Wavehopper is a Kölsch-style ale. In a technical and copyrighty sense, just as a Champagne isn't a Champagne unless it's made in Champagne, France, a Kölsch isn't a Kölsch unless it's brewed in Koln, Germany. Hence "Kölsch-style". That it's labeled an ale is an Americanism/Britishism. For we Americans, it's an ale because it is top fermented. For Germans, though, it's an Obergäriges Lagerbier or "top fermenting lager beer". This is primarily just an example of different nomenclatures from different cultures. I started looking into this after a friend became addicted to Sand Creek's Groovy Brew, another American take on the German style. While a nice, refreshing summer beer, Groovy Brew just didn't taste like it was in the same category as Reissdorf, a true Kölsch, and the only one I'd had until that point.
On a side note, I was very disappointed to hear 2 or 3 months ago that The Coopers Tavern stopped serving Reissdorf. They even served it in a Kölsch glass – something that not even The Malt House does. (Hey Bill Rogers – I get my Belgian beers in the correct glass at your establishment so why can't the same be done for my Kölsch?) My friend who told me about this tragedy said that the server recommended a Belgian Witbier instead saying that they were very similar. Except for the lagering, cloudiness due to yeast in suspension, and the coriander & orange peel.
After noticing that Groovy Brew didn't have the crispness of Reissdorf, I think I tried Goose Island's Summertime and felt the same way. Americans just never seem to capture the lagery part of the Kölsch and I grew a bit weary of American versions. Most seemed to be made by breweries that don't brew lagers (in the American bottom fermenting sense) and so I have to wonder if these breweries lager their Kölsches for as long a period as do German brewers like Reissdorf, Sunner, und Gaffel. I ran this by my buddy Scott Manning at Vintage Brewing here in Madison. I got a War and Peace-length reply full of talk about Saccharomyces cervisiae yeast strains and horizontal lagering tanks. Good stuff. More relevant here is the bit about cooling the beer after fermentation to get those yeasties to go dormant. I'll let Scott pick it up from here:
As their rate of metabolism slows toward the end of fermentation, yeast begins to reabsorb some of the compounds it has produced during the course of fermentation. Performance of this task varies greatly from yeast strain to strain, and the true lagers take a long time "cleaning up" the byproducts of their feeding frenzy.
It's this last bit that feeds into my hypothesis. Perhaps American Kölsches aren't lagered as long as their counterparts in Koln, hence the difference in flavor.
Now on to Wavehopper.
As you can see, it has a nice golden color and is completely clear. It foams up to a nice white head. The aroma was biscuity with a bit more than a hint of the hops. Once on my tongue, I found it had a nice mellow effervescence. Wavehopper is light-bodied with just a bit more hops than needed to strike a balance between the malt sweetness and hop bitterness but no one will mistake it for a mega-I.B.U. pale ale.
Perhaps most importantly it was crisp and clean. It tasted much more like a Reissdorf than does Groovy Brew and other American versions of the style. I e-mailed Big Bay and my suspicions were confirmed when they told me that they have their brew undergo an extended period of aging to smooth things out.
Big Bay says that Wavehopper weighs in at 4.8% A.B.V. which makes it a nice session beer. Not too much alcohol for those hot summer days when the sweat pours off your brow. I've read that Kölsches go well with fish, mussels, and mild cheeses. Personally, I find they go very well with Smoked Cheddar Cheez-Its. I like how the crackers add a graininess to the proceedings which bolsters the light body of the beer while the hoppy bitterness and rich smoke flavors duel it out on my palate. If anyone associated with Madison Craft Beer Week is game, I'd be happy to do a beer and junk food pairing demonstration next year. (Joe, please tell Robyn of my proposition.)
Word has been passed! In addition to long lagering, most German Kolsch breweries (I think) begin their mashes at lower temperatures and ferment at cooler temperatures than most small American breweries due to equipment design and fermentation capacity (cold fermentations take longer than warm ones).
ReplyDeleteInterestingly, Americans may be the only folks whose primary distinctions between ales and lagers are the species of yeast employed. The English are like "if it tastes like a lager and it's brewed like a lager, it's a lager - yeast strain be damned." For them, 'ale' has a much older and broader definition: it's whatever they've been doing for hundreds of years, and nothing in Germany bears the slightest resemblance to it.
Thanks for passing the word on for me.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know that about the English. Is that just the drinking culture or does their brewing culture also make that distinction?
A friend of mine who has traveled in Germany tried Wavehopper last night. He says that it's the best American kolsch he's had. Better than both Groovy Brew and Summertime.
I'm not sure. Everything I know (or think I know) about English drinking attitudes are from Shut Up About Barclay Perkins and, to a lesser extent, Zythophile (http://zythophile.wordpress.com/). They're both beer historians whose views may or may not match the general populace, but their commenters seem to agree when they rant about Americans referring to alts and kolsches as ales.
ReplyDeleteThere used to be a great weblog by a pub landlord in London, http://stonch.blogspot.com, but the archives are only readable by invitation. It would've been fun to search them for his views on kolsch.
I got a lot from Pattinson too.
ReplyDeleteWhat interested me about this whole issue was learning whether or not kolsch-style brews here are referred to as ales because that term means top fermenting to Americans or whether it's indicative of deviating from how true kolsches are made for expediency, local tastes, or whatever.