Berliner Weisse

A refreshing German wheat beer cocktail served with a shot of sweet raspberry or woodruff syrup, creating a vibrant pink or green drink perfect for warm weather sipping.

Berliner Weisse is one of the oldest continuously documented beer styles in Germany, with records placing a comparable wheat beer in Berlin as early as 1572, though some historians trace the broader style of sour wheat beer in Northern Europe to the work of Huguenot immigrants who settled in the region in the early 18th century. At the height of the style's popularity in the late 19th century, Berliner Weisse was the most consumed alcoholic beverage in Berlin, with nearly 700 breweries producing it. The beer's lively effervescence and clean lactic tartness drew the famous description from Napoleon's troops when they occupied the city in 1809: they called it le Champagne du Nord, the Champagne of the North. The practice of adding sweet syrups — mit Schuss, meaning with a shot — developed over the decades as a way of softening the beer's intense sourness for drinkers who found it too sharp undiluted. The two traditional syrup flavors are Himbeersirup (red raspberry) and Waldmeistersirup (green woodruff), and when you order in Berlin a waiter will ask simply rot oder grün? By the end of the 20th century the style had contracted dramatically: only two commercial breweries in Berlin still produce it. The American craft beer revival of the 2000s and 2010s, driven by enthusiasm for sour and wild-fermented styles, has given Berliner Weisse a second life outside Germany.