I’m going to be upfront and honest from the get-go … I’m not a big fan of sour beer! But in the interests of balance (and to broaden my horizons) I have collected a small sample of locally brewed sour beers to review for hoppiness.co.nz. First cab off the rank is Baylands Brewing Slackline Boysenberry Gose. Pink Himalayan sea salt has been added in to offset the tartness provided by fresh Hawke’s Bay boysenberries. Balance is a characteristic to look for when drinking beer so it was quite a cool experience evaluating it in a sour beer. My view is that they have achieved their goal. While the beer is initially sour, it doesn’t linger too long as the salt washes across the backend to provide that all important balance. The boysenberry flavour is just right, not too strong … perhaps this is best described as a sour glass of Ribena?
