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Kölsch has a soft malt flavour, an almost imperceptible fruity sweetness from fermentation leading to a medium bitterness with a delicate dryness and slight pucker in the finish. Our new seasonal is a clean, crisp, delicately balanced beer with a hoppy character. It is light and drinkable, with spice like an ale but with a crisper, cleaner finish you would expect from a pale lager. These attributes make Kölsch an extremely quaffable style of beer that still has a bit of integrity and is perfect for any occasion.
A great refreshing drink for sunny afternoons and light evenings, our new seasonal is the perfect way to welcome in the arrival of Spring.
History of kolsch beer
Bottom-fermented beer started to appear in the Cologne region in the early 17th century and its popularity threatened the business interest of the brewers of Cologne, who only produced top-fermented beers. In response, the town council of Cologne in 1603 forced young brewers to swear an oath “that you prepare your beer, as of old, from good malt, good cereals, and good hops, well-boiled, and that you pitch it with top-yeast, and by no means with bottom yeast.” In 1676 and again in 1698, the council again tried to legislate against bottom-fermented beer by forbidding its sale within the city walls. However, by 1750, Cologne brewers were competing against bottom-fermented beers by using a hybridised brewing process, first brewing their beer using top-fermenting yeast but then aging the beer in cold cellars like bottom-fermented beer.
This type of beer was first called Kölsch in 1918 to describe the beer that had been brewed by the Sünner brewery since 1906, developed from the similar but cloudier variant Wieß (for “white” in the Kölsch dialect). By the start of World War II Cologne had more than forty breweries; only two were left by the end of the war.
In 1946, many of the breweries managed to re-establish themselves. In the 1940s and 1950s, Kölsch still could not match the sales of bottom-fermented beer, but in the 1960s the style began to rise in popularity in the Cologne beer market because of it’s unique style.
