Drinking Berliner Weisse in Berlin

Forgive me beer readers, I have been just a little preoccupied this past week, and perhaps a touch negligent. It has been a long six weeks and I think the continuing travel has been finally catching up to me. That said, though, it is time to talk about Berlin...
I have spent a lot of time in Germany on this trip, very much enjoying the great variety of beers on offer: pils, weizens, dunkel weizens, maerzens, bock beers, rauchbiers, kellerbiers, lagers of various sorts (pale, helle, dunkel, oktoberfest, etc). In coming to Berlin, however, I was after one thing in particular: Berliner Weisse, a beer hard, if not impossible, to find outside of the capital, and one I consider a distant cousin of the sour beers of Belgium. First though, a little background...
History has not been kind to the brewers of Berlin, divided as they were for many years after the Second World War. For a time, some breweries with the same names continued parallel existences on each side of the wall, sometimes producing different beers. Reinheitsgebot was not an issue, being really a long time Bavarian law, and only coming into effect in the rest of Germany at the end of the 19th century. Still, it was largely ignored during the two world wars and not really a concern for East German brewers during the Communist era. Berliner Weisse has had its ups and downs too, one brewery in the east who made it, closing its facility not long after the wall came down. Happy to say, it is being brewed again. This unique style was generally unfiltered, unpasteurized, uncompromising in its flavour profile and, near as I can tell, was made more often in the east side of the city. So, I centred my search around Alexanderplatz, once the heart of East Berlin, and still the centre of the larger modern capital. My first stop was for dinner at the lovely Alt-Berliner Weissbierstuben. A very traditional, if not, upscale room (classic black and white photographs on wood paneled walls, oak bar, brass lamps and mirrored shelving) but the service was unpretentious and efficient. I was lucky to get a small table inside near the bar, as the evenings were getting colder and despite the heating lamps on the terrace, everyone was inside. My server spoke English well, but my request for one of their unique Berliner Weisse beers seemed to miss the mark. She came back with a tall glass of Schofferhofer Weizen. She saw the surprise on my face, of course, because without even tasting it, I knew to be weizen and not Berliner weisse. Then it dawned on her, but no problem, I would have likely ordered one later on any way. This weizen had a fruity nose, huge head, a lovely cloudy pale yellow colour with some citric overtones. Though not big in the banana and clove department, it was a good, tart example of the style and very refreshingly easy to drink. Dinner was a very tasty pork steak smothered in a rich mushroom gravy, surrounded with potatoes and served a fresh green salad. Half way through dinner, I ordered a Schultheiss Original Berliner Weisse. I noticed in the menu that they serve it with sweet syrups (raspberry or woodruff, but also with Brandy or Cognac and even sparkling wine and lemon juice. These concoctions are served in a large bowl-shaped glasses, often with a straw, more like a cocktail, as opposed to a real beer.
I had asked for one straight up, no syrups, and got a funny look from my server. "Are you sure?" she asked. "Oh yes please," I replied. She poured me one from the taps and delivered it to my table with a straw. I jettisoned the straw. It had a frothy white head that disappeared quite quickly, leaving a mild fruity nose and a light, see-through pale straw colour. The first sip told the tale however, a nice, even sourness creating a tart palate that opens the senses on your tongue. Light in body, easy to drink and very thirst quenching, this was not over-the-top for a lambic-loving beer geek like me, but I could appreciate that the average drinker might want to mix this with something sweet. Tiny, sour bubbles danced in my mouth, leaving a long, deliciously tart finish. What a unique and lovely beer.
I left the restaurant quite sated and satisfied, thinking about the rest of the evening. I had heard of a place not far away that served kolsch and altbiers, two other German specialty brews I had not yet found in my travels. So, it was off to Sophie'n Eck, a lovely corner pub filled with the local after dinner crowd.
I found a space at the bar and asked for a kolsch, which I noticed on their menu board. "No kolsch!" came the reply from the very busy bartender, so I settled for the Schlosser Alt. Beautiful copper colour, with reddish highlights, with a crisp fruity nose that extends right through to the malt accented palate, smooth mouthfeel, some nuttiness, clean light biscuit tones, hidden hops carrying the balance through to a nice round finish. A very pleasant and drinkable brew. At this point, the fellow seated next to me at the bar struck up a conversation, as he too was enjoying the altbier and turned out to be a very interesting gentleman. Once a commercial airline pilot, but now a free-lance ferry pilot (shuttling many kinds of aircraft from one place in the world to another) Hardy had also spent time in Canada. We chatted about the free-lance life, his travels, my travels and then, of course, beer. I explained to him my search for Berliner weisse and he pointed out that they did have that beer in the bar. It was then I noticed the bartender flip open a short, stubby, almost Trappist style bottle and pour it completely upside down into one of the bowl glasses I'd seen early. The beer was red and it was served with a straw to a woman nearby. Well, I ordered one too, but no syrup. The bartender looked at me. Hardy looked at me too. "I've never tasted one like that", he said. "I've never ever served one like that!", the bartender added. Still, I insisted and was treated to a Berliner Kindl Weisse, with the same unique pour. This pour is to create a head, of course, which dissipates quickly. Again, it was delicious, bright and effervescent, same tart, sour palate, pale straw colour with some strong lacing left by the quickly falling head. Very enjoyable, I thought, finishing my big, bowl glass and ordering another. By now I was a curiosity at the bar. Who was this crazy Canadian guy drinking not one, but two straight Berliner weisse beers? Hardy and I continued our conversation and he treated me to a shot of some bright orange drink, distilled from a local sour berry, whose name I cannot remember, somewhat sweet and full of vitamin C. Then the evening really got going. It turns out they did have kolsch bier (the bartender thought I'd said 'grolsch', my language skills not being what they were at the beginning of the day), Sion Kolsch to be exact, and the bartender kept pouring them for me in the standard tall 200 ml glasses. Light and malty, crisp, clean and clear pale gold, malt accented, no hop presence detectable, but balanced and easy to drink. Also too easy to drink were those little orange shots that kept landing in front of Hardy and I. I finished the night with a Landmaan Schwarzbier, from the region just outside of Berlin. A Burgundy-cognac brown brew with ruby highlights, a smooth, surprisingly bright mouthfeel, no bitter malt aspects, nice balance and some hidden hop to dry out the finish. Very tasty indeed. By now I was feeling the effects of the wonderful drinks I'd been enjoying, but before I left Hardy suggested I needed to visit the Stangdige Vertretung for their kolsch bier. Good idea,I thought, but that would be tomorrow. Thank you Hardy and good night!