Fitgers Champagne of the North

Brewed by Fitgers Brewhouse
Style: Berliner Weisse
Duluth, Minnesota USA

Approx. 4oz pour out of a growler. Thank you so very much for saving a bit of this for me Will!

Pours a hell of a lot darker than any Berliner Weiss I’ve ever encountered. Dark, thick, muddy brown with some orange highlights. Little appearance of carbonation. Funky and lightly tart yeast on the nose. Slightly malty. Definite hints of brown sugar. A bit of candy/toffee sweetness. Green apple and pear skin upon warming. Flavor is incredibly tart and acidic for a Berliner Weiss... awesome! Very tart on the sides and back of the tongue with a bruisingly acidic finish. Definitely full bodied for the style. The finish lasts forever... I wish this were on tap all the time, I’d drink the hell out of this! Thanks a ton Will!

(growler, thanks STLWill!) Pours hazy gold with a white head. This is far darker than most Berliner Weisses. Aroma is not really sour, but instead there are scents of grapes and some yeastiness, along with lightly toasted malt. The taste is definitely sour, and tastes just like a sweet-tart candy. The finish is just very dry and sour, and carries on well after drinking. This is really good, and it is significantly underrated.

Growler RBSG 07. Murky orange pour with a white head. Aroma of appl skin, light cherry, toasted malt, vinous and sour notes. Flavors of dry white wine, sour, and apple skin. Light body, sour throughout with a super dry finish. Nice way to start the evening.

Growler at the RBSG grand tasting on 6/23/07: Pours a hazy golden bronze with a spotty-lacing white head. Aroma of lightly sweet toasty pale malt and some tart mildly funky balance. Body starts very tart and acidic with a hint of sweet pale malt and cherrty fruitiness. Finishes drier and puckering. An ok Berliner Weiss, but a little too tart for the style.

RBSG 07 Minneapolis Grand Tasting: Murky orange/brown, light head and lacing. Nose of underripe banana, funky wheat and sweet ginger. The flavor is tart, umami, tart, roasty. Nice and sour, dry, just like the style dictates. Hmmm, nice.

Date: 06/23/2007
Mode: Growler
Source: Tasting, RBSG 2007

muddy orange, fine white head, sweet and tart lemony aroma, creamy body, huge tart lemon flavor, enough body and malt backbone to temper the tartness but allow it room to rule

Aroma: 6/10; Appearance: 6/10; Flavor: 6/10; Palate: 7/10; Overall: 11/20
Rating: 3/5.0
Drinkability: 5/10
Score: *4

RBSG 2007 Grand Tasting. Cloudy gold with a white head. Sour, astringent nose, funky and spicy, sour green apple and something like sour wheat. Excellent, sharply sour flavors, sour green apple, very tart, some lemony flavors. This will pucker you up for sure! Dry sour finish, almost powdery. Medium full mouthfeel, the carbonation bounces the otherwise heavy beer off the tongue. Loved it!

Sample from growler, RBSG Minneapolis Grand Tasting, June 23 2007. Dark, dirty caramel color with little head -- intriguing and mysterious, but this is a berliner weisse?.....funky, weird aroma, spicy and lightly vegetal, faint soggy wheaty character, not really doing it for me....but wow, what a difference when you taste it: supremely tart but incredibly smooth and easy to drink, growing very sour, mouthpuckeringly full of sour apples and even a touch vinegary....quite full-bodied yet light and easy to drink....this does the trick, if the aroma were just more pleasant this could be a classic. Thanks loads JK and badgerben.