A very pale, very low-alcohol (2.8–3.8% ABV), assertively tart Northern German wheat beer traditionally fermented with both Saccharomyces and Lactobacillus. Lightly fruity with a sharp lactic edge and extremely low bitterness. Historically served with flavored syrups (raspberry, woodruff) to mellow the tartness; modern craft versions are often served unsyruped.
In the glass
Origin
Berliner weisse is a pale, tart wheat beer from the region around Berlin, with records of brewing in the city reaching back to at least the 16th century. Its origins are genuinely murky, and several accounts compete. The most common traces the beer to an unknown brew from Hamburg that the 16th-century brewer Cord Broihan copied and developed; a version of his Halberstädter Broihan was being brewed in Berlin by the 1640s. Another holds that Huguenot refugees, moving through Flanders into northern Germany, adapted the local red and brown ales into a pale sour beer. Some records place brewing in Berlin as early as 1572. The Prussian king Frederick William I championed it as “best for our climate” and had the future Frederick the Great trained to brew it. Its sharp, sparkling character earned it the nickname “the Champagne of the North”; by a popular if poorly documented tradition, that name is credited to Napoleon’s troops, said to have likened it to sparkling wine during their occupation of Berlin in 1809. The style peaked in the 19th century, when it was the most popular alcoholic drink in the city and some 700 breweries produced it, before declining sharply through the 20th century to just two Berlin producers, Berliner Kindl and Schultheiss. In the 2000s and 2010s American craft brewers embraced the style, sparking a wider revival.
Notes
Traditional Berlin service softens the high acidity with a shot of flavored syrup — red raspberry (Himbeersirup) or green woodruff (Waldmeistersirup) — poured into a wide, bowl-shaped glass. Modern craft versions are often served straight, without syrup, to show off the clean lactic sourness. Long treated as a Berlin specialty, the name is tied to the city much as kölsch is to Cologne.
Defining examples
Berliner Kindl Weisse·Bayerischer Bahnhof Berliner Style Weisse·Dogfish Head Festina Pêche·The Bruery Hottenroth