Java The Kolsch
4 By 4 Brewing Company

Pours a clear yellow with a finger of white foam. Aroma is coffee, biscuits, bread, caramel, and toffee. It's a malty Kolsch with coffee over the top. Flavor profile is more of the same, delivering coffee on top of toasty, bready, caramely, and mild toffee malts. Mouth feel is medium in thickness with a soft, mild texture. Overall, heavy on the Java, but otherwise pretty clean.

Draft. Reviewed from notes.

 

Looking for inspiration near and far, the brewers of 4 By 4 reach back to tradition in a Kolsch-style ale and also to the contemporary use of coffee as a spice. The tandem in taste certainly takes the tastebuds on quite the adventure.

Pale gold in color, the hues of Java The Kolsch is a shade deeper than the average Kolsch but is also a testament to the robust spice within. Underneath a fast fleeting froth lies a strong scent that has the olfactories thinking dark but the eye seeing lighter. The mind tricks continue as the first sip is redolent with nutty, toasty, roasty and coffee fueled flavor. Its sweetness is of honey, wafer and a hint of caramel in a unique twist.

The coffee forward tastes continue as the ale rolls over the middle palate like brown ale or porter, teasing the tastebuds with suggestions of toast, cocoa, roasted pecans and an earthen darkness in taste. But the Kolsch stays alive, showing a low-lying sweetness of bread, honeysuckle and light fruit esters that peak through the roast. Its roasty-sweet taste outlasts much of the other favors in an extended late palate.

Medium bodied and flirting with watery and thin mouthfeel components, the robust coffee flavor has the senses wanting to register the weight of those brown ale or porter, but the Kolsch backbone leaves the senses wanting more heft. Hints of cola and coffee grounds take its toll on the finish and even as the hybrid spice beer extends in a medium long after palate.