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Joe Idoni, founder House Cat Brewing in Frederick, said sour is a ‘polarizing’ beer flavor. (Dan Gross)

BY KEVIN SMITH

I like to think of myself as an equal opportunity beer drinker. I can happily enjoy just about any style of brew, provided it’s well made. That said, I understand that due to their different flavor profiles, some styles evoke seriously unpleasant reactions. Judging by online chats and memes, pumpkin beer tops that list and sours run a close second.

Even so, sour beer has gained a cult following—one big enough that many brewers have started to produce their own takes on the style. Antietam Brewery in Hagerstown recently released a limited run Berliner Weisse, a low-ABV traditional German sour. In Frederick, Barley & Hops produced Lemon Party kettle sour and Monocacy Brewing Company released two sours this year. And the folks down in Berlin, Maryland, at Burley Oak Brewing Company have their J.R.E.A.M. line of sours that inspired beer fans from across the state to head down to that beach community even during the off-season.

I count myself a fan of the tart brews, but I know that even those who produce them realize that sour beers struggle to gain a broad audience.

“Sour is definitely a polarizing flavor,” said Joe Idoni, the brewer and founder of Frederick’s House Cat Brewing, which is slated to open this spring on Industry Lane. “Since most of the tartness comes from lactic acid, people can register it as milk that has gone bad,” he said.

Sour beer is complex, and that complexity is important. “What we want people to taste is that that tartness can accentuate the other flavors in the beer: tropical fruit, such as mangoes, pineapple, coconut; stone fruit like cherries, peaches, pomegranate; and earthiness, [including potential notes of] hay, petrichor [that smell after the first rain on the heels of a dry spell], minerality, and many others,” Idoni said.

Newcomers to the style should be prepared for something different, said Kevin Blodger, co-founder and director of brewing operations at Union Craft Brewing in Baltimore.

“While it is beer,” he explained, “these are flavors not found in most conventional beers. But at the same time, there are familiar flavors to be found, from lemonade-like tartness, to pickle juice characteristics, to some vinous notes. Don’t judge all sours by the first one you have. Just like other beers, there are some styles you like and some you don’t. [You] just need to figure out what works for you.”

The layperson should know the difference between a kettle sour and a barrel-aged sour, said Burley Oak founder Bryan Brushmiller.

“They both take technique,” he said. With the levels of complexity of a wood-barrel-aged sour, you could drink it “like a fine wine. For a kettle sour…it’s like adding lemon to a dish. [They are] two totally different animals to me.”

Blodger expounded.

“The differences between kettle sours and wilds and barrel aged sours are…kettle sours are done pretty quick…until the level of sourness is achieved then that wort is boiled to kill the bacteria,” he said. “Wilds are spontaneously fermented or fermented with bacteria cultures, and it can take some time for the flavor to develop.” Barrel-aged sours “can be made with finished beer that has bacteria added to develop the sour flavor. Again, it can some time to develop.”

These longer fermentations tend to result in more complex brews, said Brushmiller.

“Everyone should try sour beers because of the complexity they demonstrate,” Blodger said. “The sour flavor plays so well with hops and fruit that the possibilities are endless. Not everyone has to like them. There is so much different beer out there that everyone can find something to like.”

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BY RYAN MARSHALL

It was a little before 8 p.m. on a Saturday in October when Charlie Lakatos wheeled into the parking lot of Rockwell Brewery on East Street in Frederick.

Dressed as Waldo in the spirit of the weekend before Halloween, Lakatos had a large basket of candy on one of the seats behind him.

Lakatos drives the Frederick Brew Bus, a shuttle that ferries passengers to seven Frederick-area breweries and tap houses.

The idea came to Lakatos recently when he was out with his wife and friends, serving as the designated driver while they visited several local establishments.

Now, he spends his weekends driving a 12-passenger Econoline van on the circuit that includes Roasthouse Pub, Monocacy Brewing Company, Rockwell Brewery, Olde Mother Brewing, Flying Dog Brewery, Barley & Hops and Attaboy Beer.

He tries to stay on a roughly one-hour loop. While people can call for pickups, he prefers that they don’t, because it throws him off schedule for other stops.

“But when I’m slow, I’ll do what I can to get business,” he said.

On Saturdays, he drives from noon until 10:30 p.m., and noon to 7:30 p.m. on Sundays.

Asked if driving the bus has taken any getting used to, Lakatos said not really and noted that he normally drives a Chevy Tundra pickup truck.

“This actually has less blind spots than the Tundra,” he said.

Lakatos is careful to establish that his is not a “party bus;” no drinking is allowed. It’s purely a means of getting from place to place.

The breweries seem enthusiastic about his idea. The bus is definitely a positive thing to get people out into the Frederick brewing scene, said Keith Marcoux, co-owner of Olde Mother.

It especially helps for people from out of town to know they can ride the bus and go to the next stop, he said.

Marcoux said he thinks Lakatos’s bus will bring more tourists to the local Frederick scene.

It’s exciting that the Frederick craft beer community is growing to the point that it can support other, peripheral businesses, said Jim Bauckman, sales and marketing director for Monocacy Brewing Company.

“We at Monocacy Brewing Company hope that Frederick Brew Bus is a success and that craft beer enthusiasts visiting Frederick will utilize this service as a safe and convenient way to responsibly enjoy the craft beer scene in our county,” Bauckman wrote in an email.

Hopping off the bus at Attaboy that Saturday, Lakatos asks several people on the patio if they need a ride and tells them a bit about his business.

He briefly haggles with a woman over the price of a trip.

He normally charges $10 per person for a day’s worth of riding. But since it’s nearing the end of the evening, he offers to knock it down to $5 a head.

She says she has to check with the rest of her group. Eventually, they decide not to take Lakatos up on his offer.

While several people at various establishments have heard of the Brew Bus, no one takes him up on his offer.

Until he gets to Barley and Hops. There, he runs into a group of eight that he’d picked up at Attaboy earlier in the day.

Gia Gries said she and her friends had heard about it at another bar recently, and she and Lakatos traded emails and she made reservations.

Gries said she liked that the Brew Bus offers a tracking app so that riders can follow Lakatos’s route and know when he’ll arrive at their location.

“The bus is awesome,” Gries said.

Gries’s group assembles on the bus, and Lakatos drops them off at Rockwell.

Lakatos said he would like to add group tours of wineries and distilleries to his schedule eventually.

With establishments spread out around the city and the county, Lakatos sees his shuttle as a valuable service that benefits the businesses and their customers.

“I’m trying to promote responsible drinking,” he said.

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