I'm over here in Cologne, Germany for the week on business and as I try different local Kolsch options I'm inclined to do as I do at home, lookup BA ratings on what I'm drinking. What I find when I read them is that a lot of reviews are by folks sitting home in the U.S. drinking a bottle that had dust on it from sitting on the liquor store shelf and surviving transit to the states. This leads to pretty low reviews for pretty solid examples of the style and complaints of skunky beers. I really think some plane tickets need to be bought and some of you need to come out here to Deutschland and drink these beers fresh. Drink them in a biergarten with friends looking out over the river. Drink them cold and fresh. Drink them trays and trays at a time. (They often serve 10-12 at a time in 0.20 liter glasses) Get out from behind the keyboard and enjoy life, enjoy beer and enjoy laughing with friends. For now I'm signing off to drink my beer and watch the Rhine flow by.
Many people have said that same thing you are saying, and a lot of us would love to get there some day. There is definitely appreciation for the style, but it shows up on the forum more than in the reviews. Here is the latest topic: http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/no-love-for-kolsch.313171/ enjoy your time there and enjoy the beers. Prost!
I remember floating down the Moselle from Koblenz to Mainz drinking really nice Riesling, drinking a beer or two. It was truly breathtaking. I was 20 years old and lots of young folks were aboard and we sure had fun!.... Cheers and have a good time.
But why should that result be blamed only on the reviewers who can't afford to travel? Didn't the brewery, the importer, the distributor and the retailer all sell that beer knowing that is the typical situation? Didn't the US consumer pay good money for the beer? If the brewer didn't want those "pretty low reviews" and felt that their beer should only be consumed fresh and in it's home market, they wouldn't have exported it the first place. Ditto for light struck beer or older beer - it was the brewer who decided the marketing value of a green bottle was worth the risk knowing how beer is typically sold in the US and it was the brewer and importer who decided that their beer was able to remain "fresh" for the typical 1 year shelf life on which most German beers' "Best By" dates are based.
I picked up Maui Kihei Kolsch recently, and I was pleasantly surprised... a good hoppy kolsch. An HI brewery Americanizing a kolsch... 'murica!
I am definitely planning a trip to Belgium, Germany, and England, and still figuring out how to offest the ecological damage done by the jet plane I will be taking. Probably gonna take a month or two of pulling recyclable materials from off the sides of the roads in my town to offset so much bad. Sooooo looking forward to tasting fresh versions of some favorite styles.
Oi... I agree with you. And I'd love to visit Germany as I have German roots and love the heck out of German beer... ... but traveling's too expensive. Some of us can only afford to remain behind the keyboard. However, last night I had a Sunner Kolsch and I thought it was unbelievably delicious. So there seems to be a good distribution line from Germany to Alaska.
Well, you could rationalize part of it a way by telling yourself that your weight contribution is only going to be about 1/200th of the footprint created by the flight. :-)
That is really cool that you got the opportunity to do that in Cologne. Hopefully your story will inspire someone else to do the same. When it comes to drinking, for me there is nothing as satisfying as enjoying local styles of fresh beer and being completely out of your element. With families and jobs it's easier said than done sometimes. It's a dream of mine to get back to Germany again soon. Glad you are making the most of it. It's better than each person taking their own private jet to Europe. Just think of it like carpooling, except you're plane pooling.
I believe what @cavedave was suggesting was flying over to hit all of Europe at once instead of multiple trips. It is always good to be mindful of the ecological impact of this passion of ours. Having said that, I would love to be drinking a kranz of Kolsch in Cologne right now! Cheers, @RichFellows!
Make sure to check out the Europe subforum with the Germany tags on this site to talk and hang out with other German beer drinking fans as well.
