Riesling Wheat

New Glarus brewery is selling a special edition Berliner Weiss which is brewed with grapes. Its quite nice. Is it to style to include grapes in a Berliner Weiss? If so, perhaps it can be classified that way...

Hard call. Because of the fruit content, I'd definately say not American Wheat. Since the Riesling is actually fermentable, and not just and added fruit flavoring, you might consider Category #23 (Specialty Beer).

Good call on the Specialty Jess!

Aw man, I completely forgot about this thread! Oh well, I snooze I lose. I also vote on putting it in the specialty category.

Hmmm. I personally would enter as a Wheat, but I know that some, not all, competitions are huge sticklers about adjuncts. For our State Fair competition, if there was any fruit product in it at all, excluding zest/peel, it had to be in Fruit Beer. YMMV depending on the competition it's going into.

I think that since the fruit character is not as evident as the Wheat character, I'd select wheat.

Edit: Whoops. Page numbers tricked me again. +1 to Specialty Beer, I guess.

Hey i just saw this and was like whoa dejavu. I was up in the Seneca Lake region of New York, outside Watkins Glenn, just two weeks ago visiting my Aunt and Uncle. There is a brewery up there, Three Wineries and a Brewery, that makes a Riesling Pale Ale. The owner said they tried to make it and add the Riesling grape concentrate during the secondary phase, but it came out too sweet. The final version they went with was during the primary phase, but the Riesling flavor blew off during the vigorous fermentation. My thought lies in the idea of adding the Riesling after it has been made into a wine during the secondary fermentation phase, or at bottling. Any suggestions? My thought on this is that the Riesling wine flavor might shine through. Also, Riesling is a ta sweeter of a grape variety too. Let me know what you think about my addition ideas, because I AM VERY INTERESTED.

Version 2.0

Appearance: Pours a hazy golden yellow with a 1/2" white quickly dissipating head. Random lace patterns cling to the sides.

Aroma: Wheat, floral hops, and tart grape notes. Grape aroma becomes more predominant as it warms.

Taste: Reminiscint of an American wheat, the grape tartness again becomes more noticeable as it warms, tart winey taste at the back of the throat. Hints of banana. Subdued floral hops complement the beer.

Mouthfeel: Carbonation and a slight numbing tartness at the back of the throat.

Overall: I have no major issues with this beer. I personally feel that the traditional wheat/mild banana flavors mask the grapes a little too much. I don't know what the solution is here. Maybe a more neutral yeast and a bit less wheat (more 2 row). Honestly though, without a commercial example to compare it to, I can only base my opinion on expecting more of a tart/winey flavor than is there.

I'd still give this beer an B+ overall and if you didn't make any further changes I'd happily drink these all day long. Both of your versions have kicked a$$ in my book and I look forward to making it back down there to try some of your other brews.

Hey thanks Jess. Glad you enjoyed it, and glad you finally got a chance to try it out. We just killed the last keg of this about a week ago, and I'll be honest, I'm happy it's gone. 3 batches was a lot for me on this one, and a wheat is a summer drink to me. It ain't summer no more.

I hear ya Brian. I've got some a wheat beer in a keg, and while I like it, it's just not that time of year. I've been drinking a lot of commercial seasonal beers as of late and have a brown ale in primary.

The Riesling is definately a great summer beer.