This 3% volume Berliner Kindl Weisse Das Original was brought back from Germany by Cinabar's Dad whilst on holiday there. Wikipedia tells me that sour wheat beer of this type has been produced since the 16th Century originating in Hamburg. It was produced all over Germany in the 19th Century, but only in a couple of breweries in Berlin these days, and a few in the US and Canada.
Berliner Kindl Weisse Das Original is another sour beer selected late in its shelf life from my beer fridge. It's created at low temperature for its cloudiness, and has a secondary fermentation in the bottle to add to its sourness. So this beer should be full of flavour. I'm slightly worried that it is the wrong type of flavour for me though, as I'm not usually keen on sour beers!
On opening the bottle there was a sour and yet slightly fruity aroma. I took it that the fruitiness was from the malted barley and hops. I wasn't expecting that fruitiness and it settled my nerves a little. This Berliner Kindl Weisse Das Original actually smelt quite inviting…
From the description on pouring I was expecting a really cloudy beer, but this golden coloured wheat beer isn't all that cloudy. With a decent frothy head and that fruitiness fighting through the sour aroma, I just couldn't help but take a tentative sip. Yes, this is a sour beer… I can tell why Napoleon's troops called it "The Champagne of the North" in 1809. The initial sourness slowly gives way to a sweetness from the barley and a light bitter fruitiness from the added hops. This is a beautiful really tasty flavoursome beer, and I could drink it by the bucket load. I can taste the hundred's of years of brewing genius in every mouthful. It's a pure joy. I hope that I can get another bottle or two or more in the future.
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