Berliner Weisse: Passion Fruit - Peach
North Coast Brewing Co.

Had Berliner Weisse Passion Fruit-Peach poured from 22-oz. bomber, label stamped "90710605" and bottle stamped "BOO778132017062304:08," into chalice.

Pours bright, slightly copper-gold, with 1 and 1/2-fingers of creamy near-white head, which dissipates to a persistent film and ring, leaving very little lace. Big peach aroma off pour, then sweet biscuit malt, which continues amid growing passion fruit complexities. Begins sweet peach, then straight mixed fruit juice (berries, pineapple, grapefruit) over moderate carbonation, before tartness begins, with a mild biscuit malt backing, and grows into a moderately tart, still fruity, drying finish.

More fruit juice and less tart than expected, but still refreshing and deeply flavorful.

 

This was the first Berliner Weisse I had a few years ago, and it definitely set the bar for what to expect! It was well balanced, smooth, and very enjoyable. I recommend that you pick some up when it is available.

Poured from a bottle into a Spiegelau American Wheat glass. One of the nicer examples of US brewed Berliner Weisse. The fruity aromas are relatively subtle, leaving enough room for the other aromas and flavors. The nose has notes of apple cider or even iced black tea.

 

Clear beer bottles weird me out. 12oz bottle poured into a nonic.

A: Beautiful clear gold with a small amount of head that fades quickly.

S: Tart fruitiness and underlying sweetness; passion fruit is apparent and the peach is right there, along with impressions of tart citrus (lemon) and funk,

T: More of the same, refreshing and tart simultaneously, the fruit flavors are there and authentic and lend that stone fruit/summery quality that I like in a Berliner.

MF: Light, tart, effervescent, refreshing.

O: A Berliner that delivers on the fruit additives & their particular flavors.

Next up. a short break. Not from Bottles (!), but from Tavour. I am taking a break from The CANQuest (tm) to run through some Bottles (gasp!). It needed to be done & this will pave the way for a massive return to CANs when I'm done.

From the Bottle: "Independent Since 1988"; "Certified B Corporation"; "Product of the USA".

I had purchased this a while back, so long ago that there was a good bit of particulate that had settled onto the kick/punt. Given its style, I had no compunction about some pre-Pop! of the cap agitation to get the fruit back into suspension, where it belonged. Following said Pop!, I went with a hard, heavy-handed aggro pour into the awaiting glass. It foamed nicely, but briefly, forming two fingers of fizzy, foamy, soapy, bone-white head that quickly fell away to wisps. Color was a lightly-hazy Golden-Amber (SRM = > 5, < 7). Nose was more heavily oriented towards peach, although passionfruit was certainly discernible along with a mild tartness, causing my lips to lightly pucker in response. Mouthfeel was thin-to-medium, a step or two above watery. The taste was a VERY tart peach & passionfruit combo. It was the latter that was really lending itself to the tartness while the peach tried to balance things out. It was the same concept that I described WRT New Glarus' Strawberry-Rhubarb Tart the other day. Peach alone might have killed the tartness, but when coupled with passionfruit, it really carried the day. A little sweet amongst the intense tartness. This had clearly aged nicely, given some previous reviewers' complaint that it was too sweet. Not now! In fact, I was very glad that I took my GIRD pill before starting in. Finish remained quite tart and equally fruity, finishing very dry as a result. Nice. YMMV.

12 oz bottle. Pours clear light straw yellow with a medium fluffy white head that goes to a thin collar that leaves little lacing.

The aroma is mild sweet peach with a little tartness.

The flavor is sweet peach with a big tart fruity sourness. The mouthfeel is very thin and watery.

Overall, ok tart fruity sour.

20200207
Bottle - 12oz

 

 

L - clear amber/golden with no real head to speak of
S - Sweet passionfruit and peach on the nose
T - Follows the nose with tons of passionfruit and peach throughout - not too sour - more sweet and juicy.
F - Light to medium bodied with a moderate amount of carbonation - crisp and juicy
O - A very nice berliner weisse

another fine edition of this solid base berliner, which has the right amount of two things in each of these, tartness and yeast character, none are too sterile, none are too sour, none have that lacto stink so many do, all are so professionally done, and i think all are just flavored enough to have wide appeal beyond the normal berliner crowd, but are still recognizable as more than just fruit beer, love them really, but the clear glass throws me off every time. the packaging is sharp on this still, and the beer inside pours a somewhat more yellow orange hue than it looked in the bottle, off clear with some apparent density to it, at least compared to the others in the series i have had in the past. aroma and flavor align perfectly, more passion than peach, where the passion plays on the clean tartness with a tropical brightness, and the peach adds the needed balancing sweetness where the wheat base really doesnt, almost in a candy-like role here, but it works, and i think the pairing of these two fruits together is very intentional and smart for this interplay. enough sourness to be refreshing, a slight yeast ester which i like, sort of belgian and german at the same time, and the fruit not lingering to long past the swallow. this is drinkable and almost refreshing with pizza, but could use a touch more carbonation. i like how the fruit works together and how this takes an overdone style to a cool new place, i think my favorite of all the ones i have had in the series so far! fruity but still beery!