Nothing to Declare
Other Half Brewing - Center Street

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was a pleasant unannounced surprise at the Long Island mobile can sale. Pretty cool berliner. Lots of berry...transparent berry glow coloring to it. I like it. Not sure why this doens't get more love, it's exactly as described...berry infused berliner. Not the best berliner, but not the worst...and I love almost all of em, so I dig this. Berry is well infused...carb is a bit more intense than I expected, fairly prickly. Good one though.

 

Picked this up when it was released during the week, not too long ago. Never had a beer with Icelandic stone bramble berries before but if anyone could take that on and succeed, it would be Other Half. This absolutely worked as it was everything that a good Berliner Weiss should be, including easy on the palate and liver!

What a lovely, strawberry hue this had with a pink carnation of a fluffy head to top it of. The bubbles were boisterous and loud as they subsided but they did hold on for longer than most other beers of this style. No lacing to be seen as this was one of the thinner brews that I've had in quite some time. Bramble berry, raspberry and yeast filled the notes as the taste had all three of those in wonderful proportion. Sweet and sour like a Gose, this was plenty tart, lively with bubbles, and slightly sugary in the aftertaste as there was a bit of residue on my teeth that felt like a mild stickiness. Plenty of berry juice and a bit of sediment on the bottom of my Teku glass rounded this out and kept this from feeling too light or artificial.

Booze? I didn't smell, taste, or feel it and I could probably have a day's worth of bottles in a sitting and never get a buzz. No matter - that's not why I drink brews such as this. Sure, there was a bit of earl grey and pepper-like spice that emerged once this was finished off, which was a bit unexpected. If only more brewers took a chance like this did, as the end result was lovely and light for the duration, as well as a welcome respite from the heavier brews of this cold winter season.