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Off Color Brewing

 

 

 

Poured from a can. Hazy and yellow in color with a good sized white head. Smells of fruit and a sour base. Sour hit up front with a slight flavor of grapefruit. Ok sour but nothing special.

 

 

Massive flavor - fruit that works great for this beer.

 

16oz can. Poured out a very clear, pale yellow color with a small, white head of foam. No lacing to speak of. It smelled tropical with notes of pineapple, guava and mango. Sweet tropical flavors with wheat and hints of saltiness. Crisp and light bodied.

 

 

 

 

 

 

L:. Pours a very pale clear straw yellow with a medium creamy white head and no lacing on the glass.

S:. Very strong passion fruit, notes of grapefruit, a tart sour, lots of toasted bread. Very nice smell, not complex but inviting.

T:. Passion fruit, notes of grapefruit, a light tart sour, and some toasted bread. This is a very nice easy drinking low alcohol Berliner Weisse.

F:. Light and high carbonation.

O:. This is a great low alcohol summer beer.

 

a tropical fruited berliner, always so fun to drink new flavors from these guys, and this one is good, but it lacks some of the complexity and uniqueness i have come to know and admire and expect in their beers, it almost seems like this could have come from anyone, much as i like it. it doesnt have much head from the tap, and immediately smells quite tangy, and with a almost tropical punch of candy nose, no real fruits immediately identifiable to me, but i get some sweetness and some citrus in the mix, maybe a passion fruit tang too. there is a brine-like vibe to this, a mineral twang, and a sharp but clean lacto souring on it thats a little more piquant than i can drink a ton of. there is subtle lemon and lime to this, some pineapple too, and definite passion fruit for me. i also get like a cherry candy element, as there is some berry and sweetness in here to me as well, kind of a muddle of different fruits, and then a whole lot of sourness at the end. its a very flavorful berliner, but maybe not as unique and compelling as i am used to from off color. still, nice with a bowl of mussels and a beer that seems right for summer. one and done for me though, especially at this acidity level.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tasted in a Rastal Teku from a 12 oz bottle on July 8, 2018. Berliner style weisse infused with tropical fruits and jaguar pelts. Crisp, tart and delicious.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've been pretty satisfied by my past experiences with Off Color, particularly when it comes to their off-kilter (off color?) renditions of forgotten European styles such as sahti, kottbusser and Berliner weissbier. This is a rendition of the latter, likely based on their popular Fierce Berliner weiss. I bought a single of this and a four-pack of Yuzu Fierce on the same day. For some reason I recall having this at some point, but I don't have any specific recollection about it and it seems like something I'd definitely remember... mostly because it's quite good. That leads to the review...

Pours a hazy yellowish color with a very thick and chunky head that dies down quite quickly to about an 1/8 finger of foam. No lace to speak of, but the way this built up from my initial pour was quite impressive. Though it is but a shadow of its former self right now, it's still a pretty good looking Berliner with a clearly wheat-heavy body and nice, pallid color. I'm okay with this one despite its shortcomings... lacto does what lacto does, after all.

On the nose I'm greeted with a lot of passion fruit and pineapple like scents, backed up by some slightly-citric vestiges of grapefruit and lemon peel thanks to the lactobacillus souring. Guava, light notes of melon and apricot also come out, bringing along some stone fruit and peripheral tropical fruit elements to the party. I get a little bit of the wheat here, which comes across as grainy and works well with the fruitiness.

The passion fruit is a star here, with a juicy and thirst-quenching yet surprisingly tart profile that lends itself perfectly to the base beer. Good sweet/sour balance with some passion fruit upfront combining with tart and lightly-bitter grapefruit. Dragonfruit, pineapple, mango, guava and more apricot (and maybe even Italian plum) notes come out towards the mid-palate, which is essentially just mildly-alcoholic juice with a tart bent. Wow, I'm in love with how well-rounded this is. The Yuzu Fierce is, by comparison, insanely acidic, but this is right on the cusp and very well-balanced.

Feel is medium-heavy for a beer just under 4%, but if you are into wheat-heavy Berliners (esp. ones with fruit which can add to perceived body), this won't come across as a challenge to your palate in any way. The carbonation is slightly under what I expected, but this is still a great beer I would crush every day if I could. Juicy, fruity and tropical with excellent handling of its added fruit as well as a great penchant for overall balance.