Advanced Cicerone Beer Styles Practice Exam 2026 – Your Complete Study Resource

Berliner Weisse is built around two players: lactic acid bacteria to sour the beer and an ale yeast to ferment it. Because this style is a sour beer, you’ll sometimes see other microbes show up, but they aren’t the main drivers. Brettanomyces is a wild yeast that can exist in sour beers and can contribute funky flavors, but in Berliner Weisse it’s typically present only in very small amounts. That’s why describing it as a potential organism that can be present but minimal best fits the reality of this style: the beer’s character and fermentation mainly come from Lactobacillus and an ale yeast, with Brettanomyces possibly present at trace levels. Lager yeast isn’t the usual fermenting choice for Berliner Weisse, and saying yeast is irrelevant ignores the essential role yeast plays in fermentation and flavor.