Folkvang
Barbarian Brewing

Grunt fill from Albertsons. Milky golden body with some pink hues, thick creamy head. Looks fantastic Floral, herbal aroma, light, summery. Taste adds some sweetness and a bit of tartness. Some savory notes. One of the better Berliner Weisse I’ve tried.

a clever beer and i love the low alcohol. this one is done with strawberry, rosewater, and cardamom, a really interesting combination of ingredients that makes a rather dynamic beer, even though this is the same basic and high intensity souring so many of their beers have. its like turned up to an eight or a nine, i wish they would crank it back to maybe a six, if they did, you could drink this forever, but as it stands, its harsh in the belly and on the teeth, and unfortunately was a one and done drink for me. it has a nice fluffy feeling and slightly rich wheat base which is a cool vessel for this, especially at such low alcohol. the rosewater is surprisingly pungent in here, and marries in well with the other added ingredients. caradmom is an easy one to overdo, and its mellow here, just accentuating the strawberry without taking over. the strawberry has been fermented down close to dry which i like, so its more just its essence here, there from start to finish though. light lemon to the lacto sour profile, but its now samey across a whole number of barbarian sours, they either need to tone it down a little, work some brett or something into their mix, or mellow these beers in wood to soften the edges, this gets really sour as it warms up. overall a really well done beer, more for the refined and thoughtful combination of ingredients than for anything else. these guys are definitely making some of the most creative beers in town!

edit: had this three years later at the new facility and it is in fact much less sour and as such more drinkable than it was when i wrote the original review. love seeing this scaled back, its piquant now instead of caustic, refreshing instead of bracing, much appreciated. i feel like ive been heard! improving mouthfeel score to reflect.