White Birch Berliner Weisse

Napoleon’s troops referred to Berliner Weisse as the "Champagne of the North" due to its lively and elegant character. Today this style is described by some as the most refreshing beer in the world.

Our approach was to brew this beer with Lactobacilius for a refreshing and authentic interpretation of a classic summer refresher.

3.2

191 reviews

Nashua, United States

Community reviews

3.2 12 ounce can poured into a brandy snifter. The beer is a moderately hazy copper with a white head that dissipates very quickly. The aroma has subtle grainy bread with a touch of fruity tartness peaking through. The taste has more of the acidity, but it is a fairly balanced approach to keeping doughy and tart on equal playing fields. The acidity comes through more in the finish. Medium body and medium carbonation.

3.8 Initially sweet aroma then developing into sour yeast. Cloudy golden color with a small white head. Sour beginning that builds to a strong finish and doesn’t fade until the end.

3.5 12 ounce can into tulip glass, no can dating. Pours hazy golden orange color with a 1 finger foamy white head with poor retention, that reduces to nothing pretty quickly. No lacing on the glass. Aromas of lightly tart lemon, lime, apricot, green apple, pear, white grape, wheat, cracker, biscuit, hay, straw, light funk, and yeast earthiness. Nice and pleasant aromas with good balance of fruity/acidic/earthy yeast and bready malt notes; with solid strength. Taste of lightly tart lemon, lime, apricot, green apple, pear, white grape, wheat, cracker, biscuit, hay, straw, light funk, and yeast earthiness. Light-medium fruity/acidic tartness on the finish; with lingering notes of lemon, lime, apricot, green apple, pear, white grape, wheat, cracker, biscuit, and yeast earthiness on the finish for a good bit. Nice robustness, complexity, and balance of fruity/acidic/earthy yeast and bready malt flavors; with a nice malt/tartness balance and zero cloying flavors after the finish. Lightly dry/crisp from acidity and carbonation. Medium carbonation and body; with a very smooth, moderately creamy/bready/acidic balanced mouthfeel that is nice. Alcohol is very well hidden with minimal warming present after the finish. Overall this is a good Berliner weiss. All around good robustness, complexity, and balance of fruity/acidic/earthy yeast and bready malt flavors; very smooth and easy to drink with the lighter acidity. This wasn’t as acidic as I was hoping for; but it had a solid amount and a unique flavor profile as well. A nicely enjoyable offering.

3.1 Can at home. Peachy apricot looking beer with some bubbles but now head. Nose is various citrus and sour wheat. Tastes of apricots, tangerine, lacto, rhubarb, wheat, dough. Zesty palate touch slick though. Semi weird veggie aftertaste.

2.3 can @ The Andersons / Columbus OH --- Cloudy dirty grapefruit color, fizzy white head that quickly disappears, no lace. Doesn’t appeal on looks. Aroma of sour malt. Taste is wheaty malt that turns fizzy and sour on the swallow, turning more sour as it moves through a long finish. Good for palate cleansing, as well as pucker practice. I think this needs some of the German sweeteners : lemon, raspberry, or woodruff. Otherwise, a pretty stiff drink.

2.9 12oz can pours a clear fizzy yellow with a thin white head. a slight funky citrus taste

3.1 A can from late summer trip. Medium yellow with a little head. A tad watery. Wild yeasty aroma. A decent tartness, though it be dilluted.

3.4 Hazy orange golden colour. Aroma of citrus, lactic acid, wheat, malts, cactus and shi-take. Light sour flavour, tart citrus. Tart finish, some umami note. (from draught @ GBBF ’14, London, day 2)

2.4 12 oz. can (also a 22 oz bomber in the past). Pours a hazy yellow color with a small off white head. The aroma and flavor have some lactic sour acidity, lemons, pale wheat malts, some off character, almost skunky, just not a fan.

2.3 12oz can and we are guessing this was a bad can.when we poured it into 2 different glasses we got 2 different colors. the first was a cloudy hazy murky yellow and the other glass had the color of yoohoo chocolate drink sipped it and it tasted ok but that was a total turn off for the appearance.

3.6 I really enjoyed this Berliner. Nice and sour with a great head and puckering aroma. Fantastic.

3.2 Super tart, lemony, apple thing going on. Not bad but not what I typically look for in a BW. A little overpowered by the lactobacillus tbh, kills underlying flavor.

2.0 This poured a flay yellow with basically no head. Aroma was of old stale apple juice. Flavor similar, not really tart at all, just weird and bad.

3.1 Pours a hazy pale yellow with a white head. Aromas of rotten apples and maybe a tad vinegar. Really would think this is apple cider gone bad. Not good. #4/4 in blind BW tasting. 1. Hitchhiker 2. New Glarus 3. Farmhouse 4. White Birtch

3.3 12 oz can. Dirty yellow pour with a thin off white head. Aroma of barnyard, socks and yeast. Even light body with a nice sour finish. Very refreshing summer brew.

1.0 It poured an opaque - muddy - light brown with a white head. Nose is faint - what? Taste is tart, tart, tart. 12 oz can

1.1 truly abysmal .. second time having it, CaN is crumby for sure but the bottle i opened a year back was uniquely bad. soiled diaper city .. like most white birch beers, pretty bad .. . . I like to eat crayons

2.4 can pour..not a very good take on a berliner weisse in my book..not really refreshing with any real good solid sourness behind it at all..glad to try but after this one, you can appreciate that the euros know what they are doing with this style, not this brewery...

3.7 Pours a hazy yellow with a thin white head. Aroma is citrus, coriander, white pepper, and tart lactic acid. Flavor is sour lactic acid, citrus, and coriander. Good stuff.

3.5 Can. Pours a clear copper color. Aroma and taste are light fruits and light tartness.

2.2 Bottle from Brewery. Aroma is mild yeasty basement aroma, similar to a Kolsch. Appearance is cloudy pale yellow with minimal head and slight lacing. Taste is strong lemony tart/sour with a background of corn chip. Palate is light bodied, thin texture and a long tart finish. Overall, not my style of beer so can’t say it was that enjoyable but pretty true to the style.

3.0 Mild sour lemon aroma. Cloudy muck-like yellow body with no head. Zesty lemon sour taste. This is certainly an acquired taste. Once past the sour part it’s not bad.

3.6 Lemongrass, wheaty tart aroma. Flavor is nicely tart but is a combo of tart and funky. Wheat, lemongrass backing. Good amount of tartness and body for a Berliner but funky is a bit off putting in a Berliner. Still really not that bad at all. Drinkable and refreshing.

3.1 I’m not an expert on the Berliner Weisse style, but I do know what I like. White Birch’s Berliner Weisse is close to my expectations of the niche style, but doesn’t quite live up to them completely. While there’s nothing inherently wrong with it, I find it’s just a little too mild to wow me. It is nice for what it is, though. I poured a 12oz can into a goblet. There was no freshness date and it cost $2.79 ($0.23 per ounce). Appearance: Deep golden/maize hue with a highly cloudy body. No carbonation visible. Pours to a one-finger, white, soapy head which completely dissipates and leaves no lacing. Smell: Lacto is prominent, but not especially strong. Some wheat and some green fruits, but otherwise mild. Taste: This style is known and drank for its sourness and tartness, but in the case of this particular brew it’s more of a subtle component rather than a front-and-center feature. The palette is a mix of pilsner and wheat malt; not especially sweet, though. On the second half I detect faint notes of green apple and grape as well as a quick lactic bite. The sourness does not linger and is not especially strong. This is disappointing because I remember having this beer at the brewery about a year ago and it was a much stronger and more complex beer – what happened? Drinkability: A beer like this is exactly what you want on a hot summer’s day and in that aspect, White Birch Berliner Weisse works. The mouthfeel is light and refreshing, but the carbonation level is surprisingly low with a slightly watery, tepid texture. It’s also difficult to believe it’s 5.5% ABV when it feels and drinks like something closer to 4%. I couldn’t honestly recommend this as a session beer based on this serving. Score: 5/10

3.4 Can pours hazy yellow with a thin white head. Aroma is sour and a bit of wet hay, not much going on. Flavor is light wheat, then tart lemony notes then more wheat, simple easy drinking brew, refreshing. Overall not too bad.

3.3 From my backlogg: Sample at Great British Beer Festival 2014. Hazy golden beer with an offwhite head. Sourish grassy,aroma. Sourish citrus fruity a bit salty flavour.

4.0 Nice Berliner. Downed a few of these on our trip out east. Lively carbonation, hazy yellow. Sour nose and flavour but soon refreshing! Great simple beer

3.7 Twelve ounce can. Less sour than many of the style, but a valid interperation. Cloudy dark straw color.

3.8 Pours a clear amber from a bottle, effervescence quickly fades. Smell of apple, flavor of green apple and biscuit, some brett funk, but not terribly funky or sour. Nice and refreshing. Good beer.

2.9 bottle. Golden with small head. Wheaty with tart lemony notes, but the body is not as light as I’d like for the style. Almost feels thick. I haven’t had many of this style I didn’t love, but this is a letdown.