Juniper Kölsch
Whistler Brewing Company

 

 

 

 

Appearance - Pours a pale straw with three fingers of foamy white head.

Smell - earthy and leafy hops, juniper, biscuity malts, herbal aromas, and lemon peel.

Taste - Earthy and leafy hops followed by a strong presence from the juniper berries. The biscuity malts, herbal aromas, and lemon peel follow suit.

Mouthfeel - Medium bodied with moderate carbonation. Finishes crisp and dry with a lingering pepperiness from the juniper berries.

Overall - A refreshing and spot on Kölsch from Whistler. I like that I can actually detect juniper in the taste as well as smell which makes this a stand out in this category. Another summer favourite.

650ml bottle - does juniper grow on the West Coast in our country?

This beer pours a clear, pale golden yellow colour, with three fingers of puffy, rocky, and fizzy off-white head, which leaves some random splotchy and sudsy lace around the glass as it quickly blows off.

It smells of grainy and crackery pale malt, some muddled domestic citrus rind, mild herbal and slightly tart juniper berries, and further leafy, weedy, and floral green hop bitters. The taste is bready and grainy pale malt, white saltine crackers, a lemon/orange/white grapefruit citrus fleshiness, still kind of tenuous juniper branch/berry notes, an ephemeral earthy yeastiness, and more easy-going leafy, musky, and dead floral verdant hoppiness.

The carbonation is fairly active in its palate-humping frothiness, the body a solid medium weight, and generally smooth, as the guest botanical chooses to be on its best behavior here. It finishes off-dry, the underlying Kölsch keeping things chugging right along.

Overall, this seems to me to be a prime example of the 'whole is greater than the sum of its parts' paradigm - I kept looking and looking for a reason to smack this offering down, for a lack of the proclaimed adjunct ingredient, all the while oblivious to the fact that the base brew was kicking ass all the same. Yeah - that.