The origins of Berliner Weisse, like so many beer styles, is pretty fraught, but this tart, rather low-ABV style was once the most popular alcoholic beverage in Berlin—with around 700 breweries making it during its peak in the 19^th century (per Fritz Briem’s piece in The Oxford Companion to Beer). Made with wheat in addition to barley, fermented at least partially with lactic acid bacteria, these refreshing beers were often around 3% ABV and were traditionally served with a choice of raspberry or woodruff syrups—though those are a bit challenging to find in the U.S. these days. The majority of current-day examples here are consumed on their own, though many breweries lean heavier on acidity, ABV, or employ fruit in the beer itself.

The Rare Beer Club’s highlighted a number of German-style Berliner Weisse versions over the years (in addition to this month’s Lunar Interference from August Schell), including at least a couple other releases from Schell’s Noble Star Collection, such as Basin of Attraction (a dry-hopped take) and Solar Evolution (a mashup of the Berliner Weisse style and Flanders red ale). 1809 Berliner Style Weisse (created by Dr. Fritz Briem, who also wrote the Oxford Companion’s “Berliner Weisse” entry) and The Bruery’s Hottenroth are two of the examples you’re more likely to find out in the wild, and both capture the style profile pretty well. Bear Republic’s Tartare has been solid (but heavy-handed on the acidity), and Oregon’s de Garde Brewing has spent a good bit of time here­­—creating a variety of intriguing fruited examples.

One of Rare Beer Club’s two featured beers this month is Brasserie Dunham’s Concubine, a saison brewed with rice, Lemondrop hops, and matcha tea. For folks who’ve been with the club for a bit now, you might remember its predecessor, Pale Duck: Dunham’s dry-hopped and tea-infused saison that appeared in the club a few years back. (Pale Duck was itself based on one of Dunham’s early core offerings: Leo’s Early Breakfast IPA, which used guava and Earl Grey tea.) Digging through the RBC archives, some long-time members may also recall Jolly Pumpkin’s Bière de Goord and Fantôme’s Magic Ghost (both featuring green tea).

As for readily available tea beers… Your best bet might just be stumbling upon one at your local brewery. A whole bunch of folks have been dabbling with tea additions in recent years. Dogfish Head’s Sah’tea, made with foraged juniper berries and black tea, was one of the big tea-beer releases early on, but it’s more a memory at this point. Bottle Logic’s more recent Teacursion Tropical Tea IPA was based on its delicious Recursion IPA, with black tea. And Guinness’ Open Gate Brewery and Barrel House in Maryland recently released cans of Breakfast Tea Amber (made with Irish breakfast tea) for St. Patrick’s Day. Still, wee releases.

Try any tea beers besides this month’s feature? Got a local brewery experiment with some sort of tea addition? Let us know what’s good on Twitter via @RareBeerClub.