berliner original

Well, now it's time for something German.  My next tasting will be of German beers, so I feel like getting in the groove.  This bottle just cried out for me to take it:

Hmm, look at that.

So that's where kids come from...

Fizzy lemonade, anyone?

It's a normal volume bottle, 33cl, just a little squatter than most.  In keeping with the Kind, it's a rather low alcohol beer, only 3%.  The label suggests enjoying in "Berliner style", with a shot of woodruff or raspberry syrup.  It's lightly fizzy - although the head comes up easily, it also dies down in a minute or so.  Looking at it in the glass, I'm reminded of carbonated lemonade.  The smell has just a hint of sourness and the first taste also is quite reminiscent of citrus.  As you keep drinking, it gets sourer and sourer, making that fruit syrup sound like a great idea.  I'm out of syrup of any kind, and but I do have some cheap beer to balance the taste.  The mix is somewhat bitter, but not as stingingly sour.  Cheesy sausages with mustard work wonders too, and there's something reassuringly German about sausages with mustard.

I'm a little surprised at myself for having trouble finishing a nice and cold, but sour, beer by itself.  It's not like I don't do sour; I eat entire jars of dill pickles without blinking.  Berliner Kindl Weisse, though, is meant to be balanced out with something.  Mixed with syrup (I would suppose) or consumed with meat and spicy mustard, it's refreshing and just what you'd want in Berlin's sweltering summers.




Wait, what?