These beers are of a style older than the lagered beers, a remnant of the time before lager was invented. Altbier is top fermented then cold lagered for a few weeks. Altbiers are copper-bronze in colour and mostly brewed around Düsseldorf. Altbier is the closest Germany gets to the style of a British bitter but the lagering period gives them a quite different character. Generally mildly fruity, with a typically dry finish, there is more hop bitterness here than in most German beers. Altbier is a good sessional drink, and goes well with cheese.
Berliner WeisseBelgian beer fans will appreciate the Beliner Weisse. The sour and acidic notes are maybe a little reminiscent of a lambic or gueuze, and the practice of adding fruit syrups to the beer adds to the comparison. The reinheitsgebot prevented any tradition of adding fruit during the brewing process. Berliners got around this by adding woodruff or raspberry syrup to reduce the sharpness and acidity of the beer—in fact you are almost certain to be asked "red or green" when ordering one—but it's better without syrup. Berliners also tend to drink it through a straw, which is certainly not the way to get the most from a beer.
Don't let the low alcohol content deceive you into thinking that this is a weak-tasting beer. The flavours are intense, refreshing and distinctive. The beer is sometimes known as the Champagne of beer.
Berliner Weisse is a top-fermented, bottle-conditioned wheat beer made with both traditional warm-fermenting yeasts and lactobacillus culture. They have a rapidly vanishing head and a clear, pale golden straw-coloured appearance. The taste is refreshing, tart, sour and acidic, with a lemony-citric fruit sharpness and almost no hop.
Bock, Maibock, Doppelbock and EisbockBock is a strong lager, usually medium to dark brown, with only enough hops to balance the malt. Some use wheat malt as well as barley malt. Bocks are often heavy and full bodied, but with a noticeable sweetness.
Maibock is traditionally drunk to mark the onset of summer and is usually paler and less full bodied with a little more hop bitterness. It is a reminder of the days when beer production was seasonal. Hellesbock (light bock) is similar in style. Doppelbocks (double bock) are stronger than a normal Bock and usually maltier with more depth of flavour. Eisbock (ice bock) is made by freezing doppelbock and removing the ice crystals to produce an even stronger drink. Weizenbocks are a stronger version of a wheat beer and quite different to the other bocks, being top-fermented beers rather than bottom-fermented lagers.
