Kolsch is one of my favorite summer styles of beer.
Here are some quick summaries of some beers I’ve enjoyed in the last couple weeks as the weather has gotten warmer.
St. Bernardus Prior 8 – Enjoyed a 750 of this with my father last week. It really wonderfully well-balanced Belgian dubbel. Not too hop-heavy with plenty of more subtle flavors like caramel and spice.
Cottrell Brewing Old Yankee Ale – Really impressive ale that masks a surprising amount of nice, almost sweet, flavor behind its easy-to-drink qualities. I’m definitely planning on getting a six-pack of the stuff. I met a couple of Cottrell’s staff at the recent Northern Virginia Beer Festival in Leesburg, who were very funny and gave me credit for almost pronouncing the name of their hometown, Pawcatuck, CT, correctly. It’s PAW-catuck. I had tried Paw-CAH-tuck.
DC Brau’s The Citizen – I was excited to try this because DC Brau is the newest addition to the local brewing scene, and one of the very few that is actually doing its brewing in DC rather than the suburbs. Unfortunately, I thought The Citizen was just okay. It didn’t wow me over, but I think this was due more to its hoppyiness than any actual lack of quality. I know I’m in the rarity amongst American beer nerds in not being a big “hop-head,” so I’m sure plenty of other folks will enjoy it more than did.
Schafly Kölsch -At the moment, this the best American Kölsch I’ve tasted. I need to taste it alongside the traditional Cologne varieties Gaffel and Reissdorf to truly judge it, but on a hot summer’s day, Schafly’s version would be a great thirst quencher. Kölsch is my favorite “summer style” as it lacks the sourness of hefeweizens and the sheer boredom of pilseners.
Duck Rabbit Milk Stout – I know that it’s entirely the wrong season and weather for milk stouts to be enjoyed by anyone other than the insane… but I guess I’m one of those insane people. I loved this, despite trying outside in 80 degree weather. I love its sweetness and its mouth-feel that rivals ice cream in its smoothness.
Photo used by a Creative Commons License from Flickr user lincolnblues.
The Reissdorf kolsch was delicious… I had one at The Porter in Little Five Point, Atlanta, GA.
I highly recommend a stop at this place… the beer list was about as extensive as any at Rustico, RFD, etc., and the food was pretty on-point too.