Gaffel Kölsch

Brewed by Privatbrauerei Gaffel Becker & Co.
Style: Kölsch
Köln, Germany

Original Rating (6-3-6-3-12=3.0): Mild malt in the sweet, grainy aroma. Clear golden body is topped by a ring of and partial cover of white head. Husky, grainy flavour is lightly fruity with fair bitterness. Medium-light body with soft texture and fair carbonation. A bit slick. Sampled on tap at Anam Cara in Boston with MartinT, muzzlehatch and Rastacouere.
Rerate (6-1-5-2-10=2.4): Mild, fresh, herbal, grainy aroma. Clear golden body with a partial cover of white head. Herbal and grainy flavours with some malty sweetness and moderate finishing bitterness. Light body with strong, prickly carbonation. Bottle sampled at Peculier Pub in NYC with Olivier_MTL and Rastacouere.

12 oz bottle: Medium gold, clear body w/a short lived white head. Sweet grainy malt aroma @ first. Light hints of DMS & a faint floral hop. Very clean otherwise. Well balanced but lightly bitter @ the finish. Highly grainy malt flavor as w/ the aroma; Smooth malt character. Only light hints of fruitiness. Aftertaste is lingering and lightly bitter. Smooth m/f, medium carb. lighter body. Very pils like in character, but not as crisp and clean. Very drinkable as it’s well balanced throughout.

On tap : Grainy cereal and sweet milky wafts hover over the light and watery Kolsch body...Pretty textbook example I guess, but not crisp enough to create any interest for me...2.6/5

From the bottle: Biscuity malts are nicely linked to the delicate grassy hops. Frothy carbonation and clean flavor profile make this a worthy thirst quencher. 3.4/5

On tap at The Sunset Grill. Dull headless dark gold. Grassy light hops, creamy earth feel, grainy. Rather average nose and the flavour is not much ahead. It’s light crisply bitter and a bit astringent with very subdued maltiness. Texture is a bit oily with a fair amount of grassy hops.

Bottled. Yellow colour, white mediumsized bubbly head. Strong hoppy nose. Mainly hoppy flavour with some citric notes. Wellbalanced smooth flavour.

Light yellow/golden, sparkling, with a medium sized head and excellent lacing. Light grassy and sweet aroma. Taste is refreshing, bready, dusty, come citrus zest, mild pepper hop finish. 2nd bottle was better than the first.

This is an excellent brew. It pours a wonderful sparkly gold and forms a full head which quickly dissipates. There is a clean aroma, with subtle notes of herbs, spice and pepper. The taste is balanced, refreshing and complex, but the flavors meld together to give a nice beer taste, not too hoppy or astringent. From sip to swallow, it doesn’t disappoint. I’m quickly becoming a Kolsch convert and Gaffel is leading the charge.

Bottle: Very light straw color with a nice pure white head which lasts. Aroma is very grassy and somewhat herbal with hints of sweet malt and maybe a nuance of fruitiness from the yeast. Flavor is balanced nicely between slightly bitter hops and malt. Overall- on the light side as far as body goes, but easy to drink and pretty refreshing. When I was in Koln I remember this to be better on tap. Better than Reissdorff which is the only other authentic kolsch I can get around here.