Berliner Weisse
by Bob Ostrander July 17, 2008 Berliner Weisse
This is one of the best known "rare" beers, and one of the few appellation contrôllée protected beers in the world. A sour, tart, spritzy, low-alcohol ale that is only made on a regular basis by two breweries, both not surprisingly, in Berlin. So why are the beers in that picture to the right an ugly florescent green and a nauseating red? Because that's they way there were served at the Lindenbrau brewpub in the Sony Center at Potdamerplatz in, of course, Berlin. It's not their beer, it's Berliner Kindl's. Unfortunately served with way too much syrup, making them diabetic sugary. Syrup? Heh? Yep. Berliner Weisse is so sour it could be compared to pickle juice. It's drinkable that way but for many people, hardly enjoyable. Only with a sweet syrup (mit schuss) could they possibly sell this to the public masses. Sourheads go for it like Hopheads go for an American IIPA.
As we said, there was too much syrup in the examples we tried in Berlin. The waiter probably thought we were hick 'Mericuns. They should have looked much more subdued as below. But indeed, they are usually served with a straw.
They style goes back to the mid 1600s but has never been a major part of the brewing culture. Both Schultheiss and Kindl have been making this strange beer since the 1920s but both stopped after WWII when the Soviets moved into town. The Schulthiess brewery had two plants, one in the East and one in the West. The Kindl brewery was in the Eastern Sector and the entire plant was moved to the USSR. After reunification the Schulthiess brewery in the Western Sector restarted and the Kindl brewery was rebuilt. South of Berlin, in Thurngia, they use Blue Curacao and Creme de Cassis for flavor. Some specialty bars also provide a lemon syrup.
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