Like all styles that have been around for more than five minutes, Berliner Weisse has undergone several transformations, adapting to technological, political and social change. Though it’s currently in a very sad state, hanging on by a thread. With only one version made in any quantity, Kindl, and that barely authentic.
Some new breweries in Berlin are playing around with the style, again with various levels of authenticity..
Origins
Let’s go back to the beginning and the origins of the style. There are two theories about the origins of Berliner Weisse.
One says brewing of wheat beer was brought to Berlin by French Huguenot refugees in the 17th century. Not sure I believe that. I’ve seen no hard evidence. And the brewing of Weissbier in North Germany predates the 1600s.
Though the Landré family, who were prominent Weissbier brewers, were Huguenots. But they only opened their brewery in 1741 . Which seems rather late.
I’m more inclined to go with the other theory. That Berliner Weisse is a development of Broyhan, a Weissbier that first appeared in the 16th century and was incredibly popular across northern Germany for several centuries. In the late 1700’s, Berliner Weisse seems to have emerged as a distinct style of its own.
I should explain something about the term Weissbier. It’s usually translated into English as Wheat Beer, which includes a very dangerous assumption. Because Weissbier has nothing to do with wheat, although many types did contain it. The term really refers to beer brewed from air-dried rather than kiln-dried malt. The latter, logically enough, was called Braunbier.
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10 comments:
You get a lot of dodgy work all over food history. Most writers just don't get how flexible names are, let alone ingredients and techniques. This stuff will never be molecular biology, and there also is no way to go back in the past and force people to behave in easily categorizable ways.
The style is alive and well in America. In fact, much like Gose, the only reason anyone even knows it exists is because of American craft brewers.
Have you had a chance to try any of the recreations from the newer Berlin (and Potsdam) breweries Ron? I know some have extracted the bacteria/brett yeast from decades old Berliner Weisse bottles, the complexity they are getting for the low ABV is quite amazing in some cases (I am not a fan of all of them though).
There are also some just doing kettle sours (and sometimes then heavily fruiting them) and labelling them Berliner Weisse but you can tell the difference immediately; I think this is probably driven by imitating the USA craft breweries though.
Schneeeule does brew a rather authentic Berliner Weisse, see https://schneeeule.berlin/de/
They even have a page about the history of the style. FWIW
Benedikt Koch has done some research about the style. He is an active member of MilkTheFunk on Facebook if you want to contact him. Here is his homebrew recipe: https://wilder-wald.com/2017/12/08/historic-berliner-weisse-homebrew-recipe/?fbclid=IwAR1vse06HvDQscSk6aYjzSkKFNeVJcbPRIAhp7bydp8NReIN9g7Ka2I9tdk
Unknown,
yes, lots of beers called Berliner Weisse and Gose are brewed in the USA. Almost always kettle soured. I haven't had a single one that tasted like the real thing as they never use Brettanomyces,
Michael Jackson wrote plenty about the style. I doubt American brewers would have heard of the style without him.
Étienne,
Schneeeule's Berliner Weisse isn't sour enough. I've argued with the owner about what what the right level of acidity is.
I've had one from Benedikt Koch but I can't remember what it was like.
Craig,
I've only had the new ones from Berlin once or twice. Kettle souring is the work of the devil.
When you try kettle sour versions and Brett versions of BW you can taste the difference of course. Diving into the history of BW I now understand the breweries using kettle sour for a way to reproduce a constant quality. Don't forget that the brewing with bretts requires its own Equipment.
Saying no one would have heard of such and such a style is very presumptive - as it turns out Europeans were brewing Goses in the late 20th century before Americans ever heard of it. True Some styles have had new life breathed into them due to American (and other countries) craft brewing resurgence. But I wince when Americans say we saved such and such a style, because it just ain't so. As to Brett in those beers it is somewhat of a debate, Maybe Berliner weisse, as it was aged longer, but Gose was most often consumed very quickly and thus Brett would have had very little (if any) to influence on the flavors. Brettanomyces takes some time to develop its flavors (this gleaned from both reading and having brewed many beers using different strains of Brett)
We brewed one at Von Seitz TheoreticAles in Tennessee, We used used lacto and brett extracted from old berliner bottles and followed Benedikt's recipe suggestions. In a taste test at Carnivale Brettanomyces with Schneeeule's Berliner Weisse, the taste and sourness were almost identical. Their carbonation was higher, as Alex almost always wanted to err on the side of caution in carbonating our beer, since so much ended up in Europe and wanted to make sure we didnt have gushers. Its a beautiful beer and I will do it again somewhere. The aroma after aging 6 months in a bottle definitely mimicked the flower bouques that Benedikt talked about in our Podcast at Milk the Funk, and was wonderful. Jace Marti at August Schell also brews authentic style Berliner Weisse.
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