Klondike Kate Kottbusser
Olds College Teaching Brewery

 

650ml bottle - a brew named after Klondike Kate (look it up, I don't have the time right now), in honour of International Women's Day (this year's, presumably). A style I have never heard of, which is apparently an old-school Teutonic offering from the city of Cottbus, one which contains oats, honey and molasses, as this does here.

This beer pours a very hazy, medium golden yellow colour, with one finger of puffy, loosely foamy, and well bubbly dirty white head, which leaves some decent melting snowbank profile lace around the glass as things slowly sink away.

It smells of clover field honey, bready and doughy caramel malt, some cereal-leaning wheatiness, a further indistinct brown sugar sweetness, ephemeral earthy yeast, and some very tame leafy, weedy, and floral noble hop bitters. The taste is more honey-forward sweet notes right off the bat, grainy and gritty caramel malt, a falling-away edgy wheaten character, some pear and overripe apple fruitiness, subtle brown sugar syrup, and more weak earthy, weedy, and dead leafy green hoppiness.

The carbonation is fairy meek in its barely palpable frothiness, the body a solid middleweight, and generally smooth, with a wee airy creaminess kickin' the tires, yet not exactly able to light the fires, as it were. It finishes still well on the sweet side, but in a duly moderated manner.

Overall, this comes across as a well-made amber ale, with a few extra sucrose adjuncts tossed in for the proverbial shits and giggles. Easy to drink, not too hard on the ol' abused internal organs, and quite worthy of checking out on yer hipster Alberta beer trail wanderings.