Kölsch - Tasting Notes

I brewed up this Kölsch style beer way back in December.  It fermented for a couple weeks, laggered at near freezing for over a month, and has now been in the keg since Mid-February.  It is a very nice beer to have on tap as it's very easy drinking and has a smooth crisp flavor.

A Kölsch is a hybrid style of beer which is brewed with a special yeast strain specific to the style and fermented warm but then lagered for a period at cold temperatures.  It is a beer brewed in Cologne Germany.  That warm fermentation is supposed go give the beer a more fruity character than a typical lager.

Anyway, this has been a lovely beer to have on tap.  I very much enjoy brewing German styles of beer and was very confident that this would be no different.  I was right to be confident.  I'm happily surprised to have this beer left after two months.  Onto the tasting notes.

Tasting Notes:

• Aroma:
• Bready pilsner malt and a bit of grassy herbal hop.  Has a lager yeast aroma with a bit of fruit aroma in there.  Maybe a bit of a wine-like character.
• Appearance:
• Pours with a finger of head that lasts a couple minutes before settling to a thin ring - leaves lacing on the glass.  Light gold and very clear.
• Flavor:
• Light bready malt followed by herbal hop flavor.  Also get some lager yeast character mixed into the flavor profile up front.  It is lightly bitter on the finish.  This is pretty nicely balanced by a very slight bit of malt character.  I want to say there is a slight fruitiness to the flavor as well (hope this isn't just my imagination playing tricks on me)
• Mouthfeel:
• Light bodied and pretty dry.  Very smooth and easy drinking.
• Overall:
• This is a light, easy drinking beer, with some very nice flavor and aroma.  Flavors are fairly mild but with a a bit of focus you can appreciate that it has a fair amount of complexity.  The style is said to be differentiated from a more standard lager by a fruity character - this isn't something I picked out in my more casual enjoyment of the beer (where the beer seemed to have a lot of the standard lager fermentation character) but on closer inspection I would say this beer does offer a subtle fruitiness.