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Local craft beer of the week: Mint + Lime Berliner Weisse, Soggy Bottom Brewing Company

Dunedin brewery brings back a citrus-forward favorite.
 
The Mint + Lime Berliner Weisse
The Mint + Lime Berliner Weisse [ Photo courtesy of Geneva Johnson ]
Published Sept. 12, 2019|Updated Sept. 13, 2019

There are few cocktails more refreshing in warm weather than a classic mojito: rum, lime, mint, sugar and club soda. It just so happens that this flavor combo lends itself quite well to beer, too. A mojito beer? Sold!

You’ll find one at Dunedin’s Soggy Bottom Brewing Company, where the brewery’s popular Mint + Lime Berliner Weisse has recently made its way back onto the chalkboard.

Brewed with mint leaves and lime juice, Mint + Lime Berliner checks many of the same boxes that a mojito does. It’s lightly sweet — it’s beer, after all — and has subtle but satisfying flavors of mint and lime. The tartness of the lime is accentuated by the kettle-soured wheat beer base, which is poured with a moderate carbonation, not dissimilar to a cocktail topped with club soda.

On appearances alone, Mint + Lime looks like any ordinary pale-golden ale, but the nose is distinctly citrus-forward, both from the lime juice and the lacto fermentation that produces its tart qualities, as well as a crisp lemon-lime bite.

It’s very light-bodied, which is a fortunate choice for a beer flavored with mint. (Heavier mint-flavored beers, like stouts and porters, tend to be somewhat polarizing.) The finish is dominated by that classic chewy, cereal-like wheat quality that adds a nice, semi-sweet counterpoint to the beer’s up-front acidity.

The added flavors are easy to pick out of the mix, but they never jump far out of the glass. Whether that’s a flaw or a feature is for the drinker to decide, but the beer remains refreshing sip after sip, whichever way you cut it.

Check this one out on draft while it’s still available at the Soggy Bottom tasting room at 660 Main St. in Dunedin. The warm weather will last, but this beer won’t.

— Justin Grant is a tbt* correspondent.

Have a suggestion for the Local Craft Beer of the Week? Brewers, have a limited release coming that we should know about? Email jg@saintbeat.com.