Over The Mountain Dry Hopped Kolsch
Bomber Brewing

Appearance - Pours a light gold with three fingers of bubbly white head.

Smell - Floral and spicy hops, bready and grainy malts, earthy yeast, touch of lemon peel.

Taste - Soft bready/grainy malt flavour with moderate bitterness from the floral and spicy hops. A very nice balance. Just a slight touch of fruitiness.

Mouthfeel - Medium bodied with moderate to high carbonation. Finishes with smooth and crisp finish.

Overall - A pleasant collaboration between Bomber and Trolley 5. The hops and malts are well balanced and I like what the dry-hopping has done with the flavour. Refreshing and sessionable.

473ml can - a collaboration with Calgary's Trolley No. 5 (hence the name), made with a purported 'avalanche' of German hops.

This beer pours a clear, bright medium golden yellow colour, with three fingers of puffy, finely foamy, and somewhat creamy off-white head, which leaves some decent splattered sudsy lace around the glass as it quickly dissipates.

It smells of semi-sweet, grainy and crackery cereal malt, some generic citrus rind, pink bubblegum, a hint of estery yeastiness, and some plain earthy, leafy, and floral green hop bitters. The taste is gritty and grainy pale malt, muddled pome and citrus fruity notes, a hint of indistinct melon (melonic?) fruitiness, wet white crackers, ethereal yeast, and more understated leafy, herbal, and floral noble hoppiness.

The carbonation is competent in its palate-cuddling frothiness, the body an adequate middleweight, and essentially smooth, with nothing really getting in the way of the ideal here. It finishes off-dry, but not by much, as the biscuity cereal character of the malt faces down a lingering old-school hop bitterness.

Overall - this is an enjoyable enough version of the style, as the dry-hopping with German varietals casts an altogether different glow over the affair than the typical Yankee norm. Crisp, engaging, and a pleasure to drink on another sunny and 'warm' almost-Spring day.