We like to eat dessert first, even with beer. Continued innovation of the pastry stout saw brewers pack as many candy-like ingredients and inspiration into these dark ales. Pastry or smoothie sours, on the other hand, take a fruited sour base, amping up the intensity with all kinds of crazy fruit combinations, often paired with sweeter ingredients like marshmallow, coconut, maple, or lactose.
Willy Wonka or Jamba Juice’s factory is at your disposal with a smoothie or pastry sour.
“It’s kind of like being a chef in a kitchen,” Frank Zagami, co-founder of Deciduous Brewing Co. in Newmarket, NH, told our freelance writer Andy Crump. The sour evolution from fruity to dessert means that brewers have to “try to recreate [their] favorite dessert in a beverage format.”
As Crump wrote, “We’ve seen countless breweries swap bitter chocolate for sweet desserts in pastry stouts and porters. But put a pastry into a sour beer, and the conversation shifts. Who couples Brettanomyces, Lactobacillus, or Pediococcus with a blueberry pie? Increasingly, the answer to that is “everyone,” from J. Wakefield Brewing to Southern Grist to Modern Times.”
Below, you’ll find the versions that people on Untappd love the most, reaching heights as high as 4.81 out of 5 on the app.
For those of you with a sweet tooth, this is the all-time ranking list for you!
Untappd’s All-Time Top-Rated Smoothie/Pastry Sours
Editor’s Note: These are not Hop Culture’s personal ratings. This list is based on Untappd’s ratings on the All-Time Top-Rated Smoothie/Pastry Sours. The list shows the top beers based on Untappd’s weighted average formula, which effectively rates all beers against each other. A beer must have 150 ratings or more to qualify for this list. For more information on our rating system, please view the Untappd ratings explainer.
We’re simply reporting on Untappd’s list based on statistics from check-ins from people all around the world.
Hydra | All Together – Mortalis Brewing Company
Avon, NY
Let’s not beat around the bush. Motralis makes some of the world’s best, most indulgent, most electrifying, most satisfying smoothie sours. Releasing a new one pretty much every week, Mortalis gives you plenty of pastry sours to keep you on your toes. Which is precisely why you’ll find their beers, including collabs, listed an incredible six times on this list.
During the pandemic, Other Half created a worldwide, open-ended beer collaboration called All Together to raise awareness and provide relief for those who worked tirelessly to provide support.
Mortalis’ version took the Upstate New York brewery’s iconic Hydra recipe plus a whole orchard full of fruits—strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, boysenberries, goldenberries, cranberries, and sweet cherries—finishing with marshmallows and fluff.
Hydra | All Together hits an almost unprecedented 4.81 on Untappd from 908 ratings, topping our list.
EVEN MORE HYDRA – ETNYC EDITION – Evil Twin Brewing NYC
Ridgewood, NY
You’re going to see one name repeatedly on this list: Mortalis. And rightly so. They are the wizards of smoothie/pastry sours. Not only do they concoct incredible creations for themselves, but they also collab with pretty much every brewery under the sun looking for a whirl on the smoothie sour Ferris wheel.
To be fair, Evil Twin fizzes with its own fruity magic, so you can imaginewhen they teamed up with Mortalis, they produced the second highest-rated version on Untappd.
EVEN MORE HYDRA – ETNYC EDITION blends blackberry, raspberry, blueberry, and cacao nibs for a Medusa-like fruited sour—many heads of fruits and chocolate.
Imperial 3 Scoops: Passionfruit, Mango, Peach – The Answer
Richmond, VA
Another series that appears multiple times on this list, Imperial 3 Scoops from The Answer, focuses on whimsical fruit combinations. Imperial 3 Scoops: Passionfruit, Mango, Peach is exactly what it says: a 7.5% ABV fruited pastry sour with passionfruit, mango, and peach. Imagine one of those waffle cones stacked high with three different scoops of ice cream or sorbet, and you’ll probably get a good idea of what this beer tastes like.
DEEP DEPTHS (strawberry, banana, tangerine, marshmallow) – HOMES Brewery
Ann Arbor, MI
The only Midwestern brewery to make the list, HOMES collabs with Wax Wings for this smoothie sour stunner. Hitting 4.61 on Untappd, DEEP DEPTHS (strawberry, banana, tangerine, marshmallow) goes at least three layers deep with strawberry, banana, and tangerine combined with a popular pastry sour ingredient: marshmallow.
HYDRA OF THE DEPTHS – HOMES Brewery
Ann Arbor, MI
Following its fourth spot with a fifth one, HOMES puts up two beers on this list with HYDRA OF THE DEPTHS. No surprise that HOMES collabed on this one with Mortalis. The 4.58-rated smoothie sour gets a heavy dose of blackberry, raspberry, and Meyer lemon. Combined uniquely with coconut and maple syrup, HYDRA OF THE DEPTHS gives off tropical, brunch-like vibes. This pastry sour makes you want to put on your button-up Hawaiian shirt and flip-flops and head to the beach. SPF 35 is recommended.
Triple 3 Scoops – Passionfruit, Lemonade, Mango – The Answer
Richmond, VA
The second of The Answer’s three beers to make these all-time rankings, Triple 3 Scoops – Passionfruit, Lemonade, Mango ups the ante a little bit with a higher 9% ABV. Combined with three tropical beauties like passionfruit, lemonade, and mango liquid sorbet, it’s easy to see why this beach breeze makes getting a 4.47 on Untappd feel easy peasy.
Schmoojee Hydra – Imprint Beer Co.
Hatfield, PA
Imprint’s collab with Mortalis, Schmoojee Hydra features a lot of signatures of this smoothie sour style: intense amounts of fruit—mango, pineapple, passionfruit, and banana—in tandem with coconut and marshmallow. Think thick strawberry-banana milkshake vibes.
Cerberus – Mortalis Brewing Company
Avon, NY
Named after the three-headed hound in Greek mythology that guards the gates of the Underworld, Cerberus attacks your taste buds from all different directions.
With ripe raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries combined with milk, sugar, and marshmallows, Cerberus is, according to Mortalis, “berries and cream in a glass.”
Ape’s Banana Colada Swirlsicle – The Answer
Richmond, VA
A collaboration with Ape’s Curious Confectionary, Ape’s Banana Colada Swirlsicle includes banana and white chocolate for what The Answer calls a sort of twisted Piña Colada.
One of the only beers on this smoothie/pastry sour list without any type of berry or mango, Ape’s Banana Colada Swirlsicle gives us frozen chocolate banana vibes.
Hydra | Fluff Motif – Mortalis Brewing Company
Avon, NY
One of “The 25 Best Beers to Drink in Summer 2023,” Hydra | Fluff Motif, a collaboration with Two Tides, stands out for its excessive blend of pineapple, strawberry, mango, marshmallow, and three (count ‘em, three) flavors of sorbet powder.
Named after the mythical creature of many heads, this smoothie sour gives you many flavor tunnels to explore. If you’re familiar with Mortalis, Hydra | Fluff Motif will exceed expectations. And if you’re new to Mortalis, this beer will probably blow a hole in your mind. 🤯
Just please, for the love of all things smoothie sour, do not keep this beer on your hot porch in the summer.
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