Let'em Eat Cake
"Sour" beer is a difficult category to measure, which is why you don't hear a lot of statistics about it. When it comes to sales data tracked in major retailers, a significant portion of ''sours'' are incorrectly classified, or they cross over into another style and are housed there instead. In IRI, these crossovers include Seasonal, Special Release, Belgium Ale, IPA, etc., instead of the "Wild or Sour Ales" bucket. Lagunitas' Aunt Sally for example, falls under Seasonal. So a significant chunk of data gets lost, leaving you with a painful exercise to truly understand how well sour is actually selling in the US.
The American Wild Ale (AWA), barrel-aged/mixed fermentation, component is even more of a mystery, with most of its sales traditionally taking place direct-to-consumer through taprooms, or in small, independent stores not tracked by Nielsen or IRI. As a long time fan and someone who keeps close tabs on AWAs, I feel confident in saying that these high-end sours are hurting in sales, both in attracting new fans and maintaining the ones who bought so many cork & cages from 2012-2015. To confirm or deny my suspicions, I reached out to my friend Dave Hawley who owns The Beer Cellar in Glen Ellyn, IL. Dave and I met in 2014 while sharing a bottle of Veritas 014 from Lost Abbey, an oak-aged golden ale with cherries, so he was the perfect friend to team up with on this topic.
''We have definitely seen a decline in sales on large format AWAs,'' Hawley explained. ''We've received some well-known sour breweries entering the market recently and while I know our longtime AWA customer is excited for those to hit our shelves, we really can only depend on that small group to purchase them, which typically range from $25-$50 in price.''
My first post of the year included a 2019 prediction from Dan Becker of TheFullPint.com that wild fermentation-only breweries would no longer be able to stay in business selling only sour ales, mixed fermentation and tart saisons. His prediction cut me deep, as these have long been my favorite style to seek-out, but his points made a lot of sense for the financial viability of these businesses. Lost Abbey (San Marcos, CA), one of the early sour breweries in the US, seems to have been ahead of this trend having launched The Hop Concept brand years ago, to focus on IPAs and diversify their portfolio, while staying true to the Lost Abbey brand. Dan mentioned seeing breweries like Sante Adairius (Capitola, CA), who is famous for their world class sours and saisons, follow suit by canning their first IPAs this past December.
Hawley added a local example here in the Chicago/SW Michigan market, ''Transient comes to mind with this method as well. When Chris [Betts] launched, he mostly sold AWA and Saisons. Then he came out with Obligatory Pale Ale and Buckley Imperial Stout. People started to flock to his beer because he branched out on styles. The Buckley and Neckbeard Nectar lines of Imperial Stouts and his hazy IPAs such as The Juice is Loose have helped gain him popularity and allows him to put out some of the best AWA in the country. He has 500ml bottles of AWA on my shelf for between $7.99-$11.99.''
So what happened to the long lines and quick sell-through of AWAs? After polling a beer forum full of current and former sour drinkers, and retracing my own steps from the past 5-6 years, here were the most common themes:
Price - Wild Ales aren't cheap and at a small fraction of the ABV, the perceived value isn't always there anymore, compared to say a 15% barrel-aged stout.
Format - Until recently, you didn't see many Wild Ales outside of the 750ml bottle. As beer "cellars" ballooned out of control, consumers pushed back as it became challenging to work through those large formats, many of which were...
Way Too Acidic - A lot of semi-retired sour drinkers whom I chatted with brought up the heart burn they got from drinking more than a single, moderate-sized pour of many wild ales. Breweries have certainly made strides to dial it back more recently, but earlier examples seemed to have pushed many people away. To be fair, a "that's really freaking sour" reaction used to automatically get you 5 bottle caps when enthusiasts didn't know how else to judge them. The harshness of the acidity also prevented a lot of sours from standing out and differentiating from other examples.
Education & Relatability - Many of the sought-after Imperial Stouts that are gaining the hearts and sweet tooths of consumers are structured around relatable flavors, often built to remind you of a particular breakfast or dessert. Yes...pastry stouts. To enjoy the brewer's intent, you merely need to taste that association and wont be looked at for tasting notes beyond your skillset. Similar to wine, sours tend to take more of an advanced palate and vocabulary, which is intimidating and frankly less fun for an entry-level beer enthusiast.
Quantity of Producers - You used to be able to rattle off the breweries who focused on wild fermentation around the country. Like all styles, countless new openings have saturated us with sour options via new breweries and wider distribution from the OGs.
"Shifts to small formats have definitely helped give us a product to sell into people beginning to dabble in sours," Dave explained. "Let's use the Bruery as an example. We have seen slow pull through on their $20 750ml AWAs, but in 2018 they released Orchard Wit in a 375ml. This is a tart wheat beer that is $4.99 on the shelf. Those were sold out in 1 day."
Hawley went on to explain his stores' strategy to introducing new drinkers to Wild Ales, "Part of my job and my staff's job is to make sure our customers leave with the right beer in their hand. We can't let someone walk out with a $25 AWA to experiment with, that isn't good for the customer's wallet or for us to scare them out of a style. By offering some less expensive smaller formats to the consumer we can confidently let them take a chance on a $5 or $10 bottle. We make sure to have at least one "sour" on tap as well. This gives us the opportunity to let people try sour beer, and is where we see the most 'conversions'."
So how do we turn things around and ensure that enthusiasm for American Wild Ales continues to grow?
"I think we need more approachable sour beers available," Hawley suggests. "Let's go back to Orchard Wit from The Bruery. Every novice beer drinker knows what a German Weiss or Belgian Wit is, even if they only know Blue Moon or Hacker Pschorr. I believe that lower price point, smaller format single bottles of fruited Gose, Berliners and Wheat beers will help the newer sour drinkers get into the category with a slightly different take on the styles they are comfortable drinking already."
I agree with the concept of new takes on sours. The younger demographic, who attends beer releases more frequently and spends a higher proportion of their income on beer has been trending sweet, coinciding with their pursuit of relatable flavors. So I've got a proposal that you're going to absolutely hate, or who knows, maybe I'll convince you. I'm not pulling this completely out of my own head. It's inspired by the latest offerings that my favorite breweries have begun dabbling in, and I think it's a genius way to lure in some new or lost fans.
Pastry Sours
Bear with me...I'm not talking about lactose-driven sweetness, and I'm certainly not suggesting exploding Jamba Juice smoothies in a can. I'm also not proposing that anyone change their identity. I'm talking about getting creative with ingredients to introduce an intriguing release or series that would catch the eye and inspire todays burgeoning beer nerd or IPA/stout seeker. By connecting the end result to a familiar flavor combination, you lower the drawbridge to these drinkers, allowing fans to comfortably walk to the other side. Acquiring their trust and building a little excitement will garner their attention for some education and future appreciation of the style, with or without a gimmick.
Take a look at what Allagash did with Ganache:
Allagash was far from the first brewery to try to make this kind of flavor connection with a sour beer. The first I recall trying myself took place in October 2016 when I visited Portland, OR for a conference and had dinner at Great Notion Brewing. Every recommendation that I received included a taste of Blueberry Muffin, their kettle sour designed to smell and taste just like it's name. I was skeptical at first, and more looking forward to drinking their flavorful IPAs. However, I was immediately blown away before I even had a taste, thanks to that fresh, sweet dough and oozing warm fruit aroma that hit me as the server set it in front of me. It's one of those beer experiences that I'll always remember and they've got a curious fan for life now.
The way that their brewers incorporate the doughiness and juicy blueberry flavors, with the tartness of the Berliner Weisse base, was truly innovative and not something I've heard of being replicated to this degree of precision. For the right occasion, like a brunch where you want to enjoy some lower ABV drinks, a couple cans of these will blow the minds of your casual beer drinkers who would typically gravitate toward a glass of wine, a cocktail, or a mimosa.
"The latest introduction of pastry sours are a great way to turn heads to the category," Dave agreed. "Crooked Stave's Mama Bear's Sour Cherry Pie and Almanac's Peach Cobbler come to mind. These are sour beers that remind the drinker of something familiar and safe. I don't know if that will lead the consumer to a $40 750ml purchase of an AWA but it will at least make them aware of the style and allow them to dabble in it as much as they are comfortable."
Earlier, I mentioned Veritas 014 from Lost Abbey, which I shared with Dave nearly 5 years ago. Well, my interest in that series has continued all these years and just last weekend I opened a Veritas 021. This batch caught my eye because it deviated from their typical single fruit versions, or familiar combinations like Peaches/Apricots/Nectarines. V021 introduced two new flavors to the series, featuring raspberries, with vanilla and cinnamon. This blend knocked my socks off and rekindled my love of the series, which was beginning to feel a little stagnant. The last few blends had shown significant restraint on the acidity side, with 021 achieving another level with its evolution of flavor.
I understand anyone's skepticism around the concept of a "pastry sour" and how it may be construed as bastardizing the style and traditions. I also understand the doubt that fans of these "crazy" versions will venture into the more orthodox, traditional examples that many seek to brew. However, as Proximo said to Maximus in Gladiator: "Win the crowd. And you will win your freedom." Earn their respect, and they'll lend you their attention, visit your taproom and try other offerings that you're passionate about. Cave a little to the evolving tastes of the latest crop of beer enthusiasts that we are all still trying to figure out.
I've seen this work firsthand at Revolution, where we prefer our barley-aged stouts, barleywines, etc. to let the base and barrel do the talking. By still being willing to dabble in occasional single adjuncts like coffee, vanilla, and fruit, interest in the barrel program has grown exponentially while leaving the majority of the offerings adjunctless. In turn, our fans have seen how excited we get about the barrel-focused projects and have quickly grown to appreciate them as much as we do. Sour beer is a niche, American Wild Ales even more so. It doesn't take much for the style to fall into or out of favor with craft beer enthusiasts. As someone who desperately wants these barrel programs to continue to expand, I'm advocating for the following changes to become even more so the norm:
Continued Evolution into Smaller Formats - Trade size for velocity to widen your audience. Perhaps even pick up a little extra margin for your troubles. Consumers will move through them quicker as they don't necessarily need a partner in crime. My 375ml bottles disappear quickly, while my 750ml age away, not always gracefully.
Lower cost of entry increases sampling opportunities/experimentation and positions sours as an incremental purchase, "in addition to" not "instead of" the consumer's original intended purchase. Don't worry about being judged if you brew that stout, ipa, or lager that you promised to never do, if it provides the needed breathing room to price your AWAs more attractively.
Dialed-back acidity. Please.
Flavor innovation that introduces new combinations and sparks the imagination. In other words...let'em eat cake.
Big thanks to Dave Hawley for chatting sours with me. You can check out The Beer Cellar's great selection of packaged beer and drafts in the beautiful town of Glenn Ellyn, and just announced, his second location coming soon in Geneva.