CONSIDERING HOW MUCH Americans love beer, we’re rather unimaginative when it comes to cooking with it. We add it to batter or chili, maybe, and that’s about it. But a budding love affair with sour beers—U.S. sales jumped nearly 20% in 2016—could change that. “These are not big, hoppy IPAs,” said Washington, D.C., chef Peter Smith, who mines the world-class Belgian beer list at his restaurant, the Sovereign, for many of his dishes. “They’re more comparable to wine or even Champagne.”
Traditionally made in Belgium and Germany,...