Coffee Kolsch
Ram Restaurant & Brewery

they had a bunch of new stuff on tap when we were in recently, and this might have been my favorite of them, a decent base kolsch but done with coffee, which i love in beers that arent dark (i love those too of course, but the novelty of the pale coffee beer is still doing it for me these days). neat for summer, i think the kolsch itself is light, maybe not quite perfect on the fermentation side of things, but overall is well set up for the coffee addition, which smells chocolate forward rather than super roasty, and has nutty and soil-like qualities in the flavor, as well as some neat sweetness which adds depth without making the beer heavy, it stays a total ripper the entire time for me, even with the mid palate sweetness, light brown sugar. i get light raisin and smoke from the coffee too, and its super well integrated, smells fresh ground and tastes fresh brewed, is low bitterness and low acid too, which suggests a cold brew blended in or at least a post fermentation cold soak of some beans or grounds. i like the infusion, its very effective and the beer stays light. i do get some german pale malt notes from the base beer, some minerality, almost brassy, and faint fruitiness from the kolsch yeast but this may have been run a little warmer than ideal, there is a slight ester in this that pushes the yeast character a bit too far. the coffee is what brought me in, and its what keeps me here, quality beans, nicely dosed, and the whole thing is gentle and smooth, good carbonation, no bitterness on the finish. a cool recipe pretty well executed!