Tach auch-howdy,
I'll try to answer gillmangs questions about Berliner Weisse as good as I can.
To my knowlege,there is only one company left that produces this beer-
The Berliner Kindl Breweries.
Without syrup this beer tastes real bitter-so nobody drinks it straight.
The green syrup(woodruf)is called Waldmeistersirup
the red syrup(rasberry)is called Himbeersirup.
The beer is always served with a straw,so you can fiddle with the syrup in the bottom of the wide mouthed glass until it has completely dissolved-the syrup that is.The foam will turn either red or green.
This beer is not as popular as it used to be and I think the main reason are the numerous Alkopops that abound nowadays.
You cannot compare it with a Bavarian Weizen beer-The Weizen is usually served in half-liter portions,the Kindl in one-third-liter portions.
Berliner Weisse is a hot-summer day drink,usually served with a meal.
You can drink two of them and not feel as buzzed as if you had drunk two
Bavarian Weizenbeers.
I personally don't drink the stuff as it is too sweet for my taste.
All in all I would say that with the fall of the wall and Berlin not being
a special western island behind the iron curtain,the myth along with
multimillion-dollar subsidies for products made in Berlin,has died.
And the Berliner Weisse is-sad to say-on it's way out.
I googled around a bit and found some more info.
There is another brewery producing this stuff-The Schultheiss Brewing Co. The beer has a wort strength of 7 to 8 %.
It is a real light beer by German standards-only 2,8%abv.It's bitter taste stems from using a top-fermenting yeast of the species BRETTANOMYCES
along with Lactobacteria,which makes this beer perfect for long storage.
The first time this beer was officially documented goes back to 1642.
Hope to have been of some help
Prost
skookum