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Friday, October 31, 2014

Berliner Weisse - Tasting

I've been enjoying my Berliner Weisse for the last eight weeks or so.  It never really got any more than a little bit tart and the brett didn't really generate any funk the way I used it as a primary strain.  It has a very interesting set of flavors though and I don't really regret that it's not very sour.

It looked disgusting during fermentation but it turned into a very pretty beer.


Tasting Notes:
  • Aroma:
    • It has fruity, almost cider like, smell to it.  There is also maybe a hint of funky/cheezy/dirty sock smell lingering in the background.  No malt, hops, or alcohol to speak of.
  • Appearance:
    • It has a pretty good head with a strong pour (as seen in the picture) but it doesn't linger for long.  It has settled out to be very clear in the 2 months since bottling.  It's a very light colored beer and it almost has a pink hue to it - very strange looking but pretty.  Not sure how that happened.
  • Flavor:
    • Up front I get slight tartness mixed in with a bit of grainy/bready flavor.  The middle is a very subdued fruity yeast flavor (gets more pronounced as it warms).  The finish has a little bit of a bite to it with some sourness and maybe a bit of alcohol.  It's a very light beer, somewhat watery, and the flavors are all very subtle.
  • Mouth-feel:
    • It finishes very dry and is a pretty refreshing beer.  You want to take another sip pretty quickly after the first one.  It's pretty highly carbonated but I think it would have been nice to have been a little more carbonated.
  • Overall:
    • A very refreshing beer that is easy drinking with a pretty low ABV but that still has a fair amount of complexity.  A bit more sourness would have been nice but that actually could have detracted from that complexity.

I was really looking forward to brewing one of these.  I've gone through about 3/4 of my bottles of this batch so I'm thinking another one may not be many batches away.  I don't think I would use the White Labs 677 again though - it produces interesting flavors but I'm really looking for more lactic acid on the next one.

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