Beers in disguise

And don't forget - porters and stouts are ales in the US, but not in the UK.

And some porters are bottom-fermented - in both the US and the Baltic region.

 

I mean I can have a malt bill of a stout and condition with cinnamon and vanilla, but if I ferment it with a Kolsch yeast does that make it a Kolsch? Probbbbbbably not.

 

I understand I’m thinking very technically of the “Kolsch” term. And how easily it’s thrown around in US craft beer.

To me, a Kolsch-style ale should have no “modification” or any need to have anything “built on it”. If you want to call it a Kolsch-style, it should at least resemble that of Kolsch beer made in Koln.

That being said, Dogfish The Perfect Disguise used a Kolsch yeast, but in no way was it anything resembling a Kolsch style ale. Therefore it shouldn’t be called a Kolsch.

I know I’m splitting hairs, and I’m super open to all beer, but having these beers labeled as “Kolsch” is doing a huge disservice by misinforming everyone on what the style actually is.

 

Understood. There are purists and there are experimenters for each style. That's fine from my perspective since I don't think new things emerge unless folks who know what they are doing try new things based on old stuff and while keeping what works and discarding those that don't. Personally I like to know the origins of ideas and it shouldn't be misleading if the Brewer also indicates there are other things going on.

Dogfish Head, for example, is famous, in part, for their sense of experimentation which is not random or just throwing things against the wall... From an historcal perspective many of the styles we enjoy today originated for much the same reasons...

Cheers!

 

Stout? Porter? You know the difference when you drink one, even if the verbiage is similar there’s usually a huge difference when you drink one. Usually not always, depends on many factors bigger abvs right off the top.

 

To me, porter and stout are just different places on the spectrum. Stouts = more robust porters.

 

Porter..stout..octoberfest...these are not verbs

 

Not if someplace had an Irish Dry Stout and a Baltic Porter as part of their lineup.

 

From what I understand, many London breweries in the 19th and 20th centuries used the exact same recipe for porter and Stout, the only difference being the amount of water used: more water = lower ABV. So maybe they are different in the same way an IPA and an imperial IPA are, but the line between them is definitely fuzzy.

 

Are you talking about Dead Guy? It is more of a Maibock. John Maier, retired Brewer at Rogue, said it was first brewed using lager yeast. The next year they didn't have/order lager yeast, and it sold just as well. They then kept using the house ale yeast.

 

That's what Twin Elephant did a few weeks ago when they did a colab with a local meadery. They called it a Honey Lemon Kolcsh. It did not taste remotely like a Kolcsh.

 

Kind of like Miller Lite being called a Pilsner. Without any hop presence. The Nerve!

 

Breweries trying to pass of pale ales as “pilsners”. Really burns me.

 

Breweries labelling IPAs as Pale Ales.

 

Isn't "robust porter" its own category?

 

Yes, as an Oktoberfest is a lager.

 

Any time a beer is just labeled sine old world lager style but is in fact full of new age hop flavor it's annoying. Just tell me what the beer is so I can go into it with realistic expectations

 

I believe it's just a supersized version of their Dreamsicle kolsch.
https://www.madtreebrewing.com/beers/dreamsicle

 

What makes that a Kolsch?