A friend of mine told me about a stout that uses sour cream so I did some research and have come up dry. I read that in certain regions of the world a tablespoon of sour cream is mixed in a heavy dark beer but am curious if anyone has heard about this or knows anything more to enlighten us on the topic.
Perhaps there is some way that the natural bacteria in the sour cream is being employed somehow?
You can use the Lacto in sour cream to sour some or all of the beer. I believe Guinness used to sour like 5-10% of a batch and then kill it and blend it back in for a very subtle tartness. You could try that for fun.
I think that Guinness still gets it’s ‘tang’ by adding back a sterilized portion of soured beer.
Unless they’ve changed their procedures, I’m pretty sure that this soured and pasteurized addition is precisely what the Guinness ‘essence’ is (I think that’s what they call the stuff that Dublin ships to the various breweries around the world making local versions of Guinness).
As far as the OP’s idea of using actual sour cream in a stout, it could work but I think there are probably better ways to get a lacto character into the beer.
Personally, I’d save the sour cream for making chicken paprikash. :mrgreen:
If you’re talking about adding the sour cream to a glass of finished beer, sure why not? Adding vanilla ice cream to stout is pretty awesome.
I agree. What is the worst that could happen? You might have to toss one glass if it is terrible or it might be your new favorite. Had an old guy tell me he adds a tablespoon of the juice from Claussen pickles to a pint of beer so I tried it. Sounded weird but actually not bad for a change from routine.
