Sunday, June 29, 2014

Köln, Kölsch City!

A few years ago I came to Köln, everybody told me yeah go see that big ass church it's worth it. At the time I was aware of Kölsch but this time around, with the church out of the way, I really got to dig in to the beer.

I had heard of this little brewery/restaurant called Braustelle, it's off the beaten path but a great find. Their flagship Helios is obviously a kölsch but they also have a variable the Helios Weizen (at first I thought it would be served in a 0.2L glass like the other beers but I didn't complain about the full sized weiss glass they brought me that beer was good! From the tap I also tried the Simsons (no P) Weizen which was also very tasty and a little stronger.



The ladies ordered the Pink Panther which I got to sample, a pink juicy fruity concoction which reminded me of a mix of gueuze and kriek but I didn't like it so much I turned my attention to other bottled beers they had and tried their Phoebe Caulfield a beer made with rye (Roggen Bier) thick as molasses and dark as the night almost stout like very good but it could have a longer sustained taste in my opinion. I also had the ribs, first time I saw ribs on a menu and to my knowledge pork is really inexpensive compared to beef, yet ribs don't seem to be as popular in Germany.



Tap vs Bottle

Clearly if I have the choice between tap or bottle I will not think twice but I read that for kölsch the moment when it comes out of the tap you should hurry up and drink it because the longer it's out the worst it gets and I'm guessing this is why they serve it in 0.2L glasses. Although it is better enjoyed fresh out of the tap I tried Peters, Reissdorf, Gilden and Mühlen in bottle and out of all of them Mühlen was the closest to it's tap version. I felt like the other ones sort of tasted like generic eurobeers and were lacking that fresh crisp taste of kölsch.

Shop

It's always nice to know a place where you'll find most beers and in Köln the Biermuseum is the place to go shop.

Books

I also looked at some books on the subject and found these two by Frank Mathar, if anyone read these I would appreciate any feedback. 



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