Saturday was a scorcher here in Brooklyn and we celebrated the stifling arrival of Summer with a birthday barbecue bash at Brew Dog Ceeg’s house. As usual we smoked some pig parts for a good chunk of the day, during which no less than 15 different brews were sipped (or pounded) by the many attendees. I hit my tasting selections early on while my palate and brain were relatively unscathed.
I figured a nice tart low ABV brew like the Bayerischer would be the perfect way to ease into the day, and indeed it was. It poured a cloudy pale pale yellow with a light foamy white head which had some serious staying power. The nose was grapey and yeasty, almost like a crisp champagne, with hints of sourness and sweetness. Flavor was mellow mellow mellow; there was some citrus up front and some subtly complex tartness and it felt somewhat astringent. Definitely a refresher and one of the few beers I think I could drink a case of in this summer heat. I don’t have much experience with the Berliner Weiss style but I’d love to check out some more if anyone has an recommendations.
Continuing my Southern Tier kick, I chose to sample their just released Imperial Cherry Saison next. This one poured copper with a nice off-white head. I got a cocktail of fruit on the nose, dominated by cherry and banana, with some subtle spice, but nothing overwhelming. Nice balanced saison flavor without either the oak or the cherry coming on too strong, or very strong at all for that matter. Not too sweet, not too sour, not to spicy, just right for a saison, but not really as crisp or refreshing as i would have liked on such a hot day. A little stronger sour cherry profile might have helped cut the heaviness of the 8% ABV somewhat. I’m going to give it another shot when the heat is less oppressive to see what it does for me.
3 Comments
Man I couldn’t feel that Cherry Saison — the smell totally gave me a headache and it tasted artificial to me. I’m definitely going to give it another shot, though. And soon.
I couldn’t grip the Cherry Saison until the last couple of warm sips. Tho I would try it again too.
I’m with MRB on this one. I had a taste of one today, smells like cough syrup and what is allegedly cherry flavor is probably just fusel blow off. Probably the first Southern Tier beer I’ve had that I would say straight up sucked.
One of the better and more reasonably priced (and actually from Berlin) Berliner weisses is no longer available here in New York (I’m not sure about the rest of the country though.) It was something or other Kindl Weisse. As for what you can get here in NYC, the Fritz Breem 1809 is the bee’s knees. Much more tart than the Banhof, it’s great with raspberry syrup or without. Speaking of which it comes in a 50 CL so you can share it with some friends. Definitely the one to get.
The good Dr. Breem is a pretty interesting cat himself. Works for Weihenstephaner I believe and only does historical recipes. From what I’ve heard we can expect to see another brew from him (or them) before the end of summer.
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