Summit Unchained 01 German Style Kölsch

Brewed by Summit Brewing Company
Style: Kölsch
St. Paul, Minnesota USA

On draught during the Great Taste of Midwest 2009 in Madison, Wisconsin; available in 12-oz bottles at many locations in Minneapolis, St, Paul, MN. Pours a clear golden pale colored brew with an average sized off-white head that dissipates to a white ring and some spotty lacing. Aroma of golden grain malt, a hint of corn, honey and some flowery hops. Taste is light to medium bodied, flavors of golden grain malt, a hint of flowery and grassy hops some breakfast cereal and a hint of fruit. Finish is slight grainy, a little metallic with a mild bitterness that quickly disappears. Missing some of the floral aroma as the real Kölsch’s of Germany but still a decent summer session beer.

Gold color with a thin head. Light skunkiness right off the bat, but it fades after some airtime. A light corn hit as well. Strong grainy flavor. Quite clean. A light honey sweetness and barely noticeable floral hops on the finish. Not the world’s greatest new beer, but this is a pretty solid and refreshing beer. Not sure if it’s like a Kolsch made in Koln, but I still enjoyed it.

Bottle. I have not had a lot of kolsch, but I did like this one. Amber color. Medium carbonation. Crisp and refreshing, with some yeast. Hops are light but there are there. This is a very solid session beer.

12oz bottle, thanks to bang for the extra. pours clear light gold color with white head. aroma has nice sweet grain, hay, with touch of grass and spice and white grape. flavors are sweet grainy, crisp spicy hop character, mild melon fruit rounding it off. to it as well. clean and a good example of the style.

12oz bottle from tytoanderso - thanks, Tyler! Very nice and highly sessionable beer. Lively and lustrous golden pour with the clean carbonation you’d expect. Crisp and slightly sweet aroma, with some hints of dry yeast things to come. Nice full mouthfeel and the beer lingers on the palate. Grain and moderate sweetness is there, but the beer has far more citrus and dry characteristics, especially in the finish. Enjoyed this.

12oz shorty bottle. Filtered transparent orange-tan color with a small patchy head. Orange citrus and biscuity malt in the aroma. Comes off rather true to style for an American example, with a nice, fluffy, medium bodied malt centered body, quite well balanced with the delicate but ever present hopping. A hard style to nail and they do a really nice job. Some caramel malt tones in the aftertaste. All around an excellent beer.

Thanks to buebie for this one, a 12oz bottle poured into a tulip. Pours a clear amber with lots of bubbles streaming to the top feeding a short-lived white head that lingers as a swirl and hefty collar. The aroma is full of toasted grains and light malts. There is solid hop presence up as well with some grassy and lightly herbal notes in the nose. The taste has a quick lemony hop kick up front with the toasted malts making up the backbone and an herbal, almost spicy, grassy hop finish. The mouthfeel is medium bodied with plenty of carbonation and extremely refreshing on the palate with a dry herbal finish. This is an excellent version of a kolsch with more complexity than most I’ve tasted with the herbal notes coming out very strongly. Very good and very drinkable.

Light gold color small head. Aroma of pale malts, some grassy hops and mild corn (standard for most US kolsch it seems). Taste is crisp in light hops, fairly dry, and some sweetness. A decent take on this style.