BJCP Category 17 - Sour Ale

Very few things could get me out of the house when the weather drops below 0, but one of those things is beer. Last night my homebrew club UNYHA had a BJCP (Beer Judges Certification Program) style session, and the beer in the crosshairs is a very unique, creative, mis-understood, and often times delicious, sour ales.

The category is split into 6 categories:
17A-Berliner Weisse
17B-Flanders Red
17C-Flanders Brown
17D-Straight Unblended Lambic
17E-Geuze
17F-Fruit Lambic

Thomas, one of our beer judges and leaders of the BJCP teaching program put together an amazing collection of beers for us to try, many of which I'd never had before. Think of these beers as refreshing, sour, but not too much. Imagine a very dry white wine with different fruit and body complexity.

Trying all of these sour beers got me thinking, it might be time for me to try my hand at making one of these beers and seeing how it goes. Stay tuned for an update on that, and all of my brewing. It's been far too long since I've put fire to my brew kettle.

Special thanks to The Old Toad for being such amazing hosts. This is one of my favorite pubs in Rochester, so if you are ever in the area, let me know and we can go in for a pint!

Cheers!