Since being turned onto sour beers, I’ve never gone back. Lambics, the most common style of sour beer, is a Belgian style made by spontaneous fermentation, in which beer is kept warm and uncovered while little beasties of wild yeast settle in and essentially spoil it. Think of it as blue-cheese beer.

What’s most impressive about these intensely puckery beers is the pure intensity of flavor — something unrivaled by any other beer with only about 5% abv. They can be intimidating, but Forbes has an article today that’s a friendly and straightforward intro to the style. Or, take my approach to beer education and just go to a good beer bar and point to something you’ve never heard of.