New Glarus Unplugged Berliner Weiss

Formerly brewed at New Glarus Brewing Company
Style: Berliner Weisse
New Glarus, Wisconsin USA

Pours a straw-golden color with a large, quickly-dissipating, white head. Aroma is sour funk, metallic acidity, with some yeast and breadiness. Taste is lemony and green-grape tartness, with a crisp dry finish. Defines the style well. God, I love this beer! Perfect beer to enjoy several.

I am a big fan of this style, but there just aren’t many examples of it! And the American craft beer community hasn’t taken a lot of interest in this style. Of the American examples I’ve had, they’ve been pretty disappointing (most are really apple-y; I think that is ethyl hexanoate). So I was a little skeptical of how much I’d like this beer. But I had no reason to fear - this beer is really good! It is light (in color, flavor, viscosity, and mouthfeel) and decidedly sour and tart. And they have the right proportions I think; IMO the sourness of a Berliner Weisse should be decidedly intense, but shouldn’t have the thickness, staying power, or fruity notes found in say a Flemish sour. I found this beer to be refreshing and appropriate for the style, and thought it might play well with the syrups (raspberry, woodruff) that are sometimes mixed with these beers. My only real criticism of this beer is that it’s not a regular offering. Might be a good competitor for Leinenkugel’s Summer Shandy, and a little more appealing to craft beer fans. I’d love to see this beer make it into New Glarus’s regular seasonal line-up.

A really well done Berliner. Though I figured this would be good I was stunned by this NG beer. Really nice tart beer without having to struggle with sourness.

Thanks to hopdog for the bottle. Pours a lightly hazy golden yellow with a small to medium bubbly/creamy white head. Aroma of this great tartness along with a bunch of various fruits, peaches, white grapes, some tropical fruits, bready malt notes and a touch of some honey. Flavor was this wonderful up front tartness, followed by the tropical fruits, white wine, peaches, apple juice, bready malt and wheat notes. This is one heck of a Berliner Weiss!

Pours straw gold with a billowing white head that settles just beautifully, leaving ample lacing. Aroma is heavily sour and tart with some citrus, yeast, and wine grape accents...nicely melded together. Flavor is tart from beginning to end, with a strong lemon overtone throughout. Some doughy flavors and white wine-like accents as well...finishes very crisp and dry. Extremely clean and refreshing on the palate. This is a beautiful rendition of a style that I am becoming more and more enamored with...great job NG!

Bottle via noncaloric, huge thanks! Pours a hazy, rich straw color, with a thin white head. Aroma is citrus, musty, yeast, oak. Flavor is vineous, white grapes, oak, lemon zest, grapefruit, straw, wheat. Palate is medium to light bodied, champagne like, medium to high carbonation, finished dry, tart, and acidic. Awesome stuff, underrated!

thanks to noblesquirrel for the bottle. palate smackingly tart and delightful, this beer is a party in my mouth.

12oz bottle, served in a pils glass. The aroma is faint, mostly lemon/citrus, light fruit (pears, white grapes), and some light wheat. Very elegant. There is also a bit of tannic wood in the background. Very light gold color with a smallish head. The grapes are the initial flavor and they are fruity and bright. There is a nice lactic tang along with a lemon/citrus flavor. Lingering finish that is tart and fruity. The lacto level on this beer is fairly light, for the style, but there is a lot more going on here than with your typical Berliner Weisse. This would be a wonderful food pairing beer but it is also a very nice drinker too. The mouthfeel is great, both ample at first, but refreshing at the finish. 4.0
Big thanks to tjthresh for bring me this beer.

The beer at one year old is not the same one at a few months. The lacto has taken over and the sourness is soft and pleasant, but quite powerful. The background flavors are still there, providing the beer with a very nice fruitiness to go well with the tartness. The rating is for this bottle.