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.