Today on The New Yorker‘s Culture Blog, I published a brief history of sour Belgian-style beer in America, which, of course, is a dream assignment on many levels. “A Brief History of Sour Beer” touches on a few of the remarkable traditions, breakthroughs and innovations that are ushering American beer into a thrilling new era. Of course, there tough decisions to be made—in this introductory format, I couldn’t describe every single sour beer operation in the country, let alone Belgium, where these traditions were born. But I do hope you’ll enjoy this portrait of lambic and wild ales and the artisans who create them, preferably with a nice beer in hand.
…some biologists believe that humans evolved to enjoy low-level bacterial sourness to encourage probiotic health. High-proof pucker, on the other hand, can indicate spoilage. According to a study described in Nature, PKD2L1, the sour protein receptor, also resides along the entire length of the spinal cord, possibly monitoring cerebrospinal health. Sour beer lovers sometimes speak of being ruined on conventional beer styles—forever. It must be love. Or is it lightning, bottled?
CHRISTIAN DEBENEDETTI 