Berliner Kindl: Weisse Waldmeister (Germany: Berliner Weisse: 3% ABV)
Visual: Bright artificial green body, with some small bubbled carbonation. A small white head.
Nose: Apple syrup. Vanilla. Lime jelly. Cheesecake. Honey.
Body: Tart. Apple – a mix of apple chewy sweets and apple pies. Custard. Vanilla. Cheesecake.
Finish: Lime. Jelly. Apples.
Conclusion: Well, this is completely unlike the raw, non syrup infused version of the Berliner Weisse!
Though this is still tart that part is massively reined in to be a gentle backing rather than the quite sharp character neat. There is a big artificial sweetness against that, vanilla and lime in part, but mostly some really artificial styled sweet apple notes. I do wonder if some is psychosomatic and I am being influenced by the very bright green colour, but best I can say is it seems there to me!
So, it is pretty nice actually, quite syrupy in an ice cream syrup way, but with a slight thickness to the body that brings to mind cheesecake, especially when viewed with the added vanilla sweetness this boasts.
Over time it gains a slight dryness, not much, definitely not controlling the syrupyness, but it is there. With that I can see how this is so popular as a summer refresher – it just keeps it refreshing despite the sweetness. Overall, a tad too sweet for it to be perfect for me, but I would be lying if I did not say I enjoyed this. It is a nice burst of fun for a warm day.
Background: A return to Berliner Kindl: Weisse , my first encountered Berliner Weisse and the guideline I use to compare all others to. I have had .. varied experiences with it, my first encounter was when I did not realize I had a tooth cavity and well .. that was painful. Trying later I found it much more enjoyable. This, with Waldmeister/Woodruff syrup added is apparently the more common way it is drunk in Germany, rather than the sharper neat version, so I decided after all these years I really should give it a try when I saw it in Independent Spirit. Music wise, I thought hmm, Germany, known for heavy music. Lets go with a Japanese melodic death metal band. Hey it made sense in my head – Intestine Baalism: An Anatomy of the Beast!
