Berliner Weisse (alternative German spelling, Berliner Weiße) is a cloudy, sour, wheat beer of around 3% abv. It is a regional beer from Northern Germany, mainly Berlin, dating back to the 16th century. By the 19th century, Berliner Weisse was the most popular alcoholic drink in Berlin, and 700 breweries produced it.
By the late 20th century there were only two breweries left in Berlin producing the beer, and a handful in other parts of Germany. The name "Berliner Weisse" is protected in Germany, so it can only be applied to beers brewed in Berlin. However, there are a number of American and Canadian brewers who make a beer in the Berliner Weisse style, and use the name.
Most beer authorities, such as Jackson, trace the origins of Berliner Weisse to an unknown beer being produced in Hamburg which was copied and developed by the 16th century brewer Cord Broihan. Broihan's beer, Halberstädter Broihan, became very popular, and a version was being brewed in Berlin by the Berlin doctor J.S. Elsholz in the 1640s. An alternative possibility, given by Protz among others, is that migrating Hugeunots developed the beer from the local red and brown ales as they moved through Flanders into Northern Germany.
Some sources, such as Dornbusch, give the date 1572 as being the earliest record of the beer being brewed in Berlin. Frederick Wilhelm encouraged the spread of the beer through Prussia, declaring it as "best for our climate", and having his son, Frederick the Great, trained to brew it. A popular story is that Napoleon's troops dubbed it "The Champagne of the North" in 1809.