About that wall…

~ Meg

Week 45 in The Year of Drinking Adventurously. Berliner Weisse.

The Berlin Wall, that is… November 9, 1989 – marks 27 years since that wall fell. And that is the reason Berliner Weisse, a German wheat beer style is on tap (or in bottles) for this week’s drinking adventure.  Although sometimes released as a summer seasonal because of its light, refreshing quality, there’s no reason not to drink it any time of the year.

Berliner Weisse is technically a sour beer, a favorite style of mine. The guide made several suggestions for finding American products in the style but I came across a great bottle shop that had a nice selection of German imports, so I chose two to sample. And even though the bottles are large, the alcohol content is low so there was no risk of getting pickled.


Freigeist Kopenickiade. 3.5% ABV. A beer brewed with vineyard peaches. It’s very light with just a hint of the peach flavor. Freigiest is the experimental offshoot of Cologne’s revolutionary small brewery, Braustelle. According to the bottle: they… “strive to break the chains of industrial brewing by reviving and updating Germany’s unique historical beer styles. Brewed with spelt, barley malt and fresh fruit, kopenickade is a clean and fresh twist on Berlin’s feisty and unique specialty weisse beer.” Feisty — I love it.  

1809. 5% ABV. A weisse beer brewed by Dr. Fritz Briem of the Doeman’s Institute. And a little history thanks to the bottle: “Already in the 1600s the Berliner Weisse style beer was mentioned in documents by the French reformers Huguenots as they crossed Berlin on theier way to Flanders. in 1809 Napolean and his troops celebrated their Prussian victory with it. This Berliner Weisse style beer is brewed with traditional mash hopping and without wort boiling. This along with a traditional strain of lactic acid bacteria provide a fruity and dry but palateful character. A character that Napolean and his troops described as lively and elegant.” This was excellent, too. Without a distinct fruit flavor, it feels clean and sparkly on the tongue. 

A win for the week’s adventure? Yes. And a tribute to the tearing down of walls. 

I wonder how Lula toasted this week’s adventure?

Published by Meg

Easily amused, never bored and constantly distracted. My creative pursuits include writing, drawing, painting and photography.

37 thoughts on “About that wall…”

  2. Pink Floyd is still out there somewhere: “Tear down the wall!” I think you get a different (and much better) beer selection than we do. Never mind. I enjoy reading about your adventures with alcohol, and reading, I don’t get pickled either.

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    1. Yes! In Philadelphia next year (Rogers Waters, I should say…) This week’s pick was excellent. The next two weeks, not so much… However, I am going to revisit Spanish Cider. One of my friends found me a lovely cider from the Basque region. I must catch up on your blog, Roger!

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      1. The Blog continues. I was away at the WFNB last weekend, well, Friday anyway. I did a reading Friday night but got homesick and came home early on Saturday morning. I don’t travel as well as I used to.

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  5. What a great week for you! And you found a beer with an interesting history- you were in hog heaven.

    This week is definitely a do over for me and I’ll add your two to my list to try and find.

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      6. I will be over shortly, sorry what with travelling and my head space being taking up with all the possible futures that are on the table now I haven’t been keeping up with anyone site or my writing at all

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      8. I need to also read parts 4 & 5 for your novel… I admire how you stick to the task. I will think about my part for small cuts shortly. I don’t know why I am concerned with the geo-political ramifications of Trumps victory. But I can’t get it out of my head. What’s happening is the biggest political event since the fall of the wall (regardless of what will happen domestically in America).

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      9. It’s weighing heavily on me as well. He is surrounding himself with old regime republicans. He’s vowed to repeal our health care law immediately. Trade deals, tax laws, the supreme court – one seat currently empty and 3 aged justices. The effects could be felt for the rest of our lifetimes or close to it. Those that wanted change are about to get it – in the form of reversals on a grand scale.

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      10. Well Italy and Austria go the polls next month and the far right is expected to get win Austria and the populist Five star movement could do very well in Italy… suddenly it’s ok to hate people for ready made reasons again… the white supremacists have crawled out from their dank and musty bunkers and our jubilant. And the hard man is back. Look at the people happy with his win: Putin (watch out Eastern Europe) China(more business for them) the jihardis(no need for propaganda videos, just re tweet trump) Le Pen(old school 30’s fascists) Nigel Farange (loathsome creature). I think Trump will try to stimulate the domestic economy and will actually bolster up social welfare, I don’t think he will go with Republican fiscal prudence at all. I think he will remake the party in his own image. He has a lot of people to please.

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      11. It’s interesting that part of his platform included a host of things that the Democrats have tried to accomplish – like fixing the infrastructure – that have been consistently blocked by the republican congress. If the party backs his agenda it will be entirely hypocritical of them all. As for the rest of it, you’re absolutely right. Fear the ‘other’ … I wonder how far the Putin love affair will go. If Trump reverses policy in Syria for instance and quits backing moderate rebels… Propping up the Assad regime. Ugh it makes me ill to type this

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      12. Do the think the republicans will care after he has shown the way forward. Power is power. Also people seem to forget that the Nazi party were the National Socialist party. The whole infrastructure project is pure Keynesian economics that Reagan and Thatcher rejected. Watch this space.

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      13. No I don’t think they’ll care. It will be the height of irony, that’s all. The rest of his ‘plans’ of which they are really just vague talking points, will no doubt be hijacked by the far right. Ayn Rand worshippers who think Atlas Shrugged is what happens after The End Times.

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