Berliner Weisse Take IV - Tasting Notes

This is my fourth attempt at the Berliner Weisse Style - that is a Sour German Wheat Beer.  They are typically fermented with ale yeast and lactobacillus which creates a light lactic acid based sourness.

For this attempt I reused a blend of Lactic acid, Brett, and Belgian yeast which I've been saving in a jar in the fridge for the last 1.5-2 years.  I didn't create a starter as that wouldn't really help the blend but after several days I'd found that no fermentation had begun (I should have made a starter after all).  I added some German Lager yeast and that got it fermenting.  At the end of fermentation the beer had a pellicle but on sampling I found that no significant sourness had developed (did have a slight Brett character though).

Rather than proceeding with an unsour Berliner Weisse I opted to use 1 gal of aged Sour Blonde beer to make a blend in the keg.  My Sour Blonds are fairly aggressively flavored (largely with Brett) and have a good strong sourness so I figured it would have a meaningful impact when mixed with 4 gal of mildly flavored wheat beer - I'm happy to say that it did and that it managed to save this batch.

As you'll see from the notes, it isn't exactly like a standard Berliner Weisse but it's pretty close and is a nicely flavored, refreshing, and complex beer

Tasting Notes:

• Aroma:
• Overripe fruit along with an earthy character are prominent.  Also has a slightly mineral and light bready grain aroma.
• Appearance:
• Pours with a 2 finger head that quickly fades.  Light gold in color and pretty cloudy
• Flavor:
• Medium-light sour flavor hits up front.  This is followed by a bit of bready malt and an earthy/cheesy and slightly fruity Brett character.  There is some mineral flavor in the finish along with some wheat and lightly acidic flavors.  Has a pretty nice balance between the brett, malt, and sour flavors.
• Mouthfeel:
• Light bodied and dry.  Easy drinking
• Overall:
• This is a very interesting beer.  It has a nice pleasing sourness to it which makes it easy drinking and refreshing - about on the level I'd expect for a Berliner Weisse and it also has the wheat malt character you get from the style.  The dynamics are quite a bit different though with a fairly assertive Brett character in the beer - it is quite a bit more complex than a just a lacto soured wheat beer will be.  I'd say it's a bit closer to Lambic than Berliner Weisse although the level of sourness is quite a bit toned down compared with my Lambic inspired Sour Blonds.  I think it's very nice although I'd probably stick to the normal lacto soured version for the next one.

El Dorado & Zappa Pale Ale - Tasting Notes

Time for a tasting of my most recent Hoppy Pale Ale - an El Dorado & Zappa hopped version.  This beer was brewed on 8/14, spent 6 days on 8 oz of dry hop, and then was kegged on 8/28.  I've been drinking it the last couple weeks now.  This, like all the hoppy beers I've brewed in the last several months, is a a pale ale strength beer (~4% ABV) which focuses on Aroma and Flavor hops.  I'm using flaked grains quite a bit in these beers to help with body and typically mash warm to try to retain some additional malt character and then bittering at a fairly consistent amount to end up with a product that has a nice firm bitter character - bitter but not aggressively so.  

This base beer creates a nice palate to experiment with different dry hopping combinations.  Dry hopping is such a wonderful approach to getting intense hop flavor and aroma in a beer.  I've tried quite a few now and have never gotten a combination I don't like.  For this one, I decided to try a couple hops I purchased in bulk:  El Dorado at 6 oz of dry hop and Zappa at 2 oz of dry hop.  I've used these both separately where the El Dorado produced a Citrus character where the Zappa had a piney, grassy, and marijuana like character - both very good beers.  The Zappa was a very pungent hop compared with the El Dorado so I opted for a fairly restrained portion.  We'll see how that turned out in the following tasting notes.

Anyway, I will say  I've very much enjoyed drinking this beer - a beer I can have 3 of in a night and not have a problem.  Time to do a tasting before it's gone.

Tasting Note:

• Aroma:
• Grassy, piney, and a slight bit of citrus character.  Maybe get a small bit of bready malt coming through.  A bit of a spicy character in there too.
• Appearance:
• Pours with a 1-2 finger head that lasts for several minutes and leaves lacing on the glass.  Light gold and a little hazy
• Flavor:
• Piney and herbal hop flavor up front.  This lingers into the finish which has a medium bitterness along with lingering hop flavor.  Slight bit of bready malt and a touch of sweetness in the mix to providing a little balance to the hops.  Not really picking up any alcohol or yeast character
• Mouthfeel:
• Medium-light bodied and pretty dry.  A little bite of bitterness prickling the tongue but still easy drinking
• Overview:
• This is another nice hoppy pale ale.  Easy drinking with delicious hop derived flavors.  This one is fairly boldly flavored but not quite as bold and bright as the last one that used Zappa only.  The El Dorado is a more mild hop and I think the 6 oz used were somehow out competed by the 2 oz of Zappa here.  This beer is certainly no chore to get through but I'm not sure I'd call Zappa and El Dorado a winning combination (at least these crops in these proportions).