Boulevard American Kolsch

We do! Refreshing beer doesn't have an off season.

 

Yeah, @JackHorzempa, we went back and forth on how to designate/explain the beer without going too geeky or pandering. We felt strongly about Kolsch being part of the fanciful/brand name, but also wanted to let folks who may know not what a Kolsch is what they can expect with the beer.

 

you're not concerned that the uninitiated might confuse that description with the more common American Blonde ale?

 

Excellent beer!

 

Nope. Since we don't say Blonde Ale, we're not overly concerned that folks will have that confusion.

 

Thanks for the input. Are you also able to tell us whether this beer is made with a proper koelsch yeast strain?

 

Hmm. Not a lot of hammock swinging goin' on year-round where I live.

 

Jump-starting this month-old thread because I just found the American Kölsch -- it's one of the best Ami renditions of the style that I've tried. Not just a "blonde ale" labeled with the Kölsch brand by any means, very true to its roots. I'll be seeking more of this one.

 

It was definitely very good and super refreshing.

 

This was my first and only Kölsch. For those familiar with the style, how does it stack up with German Kölschs?

 

Our chance of finding fresh Kölsch is about as good as finding fresh sushi! I'll see what I can find and go from there.

 

It's very good, very nice to-style with a great balance of hop spiciness and light, crackery & grainy malts.

What Boulevard has done quite well is to utilize more modern hops without overdoing them. There's a very mild mint character in the flavor, but the herbal spiciness from traditional Saaz shines too.

All of this with an ABV of 4.6 makes this a terrific go-to.

 

I looked at the hops used to see where the minty aroma and flavor comes from. The Boulevard website says Magnum, Tradition, Saaz, and Saphir are used. The descriptions for those don't nominally include minty. I associate minty with Northern Brewer and Perle, but those are not used. @TheJermis, can you educate me on where the mint comes from?

@steveh, the most recent of those hops was released in 2002, others in the early 90s. So those are new compared to Saaz, but older compared with the new ones like Mandarina Bavaria. Depends on your perspective.

 

I enjoyed this one. Refreshing and crisp. This and champion kolsch are my two favorite American versions of the style.

 

Why do people on this thread keep referring to this as a Blonde Ale?

 

You misinterpreted -- I said it's not just another blonde ale -- meaning that many attempts at Kölsch turn out that way.