Morellen Berliner Weisse
Brouwerij De Molen

 

 

De Molen 'Berliner Weisse' @ 6.0% , served from a 330 ml bottle purchased for $6
A-pour is pink from the bottle to a clear dark pink in the glass with a medium size off-white head leaving a spotty lace along the snifter
S-hints of wheat , saaz bitter hops
T-tart start , refreshing
MF-tons of carbonation , medium body
Ov-surprisingly good summer beer
prost LampertLand

Appearance: After sipping this first I used a champagne flute for the pour. It’s burnt orange/pink colour was unique. The head rises quickly and frothy and takes some time to settle.

Aromatics: Sour and fruity. This is one of those sours where the sour is very evident but not overly acidic. The hops play backup transitioning between the citrus-fruity and leafy-hoppy floral notes.

Taste: A combination of apple and lemon-lime flavours with subtle bitterness/tartness hints of grapefruit and blackberries. The slight hoppiness in the end gives it a refreshing balance.

Feel: Tart, sharp, and crisp. I chose the vessel based on its sip, and I wasn’t disappointed. It pours like champagne, looks like champagne, and its carbonation is like champagne. Tight fizzy bubbles remind me of pop rock candy in their power, its juiciness is reminiscent of that first bite from a cold fresh apple. Dry and clean finish.

Overall: I really like sours, and this one ranks up there as one of the better ones. I recommend serving it very cool and pour fairly slowly to minimize the head. Not a bad sour in my opinion, and a great starter sour if you are new to the style.

 

 

 

330ml bottle - just a straight-up sour ale, no ish-this, or ish-that - cap-ish [sic]?

This beer pours a glassy, medium salmon amber colour, with three fat fingers of puffy, loosely foamy, and mostly just fizzy pale pink head, which leaves a minor bit of sea spray lace around the glass as it quickly sinks out of sight.

It smells of musty and generic red berry fruit, bready and crackery pale malt, a subtle caramel sweetness, some mildly cheesy funkiness, a further aged lemon tartness, and plain earthy and weedy hop bitters. The taste is gritty caramel malt, a softer bready graininess, subtle earthy and musty funk, separate spoiled milk astringencies, a muddled dark berry and orchard fruitiness, and more understated floral and leafy hops.

The carbonation is nice and forceful in its alternating fizzy and frothy protestations, the body a so-so middleweight, and sort of smooth, with the sharpness of the fruity character most culpable in any failings here. It finishes off-dry, the lingering sour lactic essences hanging around to chat with the mixed malt sweetness.

I gotta wonder how they got the fruit syrup-like impression into this offering - which manifests in both the colour and flavour spectra - or maybe they just omitted it on the label. Whatever, this is essentially an old-school, beer-based mixed drink in a convenient bottle - no need for screwing around with woodruff, or the like.

Dark orange, reddish color with almost no head. Aroma has lactic acidity and some generic red fruits. Taste is slightly tart, a bit fruity, not very acidic. Body is medium with very low carbonation for the style. It's not really a bad beer but it's quite off for the style. Tartness and carbonation are too low.