Bridge Brewing – Sour ‘Ol Cranny

Bridge Brewing – Sour ‘Ol Cranny Review

Berliner Weisse is a special category of beers that falls into the family of sours. Unlike the seriously challenging bacterial sours from the depths of the Low Countries, for instance a Flanders Red, Berliners are fairly accessible (hey, you have to be a pretty popular style to represent Germany’s largest city).

Here in the New World, it is fair game to make something that has echoes of Berlin but is presented as a kettle sour on it own stylistic merit. If we were reviewing this strictly as a Berliner the first housekeeping question would be: is it served with syrup. Well, that’s something that’s pretty tough to do at retail. So forget about the syrup and the comparisons with Deutschlander biers, and let’s drink this as a BC craft beer. In that sense, it’s a nice tart fruit beer.

The beer poured with a respectable head and a delightful colour, like a cranberry cocktail. The aroma was distinctly cranberry, but with notes of pear and melon.

On the palate, the acidity is reminiscent of a Berliner, with a pleasant and enjoyabe tartness suitable for a cranberry beer. It’s off-dry but juicy at the same time.

The flavour is appealing. In the mode of Trading Post’s Cranberry (although not as crushable), it’s a people pleaser that will leave the drinker wanting more.

If you’re looking for something with body and presence, you may not find it here. It’s crisp, dry and clean, but not going to give you a big mouthfeel. In that sense, it’s not quite as wheaty a Weisse as you’d expect in the Fatherland. But it doesn’t claim to be.

If you like a nice tart fruity beverage, you won’t go wrong trying the Bridge Sour ‘Ol Cranny.