist to with addition...
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Garage Project$36.99
The most rare and extraordinary Toadstone, the mythical gem formed in the head of a toad and said to possess the power to render poisons harmless.D...
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Garage Project$34.99
The latest release in our Wild Workshop Wildflower series. The concept is simple. Freshly foraged wildflowers are plunged into a light golden base ...
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Garage Project$34.99
A true celebration of the seasons. At its heart, one of our first mixed ferment sours, aged for over a year in a large oak foeder, then rested on t...
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Deep Creek Brewing Co.$8.99
A Berliner Weisse that's full of Kiwi summer fruit - nectarines, peaches and apricots. Expect layers of sweet fruit and a lovely tart finish. Brewe...
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Deep Creek Brewing Co.$8.99
A release from our Tiki Range of fruit cocktail inspired sours, this guava passionfruit sour style (Berliner Weisse) is made with 100% fruit pulp, ...
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8 Wired Brewing Co.$22.99
We barrel aged our first beer in 2010. Since then we have built up what we believe is one of the largest barrel ageing programmes of any brewery in...
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8 Wired Brewing Co.$23.99
This is the last barrel aged beer we brewed in Blenheim, before uprooting and setting up a new brewery in the North. A 100% spontaneous fermented a...
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8 Wired Brewing Co.$23.99
A sour ale brewed the traditional way. Aged in Pinot Noir barrels for 2 years with blackcurrants & a bunch of microbes, creating a complex mela...
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