Faint sweet aroma, not sure if malt, hops, or yeast. Taste is muffled hops flavor, with no bitter edge. Repeat taste is a bit more harsh with muddled mix of hops and yeast flavor. Slight lingering sweetness.
Unfortunately, this one is going to be a dumper. Packaged 12/22/2021, drank on 3/10/2022.
2.5 out of 5 stars.
Aroma of slight caramel malt, maybe some hop or yeast sweetness. Taste is even across the palate and had a balanced malt taste that gives way to a smooth hop flavor. Aftertaste has a slight lingering bitterness.
4 out of 5 stars.
Typical slightly sweet caramel malt aroma. Initial taste has a very slight twang, that fades and is replaced by a mix of malt and yeast sweetness. Finishes cleanly with just a mild caramel malt flavor in the background.
4 out of 5 stars.
Canned 11/29/2021, tasted on 1/15/2022. Fresh, sweet hop aroma, very nice. Slightly sweet and puckering, but cleans off the palate quickly. Slight lingering hop fruitiness. Very nice and balanced. Full of fruity hop flavor, but no clinging aftertaste.
4.5 out of 5 stars.
Sweet aroma of hops with a slight raw/green edge to it. Tastes like a bunch of raw hops, with a bit of yeast/malt sweetness in the background. The chaos subsides quickly and leaves a fairly clean lingering hop bitterness.
3.5 out of 5 stars.
Canned on 10/11/2021, tasted on 1/15/2022. Aroma is slightly sharp and dry, almost like roasted peanut shells. Interesting complex flavor balancing a sweet, dark, 10% ABV Stout, and a complex nutty taste.
Maybe a bit too much alcohol heat and peanut flavor for my palate.
3.5 out of 5 stars.
Sweet, mild aroma of some hops and caramel malt. Slight edge of hops on first taste, but quickly overtaken but a smooth caramel malt flavor. Goes down fairly smoothly, almost slick-like, with a kick of hop bitterness at the very end.
4 out of 5 stars.
I’ve had Kolsch in Cologne, Germany a few times, and it’s been fresh and delicious. Most of the Kolsch I’ve had in the US has not been very good, other than rare exceptions. I’ve tried many times myself to brew one and they never come out to my expectations, with the unique yeast flavor overpowering my palate. This time I tried a recipe that seemed close before, but fermented under pressure, which is a technique used to suppress yeast flavors. Didn’t work. I’d say it even accentuated the flavors I was trying to subdue. Tasting notes below are after lagering in keg for 61 days, but the flavor wasn’t calming down.
Strong sweet aroma somewhere in between a fruit and a wine. Taste is slightly tart with minor hop flavor in background, then finishes fairly clean, with lingering sweetness.
Brewed: 9/27/2021. Distributed: 12/10/2021.
ABV: 4.5%, IBU: 20
Malts: Brewer’s 2-row, White wheat, Vienna.
Hops: Magnum, Saaz.
Yeast: White Labs WLP029 German Ale/Kolsch.
This recipe came from a book I have with homebrew recipes written by commercial breweries, for some of their beers. This one was from a brewery in Wisconsin. I hadn’t had this beer commercially before, but it looked like an interesting combination of rye malt with this yeast. I can’t say I’m a fan of the result. Tasting notes below were after 39 days lagering/aging in a keg, hoping to tame down some of the more bitter flavors.
Strong alcohol aroma. Hot, almost like a bourbon. Taste is crisp with some floral hop flavors in the background, mixed with a slight caramel malt taste. Rye sweetness comes on strong and flavorful. Overall leaves the mouth fairly “warmed” with lingering rye flavor.
Brewed: 10/11/2021. Distributed: 12/10/2021.
ABV: 6.4%, IBU: 20
Malts: Brewer’s 2-row, Rye, Flaked Rye, Munich, Caramel 80L.
Hops: Nugget, Challenger, Willamette.
Yeast: Wyeast 1318 London Ale III.
Nice aroma of dark malts mixed with a strong hop sweetness. String dark malt bite with a coffee like roastiness. Hop bitterness wipes the palate clean with a gusto, leaving the faintest remnants of sweet dark malts way in the background. Crisp and refreshing for such a dark beer.
4.5 out of 5 stars.