Berliner Weisse
(#52)
Exemplified by DragonWeisse
I was completely caught off guard by this beer. Not from a perspective of quality—not saying I was surprised by how great it was, or how bad, it ended up being pretty good—but just the style itself. I saw "weisse" on the label, and assumed that it was going to be similar to a hefeweizen. And yeah, these beers are cousins—they both use wheat—but DragonWeisse was completely different than the hefeweizen I most recently had. This is a Berliner Weisse. It's a whole different thing.
These bad boys are very tart, practically sour. I've had sour beers that were too sour, and thus not refreshing; DragonWeisse finds the correct balance. This particular brand had distinct notes of grapefruit (dragon fruit specifically, hence the name), and was very light. Apparently Berliner weisses usually have a "yoghurt tang," which I didn't really get from this one.
Berliner weisse falls into that style category of "used to be famous, fell off in popularity, making a comeback recently." Apparently there is only one classic Berliner weisse brewery left in Berlin proper. It was completely forgotten in America for a whole century, due to WWI-era anti-German sentiments and then Prohibition. But here it is, back, possibly for good this time.
I like the fact that there are different types of sour beers, and that each have different characteristics (both in flavor and in their histories). I will try any sour beer, because I've had enough to know that the good ones truly are good. But they'll never be great, and I'd be reluctant to order a Berliner weiss if I ever happened upon one on a chalkboard in the future.
NOTES
BEER: DragonWeisse
STYLE: Berliner Weisse
ABV: 4.6%
BREWED BY: Harpoon Brewery and Beer Hall
LOCATION: Boston, MA
PURCHASED AT: IGA on the clearance rack (basically)
PAIRED WITH: fish tacos and marital strife
GRADE: 3 pukes out of 5
BEER COUNT: 200.5 (I split the beer, but also had a full vodka/seltzer later in the night)
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