Beer Terms – The Barley Whine

History of Kölsch

Starting in the 1840s, Czech’s were brewing the amazingly clear, quality controlled amber, with all the bubbles and Saaz hops that set Bohemian’s, and quickly the world’s, nips a-stiff. German brewers, freaked out by the popularity of the foreign beverage, with its clear look and consistent taste, began to improve their own product. In Munich, borrowing the same British pale ale techniques, began brewing helles lager. In the Rhineland they stuck with ale, and came up with kölsch.

Beer Style

Brewed in Cologne (Köln), Germany, Kölsch is a golden ale brewed first in the late 19th century. The taste is generally subtle, less weight on the palette than even the pilsner for which it was designed to compete against. Brewed like an ale, it is then cold conditioned and lagered around 30-32 °F. The body is light, the taste is clean with minimal pale pilsner malt and mild, crisp noble hop notes. The most common word people use to describe this beer is “refreshing”, which the best are. Kölsch is served in cylindrical 200ml Stange (German for “pole”) glasses.

Stange, the traditional glassware for Kölsch — Kölsch in Stange glassware

How to try

Kölsch now comes with all the cowardly, protectionist legal definitions akin to north-central Italy being the sole location Parmigiano-Reggiano is cultured, or the state of Kentucky’s borders enshrining the only geography from which bourbon can be produced. Unfortunately, beer does not keep as well as cheese or whiskey. Many kölsch ales that end up in the U.S. have been robbed by time of any hop profile. Oxidation can also occur, turning the beer. Try this one fresh in country, right off the boat, or go for a local “Kölsch-style” beer. If you get a fresh one done right, you’ll taste one of the few styles refreshing enough to survive up against the nearly insurmountable coup of lagered beer. Cologne after all, has been saving the ales for 150 years.

Kölsch Beers to Try

Heinrich Reissdorf: Reissdorf Kölsch

Hausbrauerei Päffgen: Päffgen Kölsch

Heinrich Reissdorf: Reissdorf Kölsch

Hausbrauerei Päffgen: Päffgen Kölsch

Goose Island: Summertime

Three Floyds: Calumet Queen

Victory: Kölsch Ale

BROWN ALE: A warm fermented ale that is generally ruddy amber to mahogany in color, comprising one of at least two distinct styles originating from England and a third begun in the States. This is to say, not a style at all, but a lump term for three altbeir-like brews, each as different as they are similar. The Oxford Companion to Beer notes that ‘brown ale’ is “not much more useful than ‘the term ‘red wine’. ” Usually these beers have caramel or biscuit malt flavors, lower attenuation than stouts or porters, and low hops presence. Not so much a specific beer “style” as an umbrella term that holds those U.K. brews that are a step darker in color, stemming from the brown malts, higher in gravity and sweeter than milds, but not yet the complex beverage a crystal malt based porter or stout is. Roasted and chocolate notes are some of the few common flavor elements that will be found in most beers calling themselves brown ale.

The English styles gave us the name and came first. Mann’s, the original modern brown ale, was first brewed in 1902 as ‘the sweetest beer in London’. Mann’s Brown Ale is not only the original, but one of the last remaining examples of Southern English Brown Ales. The southern style, compromising low ABV, sweet ales, have gone the way of portable CD players in popularity. In contrast, the Northern English Brown, a higher gravity, better hopped ale, continues to sell well. Newcastle, Samuel Smith’s Nut Brown, and Double Maxim compromise the best known examples of the style.

Clown Shoes Brown Angel Brown Ale — A double brown ale

BROWN ALE STATS: ABV 2.8%-5.4% FERMENTATION: Top Fermented

American’s were brewing a version of brown ale as “English Nut Brown Ale” before prohibition but the modern version was a product of homebrewing, specifically Pete Slosberg of Pete’s Wicked. As a pioneer in the American microbewing revival, Pete’s Wicked flagship brew was Pete’s Wicked Ale; a brown. This beer (first released in 1986) with its barley malt body and stronger American hop presence version of the Northern England Brown, cast the mold for all other American browns to follow.

American brown ale, having less tradition to follow, tends to be the most dynamic. Many are dry hopped, and used as a platform for flavors such as coffee. Others, such as Cigar City’s Bolita Double Nut and Clown Shoes Brown Angel produce higher ABV versions, sold as Double Brown. Just to confuse things, a few more American brewers make a middle ground brown calling it India brown ale. All of these are going to be hoppier than a traditional English Brown.

On a personal note, brown ale has had a special place in my craft beer heart. In the 90’s, Newcastle Brown Ale worked for me as training wheels for friends who were instinctively fearful of beer that was darker in color than their go-to, Michelob Golden Draft Light. It was sweet, and when light hadn’t ruined the beer after from sitting on store shelves in clear glass with no born on date, the taste was so unexpected that the squeamish sippers often turned into the converted. After that, stouts and porters were not so intimidating. It was a great ambassador for so many future hop-heads, give this style a go if you are looking to get started enjoying better beer.