Brand New Normal
Mikkeller ApS

 

 

 

 

 

 

12 ounce can into tulip glass, canned on 2/2/2017. Pours lightly hazy pale golden/straw color with a 1-2 finger fairly dense and fluffy white head with good retention, that reduces to a thin spotty lace cap that lingers. Light spotty lacing clings on the glass, with a moderate amount of streaming carbonation retaining the cap. Aromas of tart lemon, lime, green apple, pear, white grape, sea salt, hay, straw, grass, wheat, bread dough, light lacto funk, and yeast earthiness. Nice and pleasant aromas with good balance and complexity of fruity/acidic yeast and light-moderate pale malt notes; with solid strength. Taste of big tart lemon, lime, green apple, pear, white grape, sea salt, hay, straw, grass, wheat, bread dough, light lacto funk, and yeast earthiness. Moderate lactic tartness and light yeast spiciness on the finish. Lingering notes of tart lemon, lime, green apple, pear, white grape, sea salt, hay, straw, grass, wheat, bread dough, light lacto funk, and yeast earthiness on the finish for a good bit. Very nice complexity, robustness, and balance of fruity/acidic yeast and light-moderate pale malt flavors; with a great malt/tartness balance; and zero puckering flavors after the finish. Light-moderate dryness from acidity/tartness, increasing through the glass. Medium carbonation and light-medium body; with a very smooth, moderately acidic/grainy, fairly crisp, and lightly saline balanced mouthfeel that is great. Zero warming alcohol as expected of 3.2%. Overall this is a very nice Berliner weisse. All around nice complexity, robustness, and balance of fruity/acidic yeast and light-moderate pale malt flavors; very smooth, crisp, and pretty refreshing to drink with the modest acidity/tartness. Feels middle of the road on acidity between classic German and newer American made style examples. Flavorful and not watered down feeling for the low ABV. A very enjoyable offering.

I picked up a can of Mikkeller's Brand New Normal for $1.89 at The Lager Mill. It's pretty warm today and a Berliner Weiss sounds good, so lets see how it goes. 2017 Vintage. Poured from a 12oz can into into a teku.

A- The label looks nice, it's got that typical Mikkeller design to it and it's a little eye catching. It poured a hazy golden color that took on more of pale yellow color when held to the light with a fingers worth of slightly creamy off white head that quickly faded to a thin ring that eventually faded away and it left some spotty lacing behind. This is a pretty nice looking beer, but I wish the head head and head retention were a little better.

S- The aroma starts off with a medium amount of sweetness with a lemon being the first to show up and it imparts a natural lemon juice like aroma that's followed by a good amount of sourness. Up next comes just a little more fruitiness that goes into the malts which impart some grainy, white bread, pale malt and light sweet malt like aromas. This beer has a pretty nice aroma, it's just what I would expect from the style.

T- The taste seems to be similar to the aroma and it starts off with a medium amount of sweetness with the lemon still being the first to show up and it imparts all the same aspects that it did in the aroma along with a lower amount of high sourness. Up next comes just a little more fruitiness which goes into the malts which impart all the same aspects that they did in the aroma, but this time they stick out a little more with the white bread flavors seeming to stick out the most. On the finish sourness doesn't linger too long and it had some lemon and malty flavors in the aftertaste. This is a pretty nice tasting beer, but It would be a little better if the malt flavors were just a little lighter.

M- Fairly smooth, a little refreshing, a little mouth puckering, not too acidic, on the lighter side of being medium bodied with a slightly lower amount of medium carbonation. The mouthfeel is pretty nice and it works well with this beer.

Overall I thought this was a pretty nice beer and I thought it was a solid example of the style, it was a pretty straight forward Berliner Weiss with not much to set it apart for the style, but it was pretty spot on and true to style. This beer had nice drinkability, I could drink a couple, but that would be limit since I think it would ware on me if I had more than that. What I like the most about this beer is how true to style it is, it's pretty spot on for a Berliner weiss. What I like the least about htis beer is that the malts didn't show up a little less in the taste, I think that would help this beer out a little. I would buy this beer again when looking for a solid example of the style and I would recommend it to anyone else looking for the same. All in all I was pretty happy with this beer, Mikkeller kept this one very true to style and while I like it I still think they should make some fruited versions of this beer. It's not a favorite Mikkeller beer and it's a nice example of the style. Nice job guys, this is one solid Berliner Weiss, keep it up.

 

Reasonably simple, tart, good beer. Definitely has what i look for in a berliner weisse, although I suppose it could be too sour for some.

Poured out a clear, bubbly golden yellow color with a small, white head of foam. It smelled of tart lemons and wheat. Very tart/sour at first sip. Mellows a little. Lemon with some sweetness.

 

 

 

Pale golden color coupled alongside a putrid sulfuric aroma. Flavor profile is very mild betwixt tart and sour. Despite the fact that the ABV is pretty low, the feel yields to that of an almost full bodied sour. Overall this isn't a bad beer but definitely not a great one.

Bright, brisk and beautiful. As the flavor of sour washes over the craft beer landscape, what was hoppy is now sour! Well.... kinda, sorta. But as the craft beer consumer has embraced the taste of acid in beer, the Mikkeller team just might have it right. This is a brand new normal.

And the beer of that namesake pours with pale and cloudy gold, its scent is piquant of citrus, cider and the briskness of sea air. Capping with a creamy white fluff, the beer settles in with a taste of pulled candy, wheat, bread and delicate honey.

And as the sweetness releases its tepid grip, its impressions live on- offering a roundness to the citrus taste of lemon, lime and grapefruit; along with the winey impressions of riesling then trailing with a cidery flare of granny smiths. What rounds on the palate is a taste of saltwater taffy and key lime dessert while also trending dry, sour and pleasantly saltine.

Medium light on the mouth, the beer's texture is soft with wheat but brazen with acidity which governs the finish. One again, brisk, bright and tangy the wine influence is strong but those candied taffy love notes resonate high as a quick finish follows with a fruity, sour and minerally brine looming.

new berliner out of mikkellers san diego brewery. enjoyed on tap at mikkeller san francisco. is it just me, or does mikkeller make like 10 different berliners? and thats before barrel ageing and fruiting! man oh man, how prolific. this one is certainly different, pale white yellow in the glass with some cloudiness and an enormous head almost taking up as much volume as the liquid in my glass. a little of that stinky quick souring weirdness in the nose, but its not there in the flavor. also a white grape and green apple aroma, lots and lots of acidity makes my mouth water. the wheat malt is light in here, raw wheat maybe, a little tannic, but cleaner than the aroma. the fruitiness is still there, but the sourness is high and wipes that out quickly. i still get the sort of stinky sweaty element from the souring, its not as clean as the best examples of the style, but there is more than enough else going on to cover it up. i am a big fan of this style being so low in abv, so dry, and so carbonated, it makes for perfect all day drinking, and while this may be a quick adjustment away from being awesome, i really appreciate it in a session sour context as it is. cool they are tackling some of the sour stuff at their san diego brewery!