1809 Berliner Style Weisse

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

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.

500mL, no date, though I think this is a relatively new beer, so I’ll say 2007. Looks kinad like a wit--cloudy straw with a one finger fading white head. Smells like a hefe with more pronounced lemon and plain sourness, a bit musty. There is a light bitter character that I can’t place. Zowee! Pretty tart up front with some old yeast towards the finish. In between I got some herbal hay, very light bananas, lemon, and something stale. Moderate carbonation with a light to medium body, leaning towards lighter. This definitely grows on you by the end of the bottle. It’s hard to get used to this style, but this is definitely a very good effort. Refreshing, but not something I could drink everyday.

bottle - Pours cloudy yellow with a two finger, somewhat fizzy head. It smells like yeast, wheat, and some of that funky bacteria. The flavor is tart citrus, wheat malt, and a little funk. It’s certainly an interesting beer and is fairly tasty. I found it too thin at first, but as it warms the flavor fills out better as is so often the case.

Bottle pours a slightly hazy golden with a huge, dense white head. Aroma is sour apple, bread, and yeast. Flavor is sour, wheaty, with a rather dry finish. Enjoyable on a hot day.

Golden yellow with a rich foamy head. Lemon juice flavors dominate. Light and lightly carbonated. A refreshing summer beer. Unusual but good.

Not a huge fan of the style but this is probably the best I had. Poured yellow with moderate head. Nice and sour but not too much so. Good stuff.