Berliner Weisse is a cloudy, sour wheat beer from Northern Germany with an alcohol content of about 5%. It is characterized by its distinctive sour taste developed through special fermentation processes.
How it is made
Berliner Weisse is made from a combination of barley and wheat malt, which is kilned at very low temperatures or air-dried to minimize color formation. The fermentation uses a mixture of yeasts (Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Brettanomyces) and lactic acid bacteria, creating the characteristic sour flavor of the style.
History
The origins of Berliner Weisse are linked to an unknown beer from Hamburg that was copied and refined by 16th-century brewer Cord Broihan. His Halberstädter Broihan became popular, and a version was brewed in Berlin by doctor J. S. Elsholtz in the 1640s. Alternative theories suggest migrating Huguenots created the beer based on local red and brown ales as they moved through Flanders to Northern Germany.
Adapted from the Russian Wikipedia article Berliner Weisse, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.