1809 Berliner Style Weisse

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

Sample from 500 ml bottle, RBSG Minneapolis Grand Tasting, June 23 2007. Light, opaque gold with a bit of head retained....lots of bananas, hefe-like spicing (clove, maybe some nutmeg, even a touch of vanilla); quite pleasant but perhaps not stylistically accurate....not nearly as tart/sour as the Fitgers I tasted before it, light-bodied and again tasting much like a hefeweizen, albeit a sour one....the tart fruits do come in at the finish and it seems more like a real sour beer once swallowed.

This hard to get in Germany bottle was kindly provided by DerDoppelbock. Milky yellow, low white blanket head. Acidic fresh, light citric aroma. Citrus buttermilk flavor, restrained tart, a hint of anisseed. Light body as it befits the style, sparkly mouthfeel. Dry cleansing finish with a slightly citric aftertaste. Very pleasant drink.

Bottle@Home. Banana and raw rhubarb aroma but quite faint. Hazy, pale yellow color, off-white head, few lace. Citrus sourness, maltsweet, bitter, banana. Light bodied but with the last pour the yeast came what gave it more body. Sour and hops well balanced into one. Thanks DerDoppelbock!

500 ml bottle from Green’s Beverages in Atlanta, sampled 4/25/08. Hazy golden yellow colour with a mostly lasting thick creamy off-white head. Lactic, citric, lemon, doughy, and light grapefruit aroma. Tart lemon and grapefruit flavours with a dry, acidic, and lightly bitter finish. Light bodied, dry, and super refreshing mouthfeel. Sour, but balanced, great hot weather refresher.

Bottle from Winking Lizard. Served with a cup of raspberry syrup which I declined. Pours a somewhat hazy yellow-gold color with a medium thin bone white head that diminishes slowly. Patches of lacing on the glass. Tart fruit, doughy malt and spices in the nose. Light-bodied and clean with a tart citrus and raspberry character. Mild spices and grainy malt flavors as well. The finish is fruity with a lingering tartness afterward. Overall this is pretty interesting.

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.

Bottle purchased at John’s Grocery in Iowa City. Poured a clear pale golden color. Head was fluffy and white with good retention and lacing. Aroma was a combination of banana, orange, marmelade, peach, and sweaty arm pit. Tart acidity on the tongue with carbonation on the prickly end of the spectrum. Tasted of banana, lemon zest, and rhubarb with a pleasant cereal grain aftertaste.

A riddled bottle produces a clouded straw colored(white grapefruit juice comes to mind) body, heartily carbonated and filling the top third of a wheat glass with a densely packed, frothy, pure white head. Only sparse lacing remains, as the weight of the foam is clearly evident during the quick slide back into the glass. Very pretty and lively pour. The aroma is seducing, with hammering, lightly tart wheat malt, acidic lemon and orange peel, freshly spent yeast and some yeast not yet utilized, also a hint of grass. Lightly toasted grain lingers in the depths and is a quiet force - I know it’s there but I can barely discern its true presence under this coating sheath of tartness and wheat, not to mention sour fruit notes bouncing around everywhere. The aroma of a neo-traditional, bottle-conditioned Berliner Weisse is definitely not for the faint of heart, freshly squeezed tartness just erupting from the glass and apparent from afar. Alcohol is a non-factor. This would be so much more engaging/gratifying if it had a more obscure baseline: more sweetness or more tartness would spur greater enthusiasm; in it’s current state, a judgment wrought from only the aromatic qualities, this just isn’t veering in the directions of a traditional, mega-tart, ultra-acidic Berliner Weisse and seems too overpowered by over-generous wheat notes. Certainly, this is a Berliner Weisse, but I want more evidence of the Berlin-esque influences I grew fond of in dreams of trips to that city, due to limited experiences with other examples of the style, in the past. The flavor is so balanced it lacks excitement searched vigilantly for. Tartness is subdued nearly immediately by a large cereal grain facade, awaited brash acidity is instead mellow and softly integrated and rather than being a focal point of the style(or this specific example) is just another methodically placed component. Sweetness is medium to medium-high at times, fading quickly into the well-rounded and conveniently accessible flavor. Bitterness is low to mild, but hops are evident. Lemon and softer grapefruit notes remain and gather as a forcible puzzle piece with each sip. The finish is lightly tart, mostly sweet, fading slowly and imparting lingering acidity and moderately tart fruity notes that never really disperse. The mouthfeel is light-medium bodied, heavily though relatively softly carbonated, very smooth and a little too sticky/lightly syrupy to seem refreshing enough for a summer quaffer. This is indeed a good beer, though not the traditional retrospective I had hoped for.