Best Places To Get Sour Beers In Los Angeles
Puckering up seems to be the newest pleasure as sour beers become all the rage in Los Angeles this season. While sour beer has been around for a number of years, its recently popularity is partly due to hipsters, connoisseurs and the new generation of legal drinkers taking an interest in the acquired taste. Many decades ago, sourness would ruin a batch of beer. These days it's done on purpose and the process can take months for proper fermentation, and in some cases up to years to mature. Want to give it a taste test? Here are five places for some of the best sour beer on the market.
Highland Park Brewery
5127 York Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90042
(323) 739-6459
www.hpb.la
If you want to know as much as you can about something new, you go to the source. Highland Park Brewery not only serves sour beer but they make it, too. Their 'Raised Eyebrows' is one of their more popular ales, and yes and it's definitely on the sour side. Made with locally sourced guava and passionfruit, its flavor is quoted as being "funky and fun." If you want to try it out you'll have to make the trek to HP as Raised Eyebrows can only be found at the brewery, for now.
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The Glendale Tap
4227 San Fernando Road
Glendale, CA 91204
(818) 241-4227
www.glendaletap.com
If you're looking for a choice in sourness, The Glendale Tap has a few sour ales you can try. The Rodenbach Grand Cru Flanders Red has a slightly intense flavor of plum and black cherry with a mildly bitter finish. The Verhaeghe Duchesse De Bourgogne Flanders Red is a bit tart, a little bitter and a little sweet from cherries and caramel. Served in bottle only is the Cascade Kriek Northwest, which is aged up to 14 months in oak barrels with cherries for a medium bodied juicy and tart ale that's growing in popularity.
Little Bear
1855 Industrial St.
Los Angeles, CA 90021
(213) 622-8100
www.facebook.com
If you're into sour ales and know what you're getting into, then you'll want to stop in Little Bear for their 29 bottles of sour ales. From the oak aged amber saison of Allagash Interlude, to the unblended lambic of Hof ten Dormaal Zure van Tildonk, to the tripel/gueuze blend of Vicaris Tripel-Gueuze and whatever sour beer is rotated into the tap line up, no doubt you'll find a favorite here. And the food isn't bad either.
The Golden State
426 N. Fairfax Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90036
(323) 782-8331
www.thegoldenstatecafe.com
The Golden State is a great place to get a burger and a beer. You'd be surprised at how easy it is to pair a sour ale with something on the menu. The selection of beers change, but they keep a few sours in the rotation. Two that tend to pop up due to popular demand are the Tart of Darkness Flemish and the New Belgium Eric's Sour Peach Ale. One is dark, full bodied and quite tart and the other is a delicate balance between fruity and sour. Both go great with the Harris Ranch beef burger. Enjoy.
Beverage Warehouse
4935 McConnell Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90066
(310) 306-2822
www.beveragewarehouse.com
Hanging out in pubs is great way to enjoy your favorite sour ale, but nothing beats the comforts of home. Thanks to the Beverage Warehouse you can bring your favorite sour ale home. Whether it's to enjoy while catching a game from your couch, splurging on take-out or for a backyard winter BBQ, the Beverage Warehouse has all your favorite ales. From stouts to lagers, saisons to tripels, IPA's to sours, they'll have what you need with several hundred varieties to choose from. They also deliver if you call in before 1 p.m. the day before you want it.
Related: Best Breweries In Los Angeles
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