David Brockington's Tasting Notebook

Widmer Berliner Weisse

Widmer Brewing Company "Gasthaus"
929 N. Russell
Portland, Oregon
(503) 281-2437 (brewery office)

Initial Impressions:

Bluntly stated, I have never had an authentic Berliner Weisse. I have searched high and low for an outlet in the United States which sells either Kindl or Schultheiss, to no avail. I have heard rumors that one or the other are indeed available somewhere in the U.S., but all have proved false. My latest lead is that there is a "pub" in a strip-mall just off of I-880 in Newark, California (just across Mowry Blvd from Fremont, I think) that serves imported Berliner Weisse. I will follow up on it when visiting the Bay Area later this month.

Since originally writing this review, I have had both Kindl and Schultheiss, thanks to Steve Stroud. See the Amendment at the end of the review.

In early June I went on a research mission for the Microbrew Appreciation Society to Portland. The goal of this mission was to lay the groundwork for the annual MAS pub crawl held the Saturday evening of the Oregon Brewers Festival. The Widmer Gasthaus somehow found its way onto the short list of places to consider for the four-stop crawl. Thus, I, fellow MAS steering committee member Dave Carroll, and Craig Verver visited it during our whirlwind 24-hour stay in Portland.

The reason for the disclaimer in the first paragraph is that Widmer is now offering a beer claiming to be a "Berliner Weisse". Indeed, it is even served with the obligatory dram of Raspberry or Woodruff syrup, although you must insist to have the syrup on the side. (When I indicated to the waiter that I would like to have my Berliner Weisse straight and be able to add the syrup at my leisure, he appeared somewhat incredulous at the notion.) Needless to say, I was excited at the opportunity to try an authentic Berliner Weisse, even if it was brewed by Widmer.

I was served the beer in two 375ml glasses, with a shot of each available syrup (raspberry and woodruff) on the side. I admit to a near- religious experience at the sight of the pale, wheaty, slightly hazy beers couched by the two syrup shots; it seemed as though I would finally be able to experience Berliner Weisse in all its lactic glory.

Nose:

The nose belied the true soul of this beer. A hint of acidity was noted; otherwise the bouquet was empty. As the beer warmed, the acid note became more apparent.

Flavor:

The profile began with a slight wheaty flavor. A hint of lactic acidity served to truncate the flavor of this beer as it finished crisply dry. Overall, a refreshing, quenching flavor, but rather bland.

Final Analysis:

Although I have never had Schultheiss or Kindl, I do have a pretty good idea what a Berliner Weisse is supposed to taste like. Without the syrup, the beer should be assertively sour, leaning towards pungency; hence the evolution of the use of syrup. This example was considerably less interesting than I would expect an authentic Berliner Weisse to be. While I would like to commend Widmer for attempting this style, especially considering the hazards of releasing a real Lactobacillus Delbrukii in one's commercial brewery, I tend to doubt that the acidity is created during the ferment. Rather, I suspect that the beer is dosed in the storage tanks or in the secondary with a biologically inert measure of acid. There was just enough acidity in this beer to make it refreshing, but clearly not enough to make it a good example of the style. How many different versions of Hefeweizen does Widmer need to sell?

The beer was considerably more interesting with the syrup added, but since it is only 2.8% alcohol by weight, it came across more like a sweet soda rather than a beer.

Rating: **1/2

(5-star scale)

Amendment

Not long after writing the review, I was shipped sampled of Kindl and Schultheiss, the two remaining Berliner Weiss biers brewed in Berlin. I found the Schultheiss to be a splendidly nuanced beer, sophisticated enough in palate to compete with the better lambics. *****. The Kindl was decidedly less interesting, but its unidimensional lactic acidity was assertive and enjoyable. ****. Following taking notes on those two beers, I re-read my review of the Widmer offering, and decided that not only was I on the mark, but I was too easy on the beer, and have adjusted my score down:

**

Next Up:

Leavenworth Dirty Face Stout
Blue Ridge Porter
Blue Ridge Amber Lager
Saxer Liberator Doppelbock
Copyright 1995 by David Brockington, all rights reserved.
Seattle

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