This week we’ll be releasing what we are calling a Berliner Braun Lager. This is a spin on a traditional Berliner Weisse, which is usually low in ABV, light in color, brewed with wheat and quite tart. Our version is darker and stronger than normal. The plan was to age all of this beer is being aged in bourbon barrels with tart cherries. However, when we tried it before putting it in the barrels we thought it stood up on its own and decided to release a small amount of the unaged version on Friday, 2/7. It will be available in bottles and on draft, no growlers.
We brewed this beer for two reasons:
- We wanted to brew a beer that would age well in Bourbon Barrels.
- We wanted to hone in a process for which to brew a traditional Berliner Weiss for the summer
Berliner Braun uses a sour mashing process to force a sour fermentation. A strong lactic and funky fermentation ensues for twenty four hours before the beer is boiled and fermented as normal. The PH of this beer dropped from 5.2 to 3.4 overnight. This unaged version is tart, sour, and has a corresponding dark fruit malt character. We decided that instead of aging all of it, we will release a small amount of it before it goes into barrels.
Unlike a traditional Berliner Weisse our version features a lot of dark malt character which lends a deep fruited flavor and slight residual sweetness. We plan to capitalize on these flavors by aging the majority of this beer on Tart Cherries in Bourbon Barrels. We hope to have this aged version available for the summer! Also look out for a more traditional Berliner Weisse beer this summer.
