13 best sour beers to drink while soaking up summer rays

Best: Overall

Rating: 10/10

• ABV: 4.5 per cent
• Size: 330ml
• Style: Can

Deep in an industrial estate in Walthamstow, east London, you will stumble across rock ’n’ rollers and beer extraordinaire Signature Brew. Achieving national fame for its “pub in box”, which was released in the distant fever dreams that were the Covid lockdowns, Signature Brew cares deeply about good music and even better beer. Its C-sharp Sicilian lemon and citra sour is absolutely no exception and, in fact, is our favourite sour beer of 2022. Once poured, it’s a beautiful yellow, hazy beer with an aroma of candied lemon and meringue, plus a hint of floral. It’s brewed with real Sicilian lemons and citra (citrus) hops from the US. Like a juicy, ice cold lemonade, it’s so crisp and refreshing, with the right amount of fizzy and jaw-hugging tartness. This perfectly balanced, delightful sour beer is a real thirst-quencher and the soundtrack to our summer. In the words of Signature Brew: “Long live beer and music.”

Best: Collaboration sour beer

Rating: 9/10

• ABV: 8 per cent
• Size: 440ml
• Style: Can

Forget everything you know about breakfast juice, this guava, papaya and mango breakfast smoothie sour tastes like it should be at least one of your five a day. When poured, it’s thick, gloopy and extremely creamy, with a body like the pulpiest glass of homemade OJ. It’s all tropical fruits on the nose and the addition of oats and lactose softens the tart, sour edge of this beauty, which is the brainchild of Brew York’s collaboration with Edinburgh-based sour aficionados Vault City.

Extremely quaffable, smooth and easy-drinking, despite its high ABV, we’ve never tasted so much mango, papaya and guava in a beverage. Gorgeous hints of vanilla pod linger after each sip, making it a really unique beer – or, indeed “juice”, as the York-based brewery calls it. They do say breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and it is made with oats after all…

Best: Gose

Rating: 8/10

• ABV: 4.5 per cent
• Size: 440ml
• Style: Can

OK, we won’t lie, the first sip of this preserved lemon gose from Somerset’s-own Wild Beer Co is both tongue-curling and mouth-watering… but it’s all part of the fun! Once your palate has adjusted to this sour lemon bomb, you’re in for a treat. Pouring like a lager in body and appearance (almost), this golden, straw-coloured beer is a fine example of a classic gose. The fizzy beer has a short-lived white frothy head when pouring and tastes dry on the tongue. But don’t be fooled: this is a lip-smacking thirst-quencher at its finest. The tart sourness of the lemon is well rounded with an almost waxy, lemon rind-tasting body, complete with a salted edge. It’s delicate, refreshing and crisp, thanks to Wild impressively preserving lemons in salt in the classic Moroccan way. Forget limoncello, this lemony delight is a masterpiece.

Best: Vegan sour beer

Rating: 9/10

• ABV: 6.5 per cent
• Size: 440ml
• Style: Can

This small-batch, indie nanobrewery in Cornwall has only just celebrated its first birthday, and it’s already lovingly creating some of the best modern fruited sours we’ve tasted to date. This vegan-friendly modern fruited sour is all smoothie in mouthfeel, body and appearance, making it absolutely delicious. Plus, it’s got some of the most fun can art we’ve seen.

When poured, it’s thick and gloopy, but on the tongue it has a medium dryness that you’d expect from a fruit sour. Shining through is tart raspberry that mellows out into soft, fuzzy peach, making it super refreshing and really delicious. There’s plenty of sediment left over, which gives you a hint of just how much fresh fruited goodness has been added to the batch, too – a whopping 350g per litre! Having recently just opened a taproom, Bluntrock’s journey has just begun. Watch this space.

It’s currently out of stock, but we’ve been informed by the brewery that this will be back come August. This is not one to miss.

Best: Wild card

Rating: 7/10

• ABV: 4.3 per cent
• Size: 330ml
• Style: Bottle

It shouldn’t work, but it really, really does. Famous in the craft beer world, south London-based brewery Orbit presents its one-of-a-kind tzatziki sour. Once poured, it’s a beautiful yellow colour, which is not what you expect from its unusual cucumber and fresh mint nose – but don’t let it put you off. Once you get past the gorgeous foamy white head, you are transported to a liquidised Middle Eastern feast – it’s no wonder, considering Orbit has genuinely used yoghurt, cucumber and mint in this beer’s brewing recipe. It’s literally the famous dip, in a beer form. This lighter, cloudy sour has a slight maltiness that you might expect from a berliner weisse, with a beautiful lacing on the glass, and ends on a softer limey sharpness. It’s a novel beer and you don’t need more than a small bottle, but it’s so much fun.

Best: Saison

Rating: 8/10

• ABV: 6 per cent
• Size: 750ml
• Style: Bottle

This saison from Balance Brewing & Blending is a beauty in both taste, aroma and appearance. Balance is the only brewery in Manchester that is dedicated entirely to producing barrel-aged sour ales. Its beers stay in barrels for months, or even years, and this bretted saison was its first ever beer, released this May.

We felt hella fancy thumbing the base dips (if anyone knows the correct terminology for that, do hit us up) at the bottom of the bottle after uncorking it. On the nose, it’s honeyed peaches, apricots and crisp, fleshy white fruits. Like a good saison, it’s carbonated so it took a few moments for it to settle after briefly chilling in the fridge. Its head was brilliant white, foamy and long-lasting and its taste was stunning. It’s funky and complex, yet entirely drinkable. The house saison is blended from beer fermented and conditioned in ex-red wine barrels before being dry-hopped with fresh UK goldings. At first, the sourness hits you right in the jaw, but it’s bright, with a well-balanced acidity, complete with hoppy notes of over-ripe peaches, and even some pineapple.

Balance’s sales work a little differently, too – once a month it opens its webshop for customers for a limited time. You can keep updated on dates by signing up to its mailing list.

Best: Cocktail-inspired sour beer

Rating: 9/10

• ABV: 5 per cent
• Size: 440ml
• Style: Can 

If you’re a cocktail-lover, but don’t want to miss out, try the next best thing – a cocktail-inspired sour beer! This rhubarb margarita sour from Wiper and True was one of our favourites. It pours like stewed rhubarb, and smells like it too – it’s beautifully hazy, with a lingering white lace on the glass. There’s a twinge of limey saltiness at first that stays around on the lips, then it plumes into a tart, rhubarb punchiness. It feels super soft on the lips and it bursts in your mouth. There’s a lingering tartness from the rhubarb that feels fresh and natural, not forced or artificial. We’re obsessed.

Best: Gateway sour beer

Rating: 9/10

• ABV: 4.2 per cent
• Size: 440ml
• Style: Can

If you’re a newbie to sour beers and want to see what you’re missing on without splashing the cash, don’t sweat – Exale is the brand to know. The London-based brewery presents its iron brew sour, krankie: a sessionable, entry-level sour that doesn’t scrimp on flavour. When poured, it’s beautifully reminiscent of the fabled Scottish drink Irn Bru, in both appearance and on the nose. It’s nostalgia in a good-looking tin, essentially.

The freshly fizzy beer has a soft and subtle sourness that’s evident in the first sip. After that, it’s all sweet caramel and candy, which is exactly what you’d expect from a beer inspired by a fizzy drink (which was apparently made as a joke for its Scottish head brewer!).

This is a fantastic gateway into sour beer for those who want to dip their toes in – its can art is unique, too, and is sure to get people talking (or drinking).

Best: Imperial sour beer

Rating: 7/10

• ABV: 7.5 per cent
• Size: 440ml
• Style: Can

If you’re unfamiliar with the word “imperial” when it comes to beer, it basically means “strong”. Italian-inspired brewery Ora, based in London, has cracked it with its prickly margarita imperial gose, coming in at 7.5 per cent. It pours a bright amber orange, with some fizz and a nice cloud-white head. There’s a sour saltiness on the nose, followed by ripe pear and a hint of lime. When tasted, it’s like biting into a juicy pear, then the lip-puckering sourness hits with lashings of lime before ending on a delectable candied fruit sweetness – it’s a beer that really mellows out. We didn’t get much margarita, but a saltiness lingers on your lips as it would with the famed tequila cocktail. You can’t taste the high alcohol percentage at all, so this one is an all-night nurser.

Best: Peach sour beer

Rating: 8/10

• ABV: 4 per cent
• Size: 440ml
• Style: Can

Strawberries and cream, tequila and lime, Sonny and Cher: some duos are iconic, and Hackney Brewery is about to introduce a new classic twosome with its house sour, “millions of peaches”. Peach and basil, well... it works. And it works very well. The London-based, living wage employer has created a super fresh, interesting sour that is pretty special. It’s all soft fuzzy peach on the nose (with a hint of grassiness) and pours a gorgeous bright orange colour. Its slight fizziness adds to the bite of ripe peach; you’ll experience sour sharpness on the tongue and in the cheeks before a waft of fresh, almost sweet, basil sweeps in to round it all off. We’re peachy keen for this one.

Best: Pastry sour

Rating: 7/10

• ABV: 6.5 per cent
• Size: 440ml
• Style: Can

Who said that you can’t have a custard-laden dessert this summer… in a can no less! Dundee-based 71 Brewing has nailed the pastry sour this year with its blackcurrant apple crumble offering. Inspired by one of our favourite desserts, it pours a dashing, hazy red and tastes like Christmas. The tartness of blackcurrant and crisp cooking apples shines through for us, with plenty of crumbly, buttery biscuits to combat the tart winter fruits. You’re left with a hint of vanilla at the end. It’s a sweet and zingy concoction that really works, and is reminiscent of our favourite time of year. It’s vegan, too!

Best: Alcohol-free sour beer

Rating: 8/10

• ABV: 0.5 per cent
• Size: 440ml
• Style: Can

Cutting down this summer? No sweat, Gipsy Hill has got you covered with its range of pretty impressive alcohol-free (AF) sour beers. Our favourite was the squashed, a delectably pulpy concoction of raspberry, lingonberry and blackberry (but you can always opt for its peach bellini AF sour, which is just as gorgeous: https://wisebartender.co.uk/gipsy-hill--squashed-peach-bellini-alcohol-free-sour-05-abv-16597-p.asp?_=&variantid=16598). Part of its sour series, this beer is made with a whopping 200g of fruit per litre… and you can see it when it’s poured, too. It’s thick, bright red and super pulpy – not like any other AF beers we’ve tried before, as they’re often pretty thin, but this one leaves a fruity residue on the glass that is just gorgeous. We’re not altogether too sure what lingonberry tastes like, but tangy raspberry dominates this bad lad, followed by a sweet redcurrant and ending on a tart, crisp wintry blackberry. It’s a really impressive AF sour, which really sets an example to the lo-n-no market.

Best: Sour IPA

Rating: 9/10

• ABV: 6%
• Size: 440ml
• Style: Can

Prepare to take your tastebuds out of this world with this brilliant mash-up from Vocation. The West Yorkshire brewery has cracked the difficult art of the sour IPA (this stands for India pale ale, a pale, hoppy beer), complete with a showstopping can design. Not a single element of either beer gets lost; when poured it looks like a hazy, silky smooth NEIPA (new England India pale ale, a hoppy, fruity and often hazier beer) and smells like one, too, with punchy tropical fruits on the nose like fresh pineapple.

Brewed with Kveik yeast, it’s soft in mouthfeel, with a greener hoppiness that is missing in your usual sour beer. This unique flavour is thanks to the addition of both citra and mosaic hops, adding a sweet passion fruit and touch of honey to it. The sourness comes at the end of each mouthful, and it really rounds off the sweetness of the NEIPA with a crisp, lip-smacking tartness. It’s a perfect combination of sweet and sour and ideal for those looking to up their IPA game to new galaxies.