No love for Kolsch?

Shore area.

 

Will definitely check out the Biergarten...I always love good German beer and German food.
Of course the only problem with German food is that after you eat it, three days later you're hungry again.

 

I'm having a difficult time locating a decent "Kölsch-style" (quasi or not) beer in the winter months. The best option thus far has been Double Mountain's Kolsch out of Hood River, Oregon. I would like to purchase 12-24 bottles/cans if any suggestions available. Thanks in advance.

BTW: Distribution would have to fall into the Oregon/Washington zones.

 

Are the German brewed versions available to you (e.g., Gaffel, Fruh, Reissdorf…)?

These beers are sold in my local beer stores but finding fresh product is challenging.

Cheers!

P.S. If you are willing to buy by the case (24 bottles) one of your local retailers should be able to special order beer for you.

 

I'd be a regular case Kolsch buyer too if I could find something year round available - other than expensive imports that might not be fresh. A perfect market for someone like Sierra Nevada. @sierranevadabill

 

This might be a query better posed in the Northwest Forum. I know there are a couple small breweries that have been lauded for their German-style beers (Chuckanut?), but I'm unsure of their distribution ranges.

 

The Kolsch is their summer pack a couple years back was FANTASTIC! Add me to the list @sierranevadabill for people who would buy 12 packs of that beer regularly.

 

This thread popping back up reminded me of how I got a chance to try a local-ish Kolsch again, on tap this time rather than bottled. Blue Mountain's Kolsch 151, which one of the restaurants over in Lexington had on tap last month (I'm guessing they still do unless they're changing up their beer menu a lot more often now than they used to.)

It was a pretty nice beer bottled (not as good as the Sierra Nevada Kolsch from last year's summer pack, but still good), but on tap it was even better. Had a different sort of fruitier (hop? yeast?) flavor to it that I don't remember noticing much of in the bottled version, and everything just seemed to come together really well. I don't know if it was just fresher or if this beer is one that works better on tap vs. bottled, but I was pretty impressed by it -- pretty sure I ended up ordering a second glass, which doesn't happen often at restaurant beer prices.

 

I think its kind of weird that no US based brewery will make a true to style Kolsch that is available nationwide year-round. I mean not one - that I know of.

 

Quite a few US breweries make a Kolsch year-round, just none of the national or quasi-national breweries.

 

Barring the need for nationwide, Schlafly does. (But to be fair, there are maybe only two or so "craft" breweries that are actually nationwide.)

 

OK, it doesn't have to be nation-wide (unless SN wants to step-up)
just where I live and travel - is that too much to ask?

 

Fortunately, Schlafly is still a good answer - that's why I suggested it. Getting fresh stuff is the challenge... but fortunately (yet again) Schlafly uses clear bottle dating. You'll be cursing Ninkasi for every Schlafly six pack that's clearly from 2014.

 

Oh - BTW, I get it... You can do it Sierra Nevada, I believe in you...

 

I've never had the Schafly - will try to find it. I saw a 6pack of Empire Skinny Atlas around, but no idea what's its like yet. Will investigate. I've seen Gaffel and Reinsdorf in new packaging around here but very expensive.

 

Empire is surprisingly good - I'd say inbetween Captain Lawrence and the best imports. In my experience, Gaffel is much cheaper than Reissdorf.

 

Best of luck to you.

I have had a number of Schafly Kolsch 6-packs in my hand at my 'local' Total Wine & More but every time I had to put it back on the shelf since it was many months old. The Kolsch style is a delicate style and goes stale pretty quickly.

Have you ever considered homebrewing? The Kolsch beer that I drink the most of is my homebrewed Kolsch. Nothing beats homebrewing as regards freshness.

Cheers!

 

As others have said, that has more to do with craft beer's typically small distribution footprints than anything else. One of the local breweries here in Eugene makes a kolsch as their flagship, and it's a pretty damn good one.

 

I brewed some terrible beer back in my college days. It was impossible to keep everything properly sanitized.
Not sure if I have the time/space to do that now with a kid and a freelance business. Maybe if it was simplified I could swing it.

 

Enjoying an Around The Bend Ghost Of Lectricity Kolsch right now ...quite tastey