American Sour Beers

What a wonderful book! Sour beers have been traditionally classed as a Flanders Ale (Red or Brown), some variant of Lambic or as a Berliner Weisse. There are alternatives and that's what this book is all about. This is a recently published book and I see new styles of sour ales are finding their way into the BJCP guidelines. This is an exciting time for homebrewers.This book is probably the most comprehensive text on sour beers for the home brewer - it's full of useful information. The author has a website (search for the 'Mad Fermentationist') and obviously has a lot of experience on this topic.Be warned, this is not a book for the beginner. Brewing sour beers is a long complicated process and the results are not assured. The reader must be at least familiar with all grain brewing techniques in order to get most out of the book.Those of you who have already acquired a taste for sour beers will know that commercial examples are not at cheap and often will cost 10 to 30 dollars for a single bottle. Making them yourself costs no more than for other beers - you just have to wait a few years before they are ready. So start the production line now - this book will help you.Those of you who haven't acquired a taste, go out and buy some and see what you're missing - then buy this book.Highly recommended!

This book is fantastically well researched, and extremely informative in an area of brewing that is short on really quality literature. "Wild Brews" and "Farmhouse Ales" are both very quality books for traditional methods and the history of old world "wild" beers, but if you are interested in brewing or consuming experimental American sour beers, this book is absolutely essential.The author has an exceptional blog he has maintained for many years titled "The Mad Fermentationist". I have read nearly every article on the blog, and it got me started brewing sour beers in my own home. I have brewed over a dozen sour beers now, and felt like I mostly knew what I was doing. This book goes FAR beyond the content on his blog, and expanded my knowledge far beyond what I expected.The in-depth information into the methods of elite sour breweries and award winning homebrewers allows you to not only attempt to replicate their methods, but also gives you enough information to create your own methods from their advice. While incredibly well researched and dense with information, the book is extremely accessible due to the excellent writing style of the author.Overall I can't recommend it enough. If you brew sour beer, or want to brew sour beer, you absolutely must own a copy of this book.

Michael Tonsmiere is a national treasure for brewers. I've gotten more knowledge from reading his website, his posts and comments on Reddit and elsewhere, than from anyone else in the brewing industry, besides my amazing boss who taught me this trade. As a homebrewer, I purchased American Sour Beers and pored through it absorbing as much as my brain could handle. As a professional brewer, I've read it again and it has helped immensely - as I used this info to begin our own sour program. Anyway, if you are a homebrewer or a professional brewer that wants to know how the absolute best in this industry make sour beer, then you need to read this book. His exhaustive research for this book benefits us all. Anyhoo, thanks for writing this book, Michael. And to you reading this review, your drinkers demand that you purchase this book!

Yea, you figure you could probably find a lot of the information in this book online, if you spent a few days scouring forums and blog posts that all somewhat contradict each other. Or you could just buy this book. Anyone that's used to buying homebrewing paperbacks kind of gets used to the thin volume with somewhat oversized and spaced text, but this book is not one of them. This book is abut the thickness of a Brewing Classic Styles and a Farmhouse Ales added together, which is to say that it's quite a deal for the price listed here. There's tons of information, some of it so specific and comprehensive I doubt you're going to find a better source unless you happen to have the phone numbers of some notable brewmasters.

Dear Michael,Your zeal for brewing is more infectious than some Brett in an old wooden barrel.Out of all the great Brewers out there, I am hard pressed to think of anyone that embodies the spirit of homebrewing more than you. Thank you for being a great asset to the homebrewing community and inspiring me to brew better beer.Your writing style (as in your blog) is approachable, smart and informative. I just brewed my first Berliner Weisse with the recipe out of the book. I used Wyeast 5335 and Wlp 644 for the fermentation. Very strange looking spent grain in the mash tun!I look forward to using this book as my guide through my Sour Beer journey.Regards,Jon Permen

This book will serve as a valuable and enduring resource for adventurous brewers at all levels of expertise. It is well documented yet clear and comprehendible throughout. The author starts with a primer on sour beers then takes the reader step by step through various options at each stage of sour beer production. He explains the different mindset necessary to brew sours and guides the reader through the creative journey with numerous concrete examples and advice from successful brewers. The book wraps up with an array of proven recipes as well as suggestions for further experimentation.On another note, the author writes an impressive blog at [...] and offers in the introduction of this book to answer specific questions from worried brewers that contact him through his blog.

I’ve always had a thing for sour beers but I had never considered brewing one as it all seemed a bit too complicated, but this book has done a great job of dispelling the myths surround this dark art. Written by Michael Tonsmeire, author of The Mad Fermentationist blog, you know the subject is in good hands and he certainly does a great job of talking you through the various methods of souring a beer. In fact, before he gets into the nitty gritty of things he advises to start a sour brew as you read through the book so that you can follow the beers journey first hand. Along with the methods employed, he also talks about the origin of sour beers in Europe before turning his attention to the title subject matter - American sour beers and the breweries that produce them, such as Lost Abbey and Russian River. Each brewery has their own methods and this book does a sterling job at conveying them through a series of flow charts, making it a piece of cake to follow. The latter part of the book has some of Michael’s own tried and tested recipes which make for a good starting point for anyone wanting to try their hand. If you have a taste for the sours then you really can’t afford to miss out on this super read, even if you don’t plan on brewing one! For me personally, this is right up there with ‘Yeast’ for importance of information.

This book is Authored by the blogger The Mad FermentationistA must read for anyone serious about making or venturing in to the world of sour beers, this book assumes that you are already experienced in all grain brewing and you should have at least a basic understanding of yeast and step mashing to get through it without further research. Having read Yeast, Brewing with Wheat and Brew like a Monk made this book understandable for me and I will be using it for reference for many many years. Metric measurements are in brackets next to the imperial ones for this side of the pond also SG, FG are also given in °P.Rather than making a beer that takes days weeks and months sours take weeks months and years so it is suggested that you get one on right away! However I would read at least part of this book and have a look at the recipes before getting a brew on (my first is still in the primary since July last year!)The author has taken a selection of brewery's in the USA who make sour beer as part or all of their production, he has interviewed the brewers responsible for the sour beers and highlights their processes which vary vastly. Although the book title is American Sour Beers in which many yeast strains are sourced from yeast labs it also covers spontaneous fermentation (beer left to pick up wild yeast strains with no pitching of yeast cultures) from the likes of Anchorage Brewing Company and the 'traditional' process by the Belgian brewers which some brewery's in the USA have adopted.The book also covers barrel aging and blending which is a good read but not much use to us home brewers with limited space however it does go in to adding oak blocks/chips and oxidization or lack of for your home brewed sour beer and if you have more that one on the go (which it suggests you should have) it will come in to use if one of your beers is lacking or has too much sourness or other character. There's a section covering the addition of fruit and vegetables and suggested amounts to use of each.Apart from making truly 'sour beer' I will be making a 'Strong English Stock Ale' with the intention of using it as a blend for Brown Ale, Stout or Porter to see if I can get a taste of traditional beer before Brett was eradicated from our shores. Lastly if you are having trouble culturing the dregs from Old Rosie for your turbo cider then you could use some wheat beer yeast and some yeast slurry from your sour beer, that might work!

Loads of info on sour beers from the base of to how they are done in various types

Phenomenally informative and comprehensive volume detailing sour beer production methods, from Belgium to the US scene, home-brewing and commercial production. Especially readable too; I devoured the whole book in a very short space of time. Not only does the book provide a whole series of sample recipes, but the text is peppered at very regular intervals with helpful information, picking apart a brewer's rational for recipe formulation and physical method of production. In short, an inspiring publication: if this book doesn't fill the reader full of their own ideas, they must be a very unimaginative person!

The wealth of knowledge shared in this book is great. It far surpasses the cover price . Includes the theory of fermenting with alternatives to yeast as well as guidance on base beers, flavouring and bottling all backed up by suggested recipes which themselves are left wide open to the home brewer's variations. Easy to read too.