Drank: Sun Made Cucumber Berliner Weisse (Oakshire)

By Martin Cizmar

The only thing I like better than a traditional Berliner Weisse—a mildly sour German wheat beer named for the city where it was born—is a traditional Berliner Weisse with a little woodruff or raspberry syrup. In Germany, there's a certain stigma to drinking your beer with a shot of syrup and a straw.

Well, this is America.

Here, the alcoholic tastes of the European underclasses are a mark of sophistication—another Strongbow, please! Pretty much everyone can get behind Oakshire's Sun Made, a Berliner that requires no syrup to get that extra layer of flavor.

Inspired by 10 Barrel's Cucumber Crush, Eugene's best brewery added five to six pureed cucumbers per barrel to this softly tart 4 percent ABV sour wheat beer. This one turned out even better than the Crush—the cucumber gives Sun Made a nice juicy herbal note, like the slice on an English tea sandwich. I find it similarly tasteful. Recommended.

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