Drink'In Berliner Red Wine Barrels
Mikkeller ApS

 

375ml bottle - the sibling to the white wine barrel-aged version of the same brew.

This beer pours a clear, very pale gold-tinted straw colour, with a teeming tower of puffy, rocky, and chunky bone-white head, which leaves some streaky forked lightning lace around the glass as it quickly and easily subsides.

It smells of gritty and grainy pale malt, tart lemon, lime, red apple, and musty white grape fruity notes, subtle woody vanilla, some tame barrel funkiness, further lacto bacterial astringencies, and some ethereal leafy, and floral green hop bitters. The taste is bready and doughy pale malt, a lesser wet wheat cracker thing, laid-back red wine barrels (evoking cherry ice cream associations), a more subdued lemon/apple fruity tartness, welcomely understated yeasty esters, and more meek leafy and earthy verdant 'hoppiness'.

The carbonation is quite robust in its aspirant frothiness, the body a decent enough medium weight, and mostly smooth, with a wee airy creaminess sidling in as things warm up a tad around here. It finishes off-dry, the malt starting to reclaim some of its ceded territory from the sour fruitiness.

Overall, the barrel character on this one is quite underwhelming, so it doesn't really play that much into the flavour or experience, so much as it does the wallet. A nice little brew, to be sure, but what's the point, at such a low ABV level?

From Cervezasespeciales. In Teku glass. At lunch, with rice soup + acedias. Lemony, tart, no trace of the red wine. Light in abv and body. Took long to finish, so it seems i didnt like it much. Very transparent colour, close to water.

375 ml bottle into tulip glass, best before 1/28/2021. Pours slightly hazy pale straw color with a 2 finger fairly dense and fluffy white head with great retention, that reduces to a nice cap that lasts. Nice dense foamy lacing clings on the glass, with a moderate amount of streaming carbonation retaining the cap. Fantastic appearance. Aromas of lightly tart lemon, lime, green apple, pear, red wine, oak, vanilla, hay, straw, pepper, wheat, cracker, light lacto funk/leather, and yeast/oak earthiness. Nice and pleasant aromas with good balance and complexity of fruity/acidic/spicy yeast, wine barrel, and light-moderate pale malt notes; with solid strength. Taste of tart lemon, lime, green apple, pear, red wine, oak, vanilla, hay, straw, pepper, wheat, cracker, light lacto funk/leather, and yeast/oak earthiness. Light-moderate fruity/acidic tartness and yeast/tannic oak spiciness on the finish; with lingering notes of tart lemon, lime, green apple, pear, red wine, oak, vanilla, hay, straw, pepper, wheat, cracker, and yeast/oak earthiness on the finish for a good bit. Very nice complexity, robustness, and balance of fruity/acidic/spicy yeast, wine barrel, and light-moderate pale malt flavors; with a nice malt/tart/spiciness balance, and zero astringent flavors after the finish. Moderate dryness from carbonation and acidity. Medium-high carbonation and light-medium body; with very smooth, crisp, moderately creamy/grainy/acidic, and lightly tannic balanced mouthfeel that is nice. Zero warming alcohol as expected of 2.8%. Overall this is a very nice barrel aged Berliner weisse. All around nice complexity, robustness, and balance of fruity/acidic/spicy yeast, wine barrel, and light-moderate pale malt flavors; very smooth, crisp, and refreshing to drink with the modest acidity. This felt a bit more fuller bodied and flavorful than the white wine version on malt presence; and was a nice showcase of the barrel with great balance of yeast flavors. A very enjoyable offering.