568. Jackie O’s Berliner Weisse

I brought a growler of this home from Athens for Jeff Fortney, since it wasn’t available on tap until Monday. As I was being tormented via Elli by long and arduous mountain bike rides on Sunday and Monday, the daily visit to Jackie O’s made all things better. Previous visions of delight include Brad Clark’s Raspberry Berliner Weisse,  Bourbon Barrel Smoked & Portered, OPA, and Bourbon Barrel Aged Impy Razz. There’ve been others, but we’ve kept them a secret. We’re like that.

Jackie O’s Berliner Weisse pours a hazy bright straw with a thin white head that quickly disappears; when we had it on tap at Jackie O’s, the white head was mousse-y and hung around enough to lace the glass, but here it is a ghost-like presence. The nose is bright lemon zest and pith with a delicious lactic piquancy underneath—there is more lemon than lactic in the nose, while the flavors in the beer are the exact opposite, with more lactic than lemon. Flavors open with a touch of lemon in the front before giving way to a bright lactic vitamin C tablet twang in the middle. There is a touch of wheat gumminess 

on tap at Jackie O’s

on the tongue, and a touch of chewy yeastiness, but the beer finishes bright and clean with lingering tartness. The body is thin while the carbonation is a bit low; again, it was brighter on the palate on tap, but the clean lactic tartness more than makes up for it here. This is how a Berliner Weisse should taste; while it is not as delightful as last year’s Raspberry Berliner Weisse, it is a damn fine beer. I could drink this beer all day long; it leaves small rosettes of sweat on my cheeks and is a delight to drink. 

Tart cherries!

I’m glad we scored a growler to take home!  

We also tried mashing some tart cherries in with the beer to see how it tasted since we missed the Raspberry Berliner Weisse so much. It was good, but not as good as either the original Berliner Weisse or the Raspberry Berliner Weisse—somehow, the tartness of the cherries canceled out the lactic sourness of the beer. Thus, flavors were good, but less dynamic. Oh well. Still, a fun experiment. We also wondered why Jackie O’s didn’t offer any syrups along with the Berliner Weisse when we had it on tap—I know they have in the past.But again, not much to be done about it now. Oh well, part II.

From the description in the picture above: “Tart & funky wheat beer.”

ABV: 5.0%

(6/28/2013)