Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Enigmatic one

Kölsch. Surely the must elegant of beers. The most refined. Hence the fancy stemware. Apparently an ale but taste a lot like lager. Kind of lagery on the nose with a bit of sulphur and yeast. Pale as you like, with all the dryness and some of the fruitiness of white wine.

There is a certain aura around it; stories about Irish craft breweries falling foul of geographical protection law, begging to get permission to brew seasonal kölsch in Dublin. The tiny glasses it is served in in Cologne, carried around in purpose made trugs by slightly strange waiters who take their responsibility very seriously indeed all add to the intrigue.

3 comments:

Ed said...

It's definitely a beer that makes you wonder if the difference between ales and lagers is as clear cut as is made out, it tastes like a lager to me too.

The Beer Nut said...

I'm afraid I leave this comment on every blog that mentions bottled Früh, but:

I have never encountered a bigger difference between a cask and bottled beer than this.

I nearly didn't bother going into Früh am Dom in Cologne. The beer is dull and pils-like: why bother?

But I did, and it turns out Früh on cask is amazing. Don't judge it by this version alone.

Thomas said...

I had a similar experience with weiss beer on cask at the GBBF. The bottle just can't compare for freshness.