1809 Berliner Style Weisse

Brewed by Bayerische Staatsbrauerei Weihenstephan
Style: Berliner Weisse
Freising, Oberbayern, Germany

Bottle, Aroma of grass sweet and sour. Yellow body with white head. Flavor is crisp and has a sour tart bite to start with. Sourness subsides for a tart dryness on the finish. Dry palate and good old fashioned beer belch to boot. Decent brew.

Not much aroma. A little yeasty. Looks like a hefeweizen. A huge initial head that disappears quickly. A sourness, but nowhere near the Berliner KindlWeisse. I kind of like it though - the sourness is stronger up front.

500 ml bottle, via dsnowden. Pours a cloudy yellow gold body under a large fizzy white head that receded to a thin covering without leaving any lacing. Aroma is very grassy and hay like with lots of crisp wheat. Just the slightest hint of acidity and tartness. Flavor is really closer to an American Wheat with just a hint of tart acidity on the finish. Some vinegary astringency on the finish. Mouthfeel is pretty crisp and drying with a slight puckering astringency. Texture is fairly watery, but not thin. This was a pretty refreshing drinker. Nowhere near the aggressiveness of a Berliner Kindl Weiss, but also alot more approachable for the average person.

Hazy golden coloured body with a thinnish white head. Aroma of lemons, banana, spice and a touch of bubble gum - nice! Light-bodied; Mild malty flavour from wheat and citrus with a touch of spice, some yeast and more banana flavours than in the smell. Aftertaste shows a nice mellow finish with some light alcohol, a dose of yeast and more mellow wheat characteristics. Overall, a pretty nice beer - definitely shows well in the summer heat, but the character complexity really comes out! I sampled this 500 mL bottle purchased from German Gourmet in Falls Church, Virginia, sampled on 07-August-2009 at home in Washingotn.

50cL bottle. Pours a hazy golden-yellow color; significant white head with great lacing. Aroma is similar to a Belgian wit with a tart character: bready, cloves, tart lemon (reminds me a bit of my lemony dish soap). Medium mouthfeel: plenty of lemony tartness upfront, evening out to a light wit-style backdrop of bread, spice and banana: like a refreshing (this is my first Berliner Weisse, fyi) Belgian wit with brett (similar to Leelanau Whaleback White...). Great for a warm day outside (I should go test this). Medium, doughy and lemony finish.

Bottle at Winking Lizard a while back but it wasn’t here to rate and i wasn’t sure where to add it. Poures pale golden with a chill haze ans a short white head. Aromas of lemon, and straw. Flavor is lemony, some clove, and yeast. Palate is crisp and clean but quite tart. A fair amount of carbonation too.. Interesting and unique.

Pours quite hazy, with a yellowish straw color and is topped by a frothy, initially three finger thick, fluffy, off-white colored head, which dissipates fairly quickly. The beer is quite aromatic, with aromas reaching my nose as I pour this beer; at first aromatic notes of clove and banana reach my nose (like found in a traditional German Hefeweizen). In fact even when I go in for a better sense of the aroma, these notes are still the most noticeable. There is a solid, grain-like wheat character, a light tartness, which gives the nose a hint of an edge, as well as fruity notes of lemon zest, apricot and green apple. Once you start digging around in the aroma a distinct, funky note reminiscent of cheddar cheese becomes noticeable. In fact once noticed, this funkiness becomes quite apparent; funky cheese, but a musty cotton thing, and some mushroom like notes. The funk, as it were, remains fairly subdued; this allows the traditional yeast and grain character to come through quite well; though I could certainly wish for a touch more funkiness in the nose.

The taste is quite a bit tarter than the aroma would suggest; it is by no means hard, but has a nice lactic edge to it that is immediately noticeable. Wheat and lightly kilned malt notes come through quite well, supplying a bread-like note as well as some soda cracker notes. Despite the fact that the head disappeared quickly, the beer is still quite well carbonated; this adds a zesty textural note of fizz as it hits the tongue. The beer is quite light and drinkable, though it is on the heavy side for a modern style Berliner Weiss. It also has a bit more alcohol than the modern versions, but given the allusions on the bottle, it seems to be trying to be a stronger, earlier take on the style. I would guess that a traditional Hefe-Weizen yeast was used here as those flavors are here too; notes of banana and clove are definitely distinguishable and are a welcome addition.

The second pour yields a taste that is a touch more yeast, and thus bread-like and perhaps a touch less tart. This is a tasty beer; I would be really curious as to how this will bottle condition over the years; I certainly wish I had more of this right now, so I will have to pick up a couple bottles the next time I have a chance. I think that this beer might get considerably better after some age on it.

0.5L bottle. Unfiltered and yellow in color, white fizzy head. Aroma of peach, orange, and green banana. Flavor is of tartness and malt. Slight cereal flavors in the finish. A bit strong for this style but still refreshing.