Berliner Kindl-Weisse

By way of a random afternoon snack. . .

I stumbled across a bottle of Berliner Kindl-Weisse in Syracuse, which I hadn't had in some time. It's kind of a mystery to me why this is a beer style that's always described as near death. This is practically the only outfit that produces it. It's very pale, with a quickly dissipating head; the nose is flowery and sour, a little like a mixture of champagne and geuze. On the palate, it's sour, crisp, and immaculately dry, with a lightly puckery finish. I forgot how nice this beer was--it's entirely unique. Would be an interesting experiment to try and make a batch.

If I remember this, maybe next February, I could make some for summer, as it would be splendidly refreshing and a truly esoteric lawn-mower beer. Alcohol is 2.5%, starting gravity is 1030, grist is less than 30% wheat, and it has less than 10 IBU's of norther brewer (or hallertauer, following the other producer). It's boiled for only fifteen minutes and fermented with an ale strain plus Lactobacillus delbruckii. Other minor details are in Michael Jackson's Beer Companion, page 53 and environs. So that was an excellent impulse buy.