NO. 14 THE SOUR ~ DUGGAN’S BREWERY

Sampled from a tin. The beer poured a cloudy golden amber with a think white head. The head stuck around before leaving a cap and some beautiful lacing. The nose contained lots of grains with a lactic tartness and some subtle citrus fruit. This is less sour than some other Berliner Weisse I have had. The soft sourness makes it quite refreshing without being lip puckering. A straightforward sour ale. 

5.4% from Toronto, Ontario

MIKE DUGGAN’S NO. 18 ~ DUGGAN’S

NO. 18 is a Raspberry Berliner Weisse. Sampled on draught, it poured a cloudy light apricot with a decent off white head, which left some spotty lacing. The nose contained lots of lactic sourness and subtle raspberry and cereal graininess. The sourness did not translate into the taste as much as I would have expected. I personally like my Berliners to be a little sourer, than this one. The beer starts with a mild sour sharpness, the berries (organic raspberry puree was used) are very understated, but do lend a gentle flavour. There is lots of graininess and malts mid sip. I found cereal - graininess to be too sweet at times. The beer ends with a malts and hints or raspberry again. The beer was medium bodied, with moderate carbonation. 5.4% from Toronto, Ontario 24 IBU

1ST & 3RD ~ LEFT FIELD BREWING

Left Field Brewery is celebrating their third anniversary with the release of two beers: 1st and 3rd, a Berliner Weisse and an anniversary saison. I was quite excited to try both of these, as I have been impressed with many of Left Field’s brews. Sampled from a 650 mL bottle the beer poured an opaque light golden straw colour with a white head, which left a nice cap of the beer. The nose contained lots of cereal grains, lemon and a slight sulphur smell. The beer was not as sour and tart as I am used to in a Berliner, though the lactobacillus was evident. The palette had lots of dry cereal, wort, some bready yeastiness and citrusy lemon. As it warmed, there was a subtle sweetness that emerged. The flavour, which seemed very ‘young,’ grew on me during the second half of the bottle. Left Field has brewed this using a kettle-soured mash made from their house strain of lactobacillus and 50% wheat. Both Belgian and American yeasts were also used. This Berliner lacks some complexity, is not my favourite example of this style, but is not bad either.

4% from Toronto, Ontario 8 IBU

PHOTO: LEFT FIELD BREWERY

BERLINER WEISSE ~ OAST HOUSE

A traditional Berliner Weisse or Berliner Weißeis is an opaque sour white beer.  It is commonly low in alcohol, averaging 3% to 4% ABV.  It dates back to the 16^th in Northern Germany.   A number of different grain combinations can be used to make it as long as the malts are kilned at a very low temperature to limit the colour added to the beer.  Fermentation happens with yeast and a lactic acid bacteria which gives the beer it’s characteristic sour taste.

Oast House Berliner Weisse was my favourite of the Berliners I tried this season.    It has a good sourness, but does not shred your taste buds and finishes with a pleasant puckering sourness.  Well done Oast!

4.9% from Niagara, Ontario
-beer 106-

CORIOLIS EFFECT ~ BAR HOP & SAWDUST CITY

Coriolis effect  is a Berliner weisse made in collaboration with Bar Hop, a bar in Toronto.  Bar Hop cuts the sourness of the beer with homemade raspberry or woodruff syrup.  I had this mouth puckering-ly sour beer by itself.  It pours a light hazy straw colour with a white head.  Nose is sour with notes of lemon, wheat and tart fruit.  Finish is tart, sour and a little bready. The beer is made with Lactobacillus Brevis (lactic fermentation) from Guelph's own Escarpment yeast bank. (Who knew there is a Yeast bank?)

BTW…In physics, the Coriolis effect is a deflection of moving objects when the motion is described relative to a rotating reference frame. In a reference frame with clockwise rotation, the deflection is to the left of the motion of the object; in one with counter-clockwise rotation, the deflection is to the right....also slang for a hang over.

 3.2% from Gravenhurst, Ontario
-beer 98-