Berliner Weisse - Seattle

Welcome to BA.

Just so you know, Berliner Weiss is a style of beer, not a particular brand. One of the better and most widely available ones is Prof. Fritz Briem 1809 (brewed and distributed by Weihenstephaner)- hopefully it is available in WA:
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/23495/36378

Kindl also has some renown, but I can't recall actually seeing it lately, although there are reviews:
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1401/3708

For more on the style, and other versions that you may see on the shelves check out this page:
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/style/87

 

"1809" is not brewed by Weihenstephaner - in the "old forums", IIRC, the Bros. actually noted that they received a message from the brewery to disassociate themselves from the beers brewed by "Prof. Fritz Briem", who is associated with the Doemens Institute and Siebel. The Briem beers are imported by B. United, which lists the city of origin as "Freising, Germany" yet the labels say "Munich" - so, it's unclear exactly where the beers are brewed.

The Weihenstephaner brands, OTOH, are imported by Total Beverage Solution.

No comment on "better"...

Berliner Kindl Weisse was also imported by B. United, but that ended around 2006-7.

 

Keep in mind that berliner weisse is hardly even a German style anymore. Some of the best ones are actually coming right out of the region i live in

 

Bayischer Bahnhof out of Leipzig has a very nice version.

The Kindl brewery in Berlin is the only version still brewed in Berlin and IMO not worth giving the time of day. Apparently the Kindl brewery folks abandoned the traditional process of brewing the style(or forgot how). Now it is just a 3% abv wheat beer with lactic acid added prior to bottling. Rather than redevelop the process of traditional brewing they introduced a dozen or so flavored syrups to 'sweeten' and expand on the Raspberry and Woodruff syrups use in Berliner Weisse. Sadder still is that by taking this tact as a 'state of the German Brewing' one might think Coca Cola generation(s) are driving the trends in brewing. Beer is just a transport system of getting alcohol into the blood stream...as little flavor as possible or just like soda pop....sad.

 

Epic Ales does Berliner Weiss, and Full Sail has done one in the past.

 

I'm sure you can. I got 1809 at the Berliner pub in Renton.

 

Justice Brewing from Everett is also doing one. One of the recent batches is off, in fact the one I drank last night. Approach with caution, although they are refunding at the brewery for it I hear.

 

Justice quality control is pretty poor, a lot of their beers have close to an inch of sediment at the bottom of the bottle. Their distributors are pretty rude too. They need to get their act together.

OP if you are ok with on tap, NW Peaks does a Berlinerweisse called Tinkham. As previously stated, Epic Ales also has one called Partytime! Full Sail and Bear Republic both had some, but the style is usually a summer beer, so they are sort of out of season right now

 

Aah- that's good to know, but it still isn't clear from looking at the BA page, either- which lists both Domens and Weihenstephaner.

Yeah- I am familiar with Ron Pattinson's criticisms, and myself have stipulated that most of those complaints could be solved with a formulating it to a lower gravity beer, but I still think it tastes great and remain a fan. It's not examplary, but the flavor profile does bring me back to the versions of the style we used to get imported from Germany in the early 80s (there was Kindl, naturally, but at least one or two more that slip my mind).

I must try some of those Florida brews one of these days, though. Posts like Danny1217's above do make them sound intriguing.

 

Yeah, we used to get Schultheiss, as well (Note "West Germany"):

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That's disappointing to read, but I appreciate the heads-up. Hopefully they can turn it around. I had their Berliner-Weisse a few months back and thought it was excellent. My dad is by no means a beer drinker, but even he was asking for seconds when I shared a bomber with him.

 

Their stuff sells, particularly the Berliner and White and Nerdier, but a we've had multiple customers complaining about bottles full of sediment. That's understandable for a new brewery. The reason we stopped carrying their products is how rude they were when they lost their own keg shell. One of their reps stopped by and picked up the shell, then a few weeks later a different rep came back asking for the shell. We said we returned it, and looked through the entire store to double check. When she stopped by next month she asked if it ever turned up, we said it is still not in the store and they should probably double check that they don't have it. She said they will charge us on the next invoice. A couple weeks later we got a call from them saying they had misplaced the keg. A little disorganized and very poor customer service on their reps part.

 

Sorry to sidetrack: As a consumer I had to contact Maritime Pacific regarding one of their reps giving out samples. He knew absolutely nothing about their products, style, proper serving temps, anything! I later got a response from the Rep because instead of answering it themselves the company passed it to the Rep who just defended himself for his opinions. I thought they would have appreciated knowing their products were being hamstrung by a shitty rep. Guess not.

 

I wish Chuckanut would brew one.

 

Avoid the Berliner from NW peaks. Very cheeeeezzzzy.

 

I had the same thought. I will have a word with the appropriate people. We might be able to make this happen.

 

While you're at it, push for a Gose as well.