Well isn’t that disappointing! I had always heard such great things about Jack’s Abbey beers, but since this Framingham, Massachusetts brewer only distributed in a small area of New England, I wasn’t able to buy them. I set out to correct that while in Rhode Island in September of 2015, and one of the Jack’s Abbey beers I found was Jack’s Abbey Berliner Style Lager.

Now, Jack’s Abbey Berliner Style Lager is based on the Berliner Weiss style, which is an ale. Jack’s Abbey, you see, only brews lagers. Hence, this beer is a lager version of one of the few German styles of beer that are top-fermented. I only saw this beer in half-liter bottles, though it would be much better suited to six-packs. I even picked up an extra for my good buddy Dale Roberts.

From the bottle label:

Our ode to summer. By implementing a sour mash procedure in our kettle an intense lactic and sour character emerges. The beer is then fermented with our lager yeast. Finishes fruity, citrusy, dry, and quite tart.

Jacks Abbey Berliner Style Lager has an alcohol content of 3.5% by volume, which is in the range for a Berliner Weiss. The problem here is the price, at %5.99 for a half liter bottle, you can’t afford to quaff the beer as it deserves to be enjoyed. Stylistically, I’ll call this a Berliner Weiss as it maintains the spirit of the style despite the bottom fermentation.

Jacks Abbey Berliner Style Lager pours to a pale straw color with a moderate sized spritzy head formation that fades as quickly as it forms and a soft tart wheat nose. Taking a sip, the beer is light and wheaty tart, it’s gently sour but also a bit watery especially in the finish. The tart sour character makes it quite refreshing, and I can see this as a pleasant hot weather beer, very refreshing and drinkable.  Sadly, it’s way overpriced at $5.99 a bottle, and even though it’s a solid 3.5 star beer for me, the price brings it down a peg and prevents me from saying I would buy it again.



Home