Hessian In Paradise
Gun Hill Brewing Company

 

Hazy, yellow color. Medium-sized, fizzy head. Funky aroma with notes of lime and wheat malt. Sour in taste with distinctive lime acidity. Refreshing and easy to drink.

 

16 ounce can poured neither gently or aggressively into a pint glass. Half a finger of white foam on top of a golden, slightly hazy body. Nose is very sour, it's evident that this beer is going to taste crisp and tart.

This is a substantially sour beer. This is a brisk, spicy beer but there is no way to get away from the strong key lime flavor. The beer is also identifiably lemony, but the key lime takes center stage. Pretty decent tasting beer and very sessionable, obviously, at 3.8% abv.

Very light mouthfeel, but strongly carbonated. Creamy, slick, and drinkable. Nice.

Nice, easy drinking Berliner. Like everything from Gun Hill, unreasonably expensive. Recommend but remember to keep the limitations of the style in mind. Good beer.

A: The beer is hazy pale yellow in color and appears to have a moderate amount of visible carbonation from the columns of bubbles rising along the edges of the glass. It poured with a short bright white head that quickly settled down, leaving a wispy patch of bubbles on the surface, a narrow collar around the edge of the glass, and some webbing down the sides.
S: Moderate aromas of sour key limes are present in the nose.
T: The taste follows the smell, having flavors of key limes and a light to moderate amount of sourness. Subtle hints of nutmeg are noticeable in the finish.
M: It feels light- to medium-bodied and somewhat tart on the palate with a moderate amount of carbonation. Compared to other beers in the style, not much in the way of creaminess is perceptible.
O: I really enjoyed the key lime flavors in this Berliner Weissbier. It could even make for a dessert beer if you are looking for something on the lighter side.

Serving type: can

 

Definitely good but not great especially for the price. 17.99 for a 4 pack is steep. I get Checkpoint Charlie Berliner Weiss from Newburgh Brewery at 8.99 for a 4 pack and it feels crisper and I like the taste much better. With that being said, I would never pay twice the amount for a beer if the same style that's not as good.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Straight pour from a 16oz can with no canning date (although, I think this was a mid- to late-April release, so I think it’s in the 6-8 week range) to an oversized wineglass (Jester King stem). Refrigerated for well over 24 hours prior to drinking.

Appearance (4.0): A finger and a half of bone white foam caps a nearly opaque, kind of creamsicle-tinted straw yellow body. It dies down eventually, but sticks around long enough, considering the style. Also to style, it doesn’t leave much lacing to speak of, but it’s a handsome Berliner all the same. I really like the orangeish tint.

Smell (3.75): Pretty assertive lactic aromas right from the get-go, along with a nice, spicy character that goes well with the mix of grainy, dusty, floury, and lightly fruity aroma of the wheat—nutmeg for sure, and the cinnamon is less pronounced. A hint of vanilla-like creaminess underlies the grains and spice, offering a nice counterpoint to the lactic acid, which itself nearly obscures the subtle tropical character of the key lime. It all works nicely, though I wish the lime were brighter!

Taste (4.0): Here, I think, the mix of key lime and the spices come out more clearly. Together with the grainy, slightly fruity, floury wheat, the nutmeg and cinnamon suggest graham crackers. The creaminess hinted at in the nose feels very smooth and, again, offsets the tangy nature of the lime and lactic acid. The bright, punchy, but not astringent character of the key lime allows it to meld with the sense of graham crackers, aided by the natural sweetness of the limes. This is actually much creamier and richer than I was expecting for a Berliner; that said, it’s still quite tart and remains light and swishy. In the end, I think it’s the nutmeg that really sticks out, and it makes for an interesting mix.

Mouthfeel (3.75): More or less nails the style, and adds a lovely creaminess to what you’d expect. The body is soft and feels creamy, suggesting more weight than it actually carries (it’s firmly on the light side of medium-weight, I think). The sweetness of the lime juice adds more slickness and viscosity than expected, but the lactic acid keeps it tethered. Meanwhile, the carbonation is very subtle at first, bogged down by that slickness, but foams gently into a fine-grained tingle just before washing out.

Overall (3.75): I really like the concept of this beer, and I like the execution—but I think the sourness of the citrus should be ramped up a bit and the nutmeg dialed down a bit. Still, it’s pretty tasty, and I’m all for a proliferation of innovative, affordable sours, especially at lower ABVs (3.8% works perfectly, in this instance) and in cans. Give it a try, if you love sessionable kettle sours!

I'm not usually a Berliner weisse fan (had some with really yogurty-farmy sour flavors, I guess), but I actually loved this one. Maybe because I *am* a key lime pie fan! And I wrote notes originally before I learned there is actually key lime in there!

Lime as the dominant flavor?! Pretty cool/unusual! There was an interesting cloudy look to it, too, and this with the flavor made me associate this beer with limeade--in a really refreshing and not bad way! The flavor also had other orange-citrus fruits, a very subtle touch of some sort of herbal spice, and also a classy touch of farmhouse funk on the back end. For me, the smell was the only real "meh" part here--just unremarkable, not really offensive. Overall, a refreshing sour beer with an unusual--and not unwelcome--look and flavor. A big part of craft-beer drinking is finding novelty, and this definitely worked for me.