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tart
ADJECTIVE
sour, acid, or astringent

sour
ADJECTIVE
having an acid taste like lemon or vinegar.

Can you explain what you mean by " These beers are not sour, they are tart."
You should taste a good lambic next to a sour beer, you will notice the difference. Maybe it is more astringent, but a good lambic (or derived) does not taste like acid. While sour beers I tasted, taste acid, sharp like lemons or sour milk.
 
Its a very complex subject really - In the winter time a good malty brew goes down well but when the weather warms and one becomes more active the lighter hoppy brews seem to hit the spot. Just had a couple of pints of Bulldog 4 finger jack No way would that be my beer of choice in winter but as a refreshing pint its great after an afternoon on the garden on a sunny warm day. Same as the Belgian/ Northern France beers - no good in the summer time to quench a thirst.
Never really warmed to Elwood beers and Woodford Werry gets the thumbs down (in kit form, would have a pint if I saw it on draught, just to confirm my opinion.)
 
Never had a commercial gusher. What were they?
Last nights pint of foam was a Penlon pale ale. I think the previous one was a Bluestone. I've several times had sour ones from them (which shouldn't have been sour) and once I bought a bottle direct from the brewery that had a sticker covering the original BBF date with a new date on it. The original was a year previous and it tasted like it! Shame, their beers are usually quite good.
 
Last nights pint of foam was a Penlon pale ale. I think the previous one was a Bluestone. I've several times had sour ones from them (which shouldn't have been sour) and once I bought a bottle direct from the brewery that had a sticker covering the original BBF date with a new date on it. The original was a year previous and it tasted like it! Shame, their beers are usually quite good.
I am aware of both of those. Penlon isn't very good. Bluestone are ok, never had a bad beer from them.
 
You should taste a good lambic next to a sour beer, you will notice the difference. Maybe it is more astringent, but a good lambic (or derived) does not taste like acid. While sour beers I tasted, taste acid, sharp like lemons or sour milk.
I must confess I have only had Lambic on a handful of occassions but would agree they are better than sours with I suppose a greater degree of complexity would be the right term. I could be wrong but I am under the impression that must modern sours either use kettle souring (which yes I had to google to find out what this was basically adding bacteria during the mash to produce lactic acid and then killing the bacteria during the boiled from what I can see if incorrect please correct me on this) or use carefully cultivated yeast/bacteria strains to produce sour beer, basically adding acidity and nothing else. I might not be the biggest fan of Lambic but they have always have more to them than just a sour taste.
 
I am aware of both of those. Penlon isn't very good. Bluestone are ok, never had a bad beer from them.
Had another bad beer last night - Llangollen Brewery Red Dragon. Totally sour and a BBE of Oct 21.

BTW the Penlon people seem to have opened a brewery in Cardigan. Seems to be the same beer in different labels. At least the pale ale was identical. Have to say if I'd have brewed any of the ones I've tried I'd be wondering what the hell I was playing at.
 
Just to show it's all down to personal taste, I don't rate Jail Ale or Doombar, and I live down here.
Doom Bar is another one I just don’t get the hype for. I tastes like someone has accidentally fermented too hot.

I don’t think I’ve ever had Jail Ale. If I have it was probably at a beer festival andI don’t remember.
 
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Wadworth's 6X
Agreed, it's not what it's hyped to be.
But more especially it is not what it was when it did deserve accolade.
Being an old timer (pun intended 😏) 6X was the beer that turned me into a 'real beer' drinker in '74. It was stunningly good then.
As I have said elsewhere, the heatwave drought of '76 changed it forever, and it's only gone down the bland slippery slope thereafter for me. Along with so many others.
Aaah, those were the days.
But then again,
nostalgia's not what it used to be.
 
I don’t get Doom Bar either, tastes bland and sweet to me. I’m not a huge fan of so called real ale either, I know a lot of it comes down to how it’s kept and looked after by the pub, but they mostly all taste the same and lack any flavour, as if they’re missing something. There are of course exceptions, I had some Haffod Brewery Moel Famu heather ale from a cask once and it was far better than its bottled counterpart (which was still very good).

I used to never see the point of lambics but then had a good one!

Dessert/breakfast/milkshake stouts - just far too sweet for me, sickly almost and always make me want to stop drinking altogether.
 
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