Berliner Weisse talk, anyone?

I like them well made and reasonably fresh. That's not to say brand specific, rather a good take on the style that's well balanced and leaning toward spicy rather than tart.

 

Honestly no, It's a style I don't see a lot of actual German Berliner Weisse's and I'd probably know more about them if I did, I tend to stick with Kölsch more than anything when I'm in that kind of mood.

 

Give me a good Berliner Weisse over an IPA any day to quench my thirst. Unfortunately though unlike those IPAs which dominate the shelves everywhere you go, Berliner Weisse beers are not easy to find these days, so I don't drink them often.

One of my favorites on the rare occasion when I can get some is Firestone Walker's Bretta Weisse. Another one I remember liking, although it's been a couple of years since having it is Hottenroth from The Bruery. While in Berlin about 5 years ago I had a Berliner Weisse but the name of it escapes me at the moment.

 

I really enjoy “1809” when I can find it, which is a recipe from that particular year recreated by the Doemens Institute and Weihenstephaner.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/23495/36378/.

 

No Fuzz Sour lager is the last berliner I had. it reminds me of the first one I ever had. Fritz Briem's but better because it had more lager character. The yeast in it actually smelled like bread dough rising. That is a great lager scent. it also was one of the cleanest beers I have ever had. It tastes exactly like tart firm nectarines.

 

Have never understood why so many US "craft" brewers choose to flavor their BW's with fruit (almost always with non-traditional fruit flavors) rather than let the drinker pick which syrup, if any, they'd prefer. Seems to me that by doing that, the market for their "pre-fruited" Berliners is limited to fans* of kumquat/watermelon (* or at least those not scared off from the strange - oh, wait -" innovative" flavor choices) .

The brewer does not make the claim of the recipe being from 1809, only that it was the year that “…the emperor Napoleon and his troops celebrated their Prussian victory…” with Berliner Weisse.

There's also been some controversy over the actual brewery - supposedly Weihenstaphaner has denied that theirs is the source of the "Professor Fritz Briem" branded beers.

Not quite sure of your point here (perhaps you just prefer a Berliner weisse type beer fermented with lager yeast), but Berliner Weisse beers are traditionally top-fermented.

 

Just talking about the style and how the last one I had was closest to the first one I had.

 

Maria, I think this is probably a perfect example of how one shouldn't use the style a beer is listed as on BeerAdvocate to define the beer. I'm assuming this style was probably chosen because the reviewer felt that the beer resembled others in that category more than anything else, but the brewer makes no claims that it is a Berliner Weisse (as far as I know) and it is therefore unlikely that they were trying to brew one.

 

It's also an excellent reason why the site invites us to submit corrections when/if the BA who created the entry has mis-categorized the beer when listing it.

 

This thread is reminding me that it has been some time since I drank a Berliner Weisse. It seems to me this beer had a bit of popularity a few years ago but is definitely in the background now in my area.

I suppose my favorite ‘regular’ Berliner Weisse is Hottenroth from The Bruery but it has been years since I have seen it.

As regards the ‘non-regular’ Berliner Weisse category I enjoy Dogfish Head Festina Peche from time to time but again it has been quite some time since I drank one. Perhaps I should remedy that situation? This beer is readily available to me. I actually saw it on tap recently but I ordered something else instead.

Cheers!

 

I was under the impression that the certain initiative with this beer series was that this certain Herr Professor Briem sought to recreate historical beer styles, and as such the recipe was based on one from the turn of the 19th century. The Professor Fritz Briem brand has the tag line “Forgotten styles brewed according to their historic recipes by Dr. Fritz Briem, of the Doemens Institute.”

Now, there is a technical difference between the words historic and historical. The former moreso means a phenomenon worth noting in history. Historical means it relates to the study of history. I suspect, however, that it is more likely the labeling means the latter, but failed to grasp the nuance of it while translating from German to English.

 

To put it diplomatically, people will disagree on how much a beer resembles what it is striving to recreate. FYI, researcher Ron Pattinson has gone so far as to call Briem a charlatan.

 

I picked up Study Abriad from Alementary in a trade. I thought it was great.

 

I've had a few that I enjoyed.
Berliner Kindl Weisse

 

And Prof. Briem is not the only person that has been 'labeled' by Ron.

Historical research is not always a 'straight line' avocation. I am pretty certain that there are some things that Ron has 'discovered' and then later found information which was not 100% consistent with those findings.

Cheers!

 

For those with interest you can listen to Dr. Fritz Briem discuss how he brewed the 1809 beer in the podcast in this website:

http://heritageradionetwork.org/pod...isode-5-historical-beers-with-dr-fritz-briem/

Prost!

@EmperorBatman

 

I personally found it to be an interesting discussion. A few years ago I was considering brewing a Berliner Weisse and while doing some research I 'discovered' this website with the podcast. In case you are wondering I never did brew a Berliner Weisse, maybe someday?

I did brew a Grodziskie (Graetzer) a few years ago so I have that going for me. I was quite pleased with how that beer turned out. Shane (@Sixpoint) reminded me in a recent BA post that I sent him some bottles of my Grodziskie and he enjoyed that beer:

"I have tried Jack's homebrew before and all of them ranged from good to excellent. The standout to me was actually the smoked Polish wheat beer (Grodziskie), which is a very difficult style to execute."

The Grodziskie style is another beer style that never seemed to have 'taken off' which is a shame since a well brewed Grodziskie is indeed an enjoyable beer (well enjoyable for me and Shane).

Cheers!