Josephsbrau Summer Brew
Trader Joe's Brewing Company

RB transfer

Bought a six for $7.99. New packaging and can. Beautiful gold color on the pour with thick white head and plenty of lacing. Aroma of biscuits and hay. Taste follows and has the feel of a premium summer ale -- refreshing, smooth and crisp. I like this beer and will be buying it again. One of the better summer ales that I have had.

12 oz. can from Trader Joe's in Tustin. Clear medium light yellow with a foamy white head. Smells like a clean lager with toasted malt notes. The flavor is a cross between a Kolsch and a Saison, with biscuit malt and hay which along with the foamy head makes me think there may be some wheat in this. The body is light and dry with a good woody, hay bitterness in the back. Finishes clean with a light bitter note on the tongue. This is a great easy drinking summer beer!

6 pack from Trader Joe's

 

 

 

Leftover from graduation. Poured into glass. Respectable economic kölsch.

12oz can with new branding, stange glass, best before 12/24/24.

I will admit a straight down pour into a small diameter glass, but the head just stacks and stacks and I actually overflowed the glass a little. I got four fingers plus of pillowy white head on top of a clear golden beer. I see no reason not to give a 5.

Honey, white grape, herbal leafy hop, crackers.

Honey’d, vinous malts mesh with a crisp medium bitterness for a refreshing summer beer.

Medium-light body and same carbonation that leaves you wanting more.

Leave it to Trader Joe’s to sell this gem for $6.99 a six pack when most solid brews run you $10+. Highly recommended as a go to warm weather quaff, I think it’s both a great Kolsch and great beer.

Poured a can into a 13 oz hard and got a foamy head of a 4 inches. Golden color, it has a honey tone to it. Smelled rather sweet and musty in a good way. Let it sit and poured the rest in. My first sip was punctuated instantly by the hop bitterness— it really came through on the front end for me. It faded into a sweet, clean finish with honey notes that was refreshing. There was plenty of effervescence through the life of the beer. It felt heavier than other kolsch beers I’ve tried, but was still easygoing and quaffable. The labeling specified it is top fermented lager, brewed with ale yeast and brewed to reinheingebot standards so it could assumably be classified a kolsch style

 

 

Pours a golden brassy color, three finger head, aroma is slightly citrusy with some sweetish malt. Taste is bright with some hop tart. Drink super cold, this is a great Kolsch!

Appearance: A crystal-clear medium golden body host a large, coarse, snow-white head. The carbonation is abundant, surging to the surface in profuse streams. The lacing is delicate, with fine sheets covering the glass wall.

Aroma: Cracker malt is accompanied by a strong mineral note, grassy hops and a mild yeast note.

Taste: Tasting offers a fairly pronounced grassy and medicinal hop note, with an undercurrent of light malt. There seems to be a bit of dry grape flavor midway through the taste. Late in the taste, the hops and mineral notes assert, carrying on to a lingering finish.

Mouth feel: Light in body, but pleasant, with abundant soft carbonation.

Drinkability/notes: Very pleasant and drinkable, perhaps not an extraordinary example of a Kölsch, but a very good one. An excellent value for the money and a good choice to introduce macro drinkers to the possibilities of better beer. It pairs well with barbeque, sausage, hotdogs and other classic summer fare.

Presentation: Packaged in a standard twelve-ounce aluminum can, served in a la Fin du Monde tulip. The "best by" date is 02/13/2024.

 

12oz enjoyed in between hot tub trip two and three

Looks like beer. Biscuits and bitter and beery. Light enough without being a light beer. Kinda also tastes like pennies and chemicals. You get what you pay for

APPEARANCE: Clean, golden with a thin off-white head and little lace.

AROMA: Malty with a touch of citrus hops. Nice.

TASTE: Crisp malts and hops working in unison. Light-drinking but plenty of flavor. As intended, a superb and solid Summer beer, ideal for after-mowing a yard (which I just did). High marks.

It’s not a great Kolsch but if you disregard style, it’s a really good beer. Easy drinking, very euro lager like in my opinion. By that I mean some nice malt sweetness, grassy hops that have a bit of dankness, some fruit notes from the yeast, and a nice minerality. A solid beer by itself or with food, this one will pair up beautifully with anything spicy. At about $1/beer this is definitely a go to beer if you find yourself at TJs.

honestly not bad, especially for the price, nothing to get too excited about either though, but it hits in the right respects, light and clean enough, just a subtle yeast element to this, some minerals encroaching on metallic as it warms, but there is some crispness too, some reasonably fresh malt characteristics, and overall this is a beer i could easily rifle through a few of on a warm summer day. it responds well to spicy flavors, asian food, all kinds of stuff, not too light for any of that, but its also not particularly substantial, finishes quick enough, and pretty much checks the boxes or close to it for the summer ale vibe. i like all the bubbles, could use a little less body, and maybe a cleaner ferment, but its close, and when frosty cold it works like it should. to call this a kolsch seems pretty generous, nothing really german to me in nose or taste, but its not boring on the malt side either i suppose. maybe lacking a bit of an identity, but as a cold from the bottle drinker, it gets me there. i have had a good time exploring these trader joes house beers, some of them are pretty decent and the prices are unbeatable...