Review: Brasserie Dunham Berliner Melon Weisse


I've been dreaming for months now to see a Brasserie Dunham beer in Manitoba, but hey... this is Manitoba - the province of mediocrity. I'm content with trading awesome Manitoban beers to Quebec for stuff like Dunham, but to find out that a distributor is bringing Dunham to Manitoba.. it made me giddy! Dunham was once available on tap at Barley Brothers in Winnipeg two years back, but that was a one time thing. Berliner Melon Weisse is Dunham's very first bottled beer to come to Manitoba. Dunham's Berliner Melon Weisse is just over $8.00 per 750mL bottle which.. at first seems a bit pricey for a beer that's 3.9% but we have to remember that this is Brasserie Dunham! Their own bottled beers at their tasting room in Dunham are just as pricey.. and insanely worth it!

Appearance: The Berliner Melon Weisse pours a pale golden straw with a light amount of cloudiness to it. There's a minimal amount of snow white head but it seems to retain itself pretty well, leaving a bit of residue on the side of the glass.

Aroma: The very second I opened the bottle I got a liberal aroma of sour and funky notes.. this is a very sour Berliner weisse! So yeah.. sour, a light lemon juice tartiness, the barnyard funkiness you come to love from the folks over at Dunham and a mild fruitiness from the melon.

Taste: Like the aroma, quite a sour beer with barnyard funk, a combination of lime and lemon to give it an almost cringe-worthy sourness to it, a bit of fizzy carbonation on the tongue and again, a light melon flavour to it.

Overall Thoughts: In this beer, the melon compliments the medley of flavours more than most beers, rather than it trying to be the main flavour of the beer. It's incredibly sour but at 3.9% ABV and 8 IBU, holy hell.. this is a freaking delicious beer! I'm going to be buying another bottle tomorrow. It's only a matter of days until the beer will disappear completely from shelves here in Brandon.. so if I want it again (like Dieu du Ciel's Grande Noirceur or Charlevoix's Dominus Tripel), I'll have to trade with buddies in Quebec.. not that I mind or anything.

Speaking of Dunham.. I still have to post pictures of my visit to the brasserie back in June!



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