Great Divide Berliner Weisse

Brewed by Great Divide Brewing Company
Style: Berliner Weisse
Denver, Colorado USA

Tap at Rattle’n’Hum. To call this a berliner weisse is an insult to the name. This is just a cheap wheat overloaded with diacetyl with no lactic acid in site. My notes describe the aroma as "chicken kiev." Just a total mess in every regard, and nearly undrinkable.

Draft @ GD taproom. Nose is prettty light on sourness/acidity for the style, shows some lemon and dusty wheat. Flavor is lemon zest and wheat with just a hint of that tart classic BW flavor. All in all, I didn’t think it was a great BW, but very quenching after the 35 mile haul from the office, and I finished it pretty damn fast and wanted another, so points for that.

Draft. Pours a pale golden body with a white head. Some dingy grape notes, white grapes with a hint of lemon. Dully dingy body with no acidity or much else to stand out. More like a lemony pils.

On tap at Rattle n Hum. Pours a lightly milky yellow with a thin white head. Very faint mustard, light acid, and a hint of sourness. Creamy mouthfeel due to the ample carbonation. Light straw and a slightly chalky acid. Really missing the sourness that makes this style stand out, but definitely something drinkable.

On Tap at the Great Divide Brewing Company, Denver 24/09/2009 Fruity aroma. Light golden coloured and very hazy in appearance. Fruity and smooth on the palate with a crisp dry and creamy malt finish.

Sample at the Great Divide Tap House in Denver. The beer is a hazy golden color with a medium thin off-white head that recedes slowly. Stringy lacing on the glass. Aroma of pale malt, citrus and mild hops. Medium, clean body with flavors of earthy malt, citrus and wheat. The finish is short and malty with a vaguely fruity wheat aftertaste. Just average overall.

Sour aroma. Pale gold with whispy white head. Not what I expected; dull all around and not sour though it does have a slight lemon note.

On draft at the brewery during GABF week 2009. Citric, lightly tart, wheat aroma, some lemon and pleasant yeast tones along with very mild sweetness. Appropriately pale, cloudy yellow color, head is fine and uneven. Flavor is gently sweet and tart, more clean lemon coming through, faint herbal notes in the background and a gentle wheat malt presence throughout. Finishes dry and very mildly bitter. Palate is thin with low-moderate effervescence, body is light. Not as acidic or tart as the classic Old World examples, but certainly passable and very quenching.