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Berliner Weisse

Jackie O’s Brewery | www.jackieos.com

Jackie O’s Brewery

Production brewery/tasting room:

25 Campbell St.

Athens, Ohio 45701

(740) 447–9063

Brewpub:

24 W. Union St.

Athens, Ohio 45701

(740) 592–9686

First brewed: 2011

Style: Berliner weisse

Alcohol content: 5 percent

IBUs: 14

Available: Year-round

IF YOU LIKE THIS BEER, here are five other Ohio craft beers to try:

• Thirsty Dog Berliner Weisse

• Rivertown Divergent

• Actual Curiosus

• Lineage Weekend at Bernice’s

• Urban Artifact Finn

JACKIE O’S PUTS its own spin on the Berliner weisse style, a sour wheat beer. The low-alcohol cloudy brew dates back to the sixteenth century and originated in northern Germany, but plenty of domestic craft brewers have opted to create their own versions as more American beer drinkers embrace sours.

Known for his love of experimentation, brewmaster Brad Clark started playing around with sours in 2008. At first he made a few brown ales and golden ales. But he really got intrigued with the style after reading about sherry and the solera production method. And that solera approach is what separates Jackie O’s Berliner Weisse from other sours.

The solera technique involves pulling some of the liquid out of the brewing vessel, but leaving some of it behind. The vessel is never really emptied, meaning the new is always blended with the old.

“Essentially part of the original batch is still in there,” Clark says. “You have this kombucha-esque, mother-culture-type thing. I got kind of infatuated with that.”

He had been drinking some Berliner weisse brews at the time and figured he could make his own version using the solera method. To produce his Berliner Weisse, Clark made several different batches—one using lactobacillus and others with strains of brettanomyces—and blended them together. He uses no brewing yeast, and he has never cleaned the three-and-one-half-barrel grundy tanks that hold the Berliner Weisse, creating a truly unique beer that features a distinctly funky and lemon character.

“I believe, and I’m biased obviously, each time that it comes out, it tastes better,” Clark says.

As expected, Clark has some fun with his Berliner Weisse and has produced plenty of varieties through the years. Depending on how he’s feeling at the time, you might find a peach version—or a blueberry, or even a kumquat.