Episode 68: Local Beer 101 – Drinkem if you gottem!

So a different kind of show this week. Instead of talking about a specific beer, we are going to talk a bit about why you should try to find a Kölsch at your local brewery or brew pub.

News

Well for the first time in a while we have a bit of an uplifting news story from the beer world. It comes out of the United Kingdom and the Brysons of Lancaster. Brysons have launched a new beer called ‘Lifesaver’ and for every pint sold, they will make a donation to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. The beer at this time is only on sale locally. So, if you are listening to this in the UK, you can go out and have a good beer and feel good about yourself at the same time!

Local Beer

• Generally speaking, you can find a decent Kölsch at most brewpubs this time of year for several reasons. First off, it is a good refreshing style to make for the summer. It is crisp, but not as harsh as a pilsner can be, and goes well with a lot of summery food.
• Second, it is an ale, which means that its fermentation time is a lot less than a pilsner. And of course, lower fermentation time means it is out the door quicker and a little cheaper to produce.
• Now a lot of times this beer may be called something other than a Kölsch, such as a “summertime” beer or even lumped in just a light beer on the menu.
• I am lucky enough to be able to go to Goose Island and have that as one of my local brewpubs, which is the beer that talked about first in the Kölsch series, summertime ale I think. But there are also a lot of other ones out there, such as Rock Bottom, Ram Brewing Company, Gordon Biersch, and any of a number of local ones.
• In addition to the local brewpubs, there are also a ton of local breweries that you may be able to get but other people may not be able to. A great website you can use is Beer Mapping. Just enter your region and you are good to go.
• So all that being said, look for the following things when you are at a local brewery or brewpub in regards to a Kölsch.
• Look for an Ale, it should be moderate in alcohol, around 4-5% abv, and it should be rather light in color. In addition, it shouldn’t be too hoppy or bitter, instead almost like a light beer but with some flavor. So good hunting, and enjoy it when you find it, and post some comments on your local brew pubs.

Next Week

Next week we move onto another American Wheat beers. Right now we have Widmer Hefeweizen slated, which is widely distributed so you should be able to find it.

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Episode 67: Flying Dog Tire Bite Golden Ale – Time to give a dog a bone

We’re back, sorry about the technical hiccup last week. Squirrels attached Jim’s internet. This week we continue on the Kölsch train with Tire Bite Golden Ale.

News

News this week from the criminally stupid. A Van Buren, Michigan Sheriff said a homeowner on Cedar Lake called after two teen boys paddled their kayaks across the lake and broke into his tiki bar on the beach. They swiped several cases of beer and a case of the energy drink before paddling back, and police found the empties leading from the beach back to their house. The suspected beverage thieves were arrested for theft, and five other teens were busted for being a minor in possession of alcohol.

Kölsch

• The Kölsch style was developed in Cologne as a top fermenting ale. Now the real interesting thing is that another popular style of the northern area was the pilsner style, which is a bottom fermenting lager.
• Between WW1 and WW2, the pilsner style tried to invade the Cologne area, but the locals fought it off and stuck with the more traditional style of the Kölsch.
• In it’s home town, the style is typically served in tale cylindrical six ounce glasses, which often times leaves you needing a second one right about the time you get your first.

Tire Bite Golden Ale

• This weeks beer comes from our friends at Flying Dog Brewing Company and the beer Tire Bite Golden Ale.
• For those of you who don’t remember Flying Dog, they used to be based in Colorado but recently moved to Maryland for their brewing operations.
• Founded in 1990, it was the first brewpub in the Rocky Mountain region and has since gone on to become a fully functioning and rather widely available brewery.
• Tire Bite, weighing in at 5.12% ABV, is about the right strength for a Kölsch style. Maybe even a little on the heavy side, but again it is an American version so you may expect that.
• It pours a rather pale yellow, maybe even a light gold if you will. The head is rather white but that tends to dissapate rather quickly.
• The first whiff of this comes through with a light malt smell, no real hops to talk about in the aroma. There may be some fruitness here as well, but again that is pretty light.
• The taste is pretty basic here, nothing too complicated. I have always kind of considered this one of the micro versions of a lite beer. The flavors tend to disappear in a hurry after you take a sip.
• I would say that this is one of those summer drinkers that you may want to get as a step up from a macro light beer, but if that is what you are wanting to drink, you may want to look at the price and make your own call on that.

Next Week

Alright, I think we will have one more week of Kölschs and then on to another style, so tune in next week and see what we got.

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Episode 66: Goose Island Summertime – Just like drinking sunshine!

News

Well once in a while we can bring you a story of not just beer and not just food, but a combination of the two. This week I found an article about a brand new food product that combines the lovely goodness that is beer with the salty joy that are chips in, you guessed it, beer flavored chips.

Also in breaking news, as of yesterday. InBev bought AB.

Kölsch

• The style originated in Köln, Germany, however it has increasingly become a popular style in the US, often times showing up at brewpubs. Technically however, any beer brewed in Köln can be called a Kölsch.
• This type of beer is a top fermented ale and generally pours a very pale color, almost with a light beer appearance. Generally it is about a medium on the bitterness scale, although some versions can be more bitter. This style generally weighs in at between 4-6% ABV.
• Some of the beers we are going to be talking about over the next couple weeks may not be the easiest to find. A lot of this style is made at the local level and at brewpubs, so if you are in there ask for a Köslch.

Summertime (Goose Island)

• Tonight’s beer comes from sweet home Chicago and Goose Island Brewery. We have talked a bit about Goose Island, mainly because it’s based in Chicago were I am and because I can get the beers rather easily, however their distribution is picking up and you should be able to get these beers rather widely throughout the country at this point.
• Just for quick background, Goose Island was founded in 1988 by John Hall, it currently has three locations, two brewpubs in Chicago and a production brewery where it bottles.
• Summertime weighs in at 5.00% ABV and is generally available from April until September.
• It pours a lighter golden color and has a subtle hop aroma, nothing too strong. There is a little bit of a citrusy smell here as well, but nothing too strong.
• The beer is a lighter beer in flavor, but still gives a little crispness that is not as strong as a pilsner. This is a great thirst quenching beer that I enjoy having around on hot summer days.

Next Week

Who knows what we are going to do next week. The only thing that I can promise you is that it will be another Kölsch, and we’ll be going over some of unique history of this beer so tune in!

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