Sometimes, for a few days after a particularly big session, you might just fall out of love with beer. It’s one of those classic cases of a good thing you can get too much of.

I could never stop loving the faithful beverage for long though. Having dabbled with wine and rum, I’ve come to accept that beer is my liquid life-partner with multiple personalities – whether it’s a cool, refreshing lager, a silky Irish stout or an adorable Ardenne golden ale with a gnome on the bottle.

As with most food and drink, the taste is often tempered by the season, and with the cold, dark days ahead your beer may also start to darken (though not necessarily colden).

Expect plenty of stouts, porters, Christmas ales and quads in the weeks to come, but for now I’m looking back over the summer’s biggest fashion craze – the sour.

The natural first reaction of the uninitiated to a sour beer is to recoil in disgust and berate the brewer for whatever catastrophe they allowed within their vast shiny vats. The taste can be like a punch on the tongue, slapping every inch of your palate, but once you’re acquainted these beers are fun to get to know.

One current example is uber-hip Norwegian brewery Lervig’s Hop Drop Sour. Combining the trusty IPA with a sour makes for a good introduction to the style; it has the straw colour of a hazy, farmhouse honey and pours with a short-lived soapy head.

On first taste, it is very sour, exceptionally tart and lemony fresh. After that initial zesty bite relinquishes its hold on the back of your tongue there are plenty of subtle fruity notes like peach and mandarin to enjoy. It also has a nice hoppy IPA aroma and a good level of carbonation which makes for a particularly refreshing drink.

Hop Drop Sour is 6.2% ABV and can be purchased at Magnum Wine Shop for £3.59 a can. For my appraisal? 4.4 out of 5 – I really like sours and this is a beautifully balanced example.