Samuel Adams East-West Kölsch

Brewed By: Boston Beer Company in Boston, Massachusetts
Purchased: 12oz bottle from the Sam Adams Summer Styles, from Jewel-Osco in Chicago, IL; 2012
Style/ABV: Kölsch, 5.0%

Tonight I'm beginning to work my way through the Sam Adams Summer Styles seasonal mix-pack. Before we get started, a word on Sam Adams:

Samuel Adams was founded in 1984 by Jim Koch, and currently the Boston Beer Company is the largest American-owned beer company in the United States. Sam Adams is also the largest craft brewer in America, with over a million barrels of beer being produced annually. You can check out the Sam Adam's website for more info. 

Today's beer, the East-West Kölsch, is described as a light and fragrant beer with a floral and herbal character. Sam Adams states that this beer is brewed in the German Kölsch style. They actually give some style info, noting that a "classic Kölsch is less bitter than a pilsner with a slightly fruity and sweet biscuit note." This beer uses Alsatian Strisselspalt hops for lemon and grassy notes, and this beer is also aged with Jasmine Sambac (a fragrant flower that blooms at night from Southeast Asia). This beer is supposed to have an added layer of floral aromas and flavors. Clocking in at 5.0% ABV and 15 IBus, this should be a pleasant if not mild beer. 

I haven't talked much about the Kölsch style, so I'll provide a quick style summary before jumping into the review. You can check out the BJCP's Kölsch page, but you won't get a ton of history or info on the style. According to Wikipedia, Kölsch is a beer brewed in Cologne, Germany. The beer has prominent, but not extreme hoppiness, and is less bitter than a standard German Pale Lager. This beer is warm fermented, and then cold-conditioned (or lagered), making it a bit of a hybrid. This style of fermentation is similar to other styles of beer in central northern Europe, including German Altbiers. The Kölsch style is strictly defined by the "Kölsch Konvention," an agreement between the Cologne Brewery Association's members. The style is pale, hoppy, highly attenuated, clear, and top-fermenting. 

Another good article on the history of the Kölsch is the German Beer Institute's article. They give a lengthy history, but I really like their definition of the style:

One of only a handful of traditional German ales. Kölsch is the local brew of the city of Cologne ("Köln" in German). It is one of the palest German beers made. It is Germany's answer to the British pale ale. It shares a history with the copper-colored Altbier made in Düsseldorf, some 44 km down the Rhine from Cologne. Just as the British pale ale emerged from the British brown ale in the 19th century, when pale malt became readily available, so did the Kölsch separate itself from Altbier around the same time. In 1948, the brewers of Kölsch joined forces in the so-called Kölsch Convention and formalized the Kölsch style in terms of modern brewing specifications. Kölsch, like Altbier, gets its characteristic, slightly fruity flavor from its own special ale yeast, with which the brew is cool-fermented and then aged and mellowed (or "lagered") near the freezing point. Kölsch is always served in a straight-side, narrow, 0.2-liter (6¾ fluid ounces) glass called a Stange ("stick," "pole" or "rod"). Kölsch is available only sporadically in the United States. The two brands that can be found in specialty beer stores in some areas of the country are Reissforf and Gaffel.

The German Beer Institute goes on to describe the style. They say that Kölsch is a subtle and delicate style of beer. It is light in body (and appearance), has subdued maltiness, and unobtrusive hoppiness. Unlike any of the German blond lagers, the Kölsch imparts some ale-type fruitiness on the palate. I highly recommend you check out the German Beer Institute's Kölsch page, as it is way more informative than I can be in this narrow space. With that said, let's get on with the review!

Samuel Adams East-West Kölsch

The beer pours a golden/yellow color, with 4-fingers worth of super white head. This is a clear, transparent beer, with big fat bubbles of carbonation. When held in bright light, this beer is super pale-gold/yellow, super transparent, and looks a lot like a Pale Lager. The only thing different between this and your typical Pale Lager is that an inch of foamy, fluffy, white head is hanging around.

The nose is super mild: I'm getting cherries, a hint of dough, and maybe a hint of light, light hop twang.

The taste on this is light, watery (but not in a bad way), slightly malty, and slightly flowery. I don't know if I pull out Jasmine in particular, but there is definitely a floral note in the taste of this beer. I'm pulling out some hints of dough or crackers as well, and a pleasant hint of very light fruitiness (cherries).

Where did the 5.0% ABV go? I mean it's kind of there on the back end. This is super light, super drinkable, and very pleasant. This, to me, teeters between being a Spring beer and a Summer beer. The mouthfeel is smooth, light, and lightly carbonated (surprisingly). Complexity is low, palate depth is medium to high; this style isn't inherently about walloping your palate. Up front you get some sweet notes, some hints of malt, some floral notes; the middle is crisp and refreshing with more floral notes; the back is lingering fruit and fading malt, crisp and filling and refreshing.

Rating: Average

 

I'm going with a pretty Strong Average rating on this. There's not a whole lot to say. This is a very clean, very refreshing, slightly fruity beer.