I had the advantage of Beeriffic letting me choose from his "menu" of selections and when he mentioned the Berliner Weisse, it was a no-brainer. I've not delved into the sour categories before for fear of the pucker I'd assumed would be permanently affixed to my puss.
I thought "What the hell...I'm sure I'll try it and not like and be done with the topic. Take Beeriffic's BW and I've nothing to lose".
Boy was I wrong. I'm pretty sure I have now lost many-a-future Saturday afternoons in search of recreating this sour session beer that is on one hand...very light in alcohol and pleasantly bubbly...and on the other hand complex in it's slight, delicate tartness and very fulfilling (not filling...
FULfilling).
AROMA - Light and slightly citrusy. Like a twist of lemon was dropped into the secondary. An indescribable sour nature...like trying to describe the please nature of sourdough bread compared to regular bread.
APPEARANCE - Poured a very light, very bright straw color. Hazy. Slight white head that dissipated quickly...to be replace by a seemingly infinite effervescence coming from all sides of the glass. In addition to the appearance, this beer had a definite snap-crackle-pop factor on the ears. They call this the "champagne of beers" and the lively show this one was putting one was true to form.
FLAVOR - Preparing myself for a big pucker factor...I was truly surprised by the delicate flavor of this beer. My immediate reaction after the first swallow was "I have to get the SWMBO to taste this". Problem was...she was running errands and at least 15-20 minutes from returning home. Despite this, I parked the glass in the freezer in a feeble attempt to preserve the beer until she got home. That idea lasted all of 90 seconds. I sat down in the other room, away from where my daughters were bickering about what to watch on TV and decided to savor this beer and give the SWMBO a brief...debriefing when she got home. Her loss
.
The taste was phenomenal. Light. Where there should be a hop bitterness, there was instead a slight tartness. Definitely a beer...but unlike anything I'd had before. Again...it is like trying to describe the complex flavor of sourdough bread to someone who has never had it.
MOUTHFEEL - Champagne like. Nuff said.
OVERALL - Well, let's just say the next day I decided to set out and
replicate this beer based on some basic knowledge I dug up.
This beer...this style of beer..was an absolute surprise. I've been burying myself in aggressively hopped up beers lately while trying to brew up light cream ales and blondes for everyone else in the house for the summer months coming up. A Berliner Weisse is very likely to satisfy everyone in the house. Big on flavor....light on the tongue.
If you haven't had a Berliner Weisse yet....find one...drink one...brew many.
Well done Beeriffic and thanks for sending me on another HB quest. I need something else to chase after like I need a hole in the head.