Tag Archives: berliner weisse

There’s Sours, and Then There’s Sours

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We’re both big fans of sours.  When we were in the Netherlands and Belgium, we tried basically every gueuze, kriek and framboise we could get our hands on.  The best, like Cantillon’s Rosé de Gambrinus are truly divine.  Even the mediocre kriek you find in gas stations (this is Belgium we’re talking about) are not too bad.  And there are a lot of American breweries making good sours too, like Cascade, Cisco, and occasionally Cigar City.  But one kind of sour we’ve never liked as much is Berliner Weisse.

I first had Berliner Weisse at the Cajun Cafe on the Bayou Sour Fest.  There was a whole section of Berliners and I tried a handful, and they ranged (in my opinion) from just-barely-drinkable down to the worst beers I’d ever tasted.  Several did not get even a second sip.  They were going head-to-head with fantastic beers from Hanssens, Cascade and Drie Fonteinen, so I put it down, at least in part, to the comparison.  But it was not a good first impression for a style that I was hearing more about all the time.  They’re trendy and I see them around when we go out, so I’ve tried them every so often, but I’ve never had one that I liked very much.

So I was a little anxious when I learned that we were going to receive a Grassland’s Big Bend Berliner Weisse.  We’ve really liked the past beers from GrassLands we’ve reviewed, so I had cause for optimism.

Big Bend Berliner WeisseThe beer looked innocuous enough — it came in a plain unlabeled brown longneck bottle that would be familiar to any homebrewer.  It was well-carbonated with a solid, but not excessive, glossy white head.  It poured typically golden and cloudy, much like a Hefeweizen.  There was almost no aroma, even in a snifter.  The first drink was as noticeable for the mouthfeel as the flavor: rich and luxurious, rather than the typical light body I expect from pale, wheaty beers.  But the taste was very nice — sour but not dramatically so, very smooth and almost creamy.  There was some sweetness like tropical fruit.  And, most importantly, it had none of the off-putting funkiness I’ve tasted in most Berliners I’ve had.  The tasting notes mention that they plan to infuse this beer with juice from local wine grapes, and that sounds like it could be a very nice complement.

Although it’s not a very high bar, I’d say this is the best Berliner I’ve had.  And another solid beer from GrassLands Brewing.

Sour Beer Fest

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I went to the Sour, Lambic & Berlinner Weisse festival at Cajun Cafe on the Bayou in Tampa this weekend.  The flyer listed an impressive selection of sour beer, about half from Florida, about half from Belgium, and a few others (including BFM from Switzerland and Ommegang from New York).  There were also a few other domestic bottles that were not on the program (more on that later).

There were a couple of tables run by shops, with a wide selection of imports.  And there were several local breweries, brewpubs, and homebrew groups with broader selection of their brews.  I think my favorites of the afternoon were:

  • BFM’s Abbaye de Saint Bon-Chien (2007): they actually had four years of this brew (2006, 2007, 2009, 2010), with pretty significant differences between the years.  2006 was very funky but not very sour at all.  The 2009 and 2010 bottles were good, with varying sourness, funkiness and other flavors.  But the 2007 was really strong and tart, with just enough funkiness to make it interesting.
  • Hanssens’ Oude Gueuze: There were a several bottles from Hanssens, with various fruits.  But I think the plain gueuze was the best.  A very clean and sour gueuze.
  • 3 Fonteinen’s Schaerbeekse Kriek: This was the one kriek I really wanted to have when we were in Brussels, but couldn’t find.  I was not disappointed to have it at last: it had a great, almost gritty cherry base, with a big tart lambic bite.  Probably the best kriek I’ve had, with a nice combination of cherry and lambic flavors (instead of just having one of them prevail as often happens).
  • Cascade’s Sang Noir: I was really glad to see a few Cascade bottles were there.  This was a very nice, strongly cherry-flavored kriek, with a richness and creaminess that you don’t often see in sour beers.
  • Mikkellers’s Funky E *: The first glass of this I had was terrible and watery — I think it probably fell over in the ice bath.  But they opened up a second bottle and I’m glad I gave it another chance.  It had a nice oakiness, and more malty sweetness than most sours.

Another real treat came just after the second glass of Funky E * — I saw the server pull a bottle of Pliny the Elder out and put it in the ice bath under the counter.  I don’t know if he was planning on sharing, but I said “Hey! I saw that!” and he gave me a glass.  Within a few seconds, a crowd formed and the bottle was soon gone.  It definitely lived up to the reputation as being a very balanced, world-class IPA.  And I was a little amused to see the biggest commotion at the sour fest was for an IPA.

In fact, there were really only two disappointments of the afternoon:

  • I’d never had Berliner Weisse before, and I had several examples from a range of breweries.  I didn’t find any of them better than drinkable, and most of them I poured out.  So I can scratch that style off my list.
  • I didn’t like the offerings from Cigar City (one of the berliner weisses) or Saint Somewhere (a strange refermentation of their Saison Athene).  I generally count on them to make beers I like (and sometimes love), so that was a little sad.