Kölsch

Brewing Kölsch

Remember that when brewing this beer, unless you live in Cologne, Germany, you are not brewing a Kölsch! The term is a legally protected name. On Canada Day in 2003 I was brewing one, and coined the term Kölsch-eh to refer to this style of beer brewed in Canada. I hope you'll do the same.

General

60 Second History

In a beer-Mecca like Germany you can’ t possibly talk about The National Drink without to some extent getting into the general history of the country. And the city of Köln (or “Kölle” as the locals call it) along with the beer which bears its name – Kölsch – is a living example of just such a relationship. The city’s English name “Cologne” still bears witness to it’ s roots over 2000 years ago as a Roman Colony. A thousand years later the Vikings frequented these shores of the Mighty Rhine conducting trade with our beloved Kölners, and earning the city the prestigious title “Hansa-Stadt”, member of the Hanseatic League.

As beer production turned into a trade which could support a family, both the Church and State became increasingly concerned with being able to control the power (and tap into the profit) that this trade would generate. Many decisions in the realm of beer where therefore resultant from the pressures these two groups would continue to place upon the City’ s brewers. This along with severe pressure from the imported “Keutebier” (a dark Wheat Beer) in the late middle ages brought Köln’ s brewers together into the city’ s first Guild, which was formed in the early to mid 1200’ s, but was not officially incorporated until 1396. The purpose of this Kölner-Brauerei-Verband was of course to protect the interests of the local Getränk, against the imports, as well as against the constant pressure from the City and the Church. To this day the Verband dictates the exact definition of what is Kölsch. Throughout the 1400’s and 1500’s their Bavarian cousins to the south slowly mastered the art of lagering (without actually realising it, which is another story in itself), and it was during this time that the first Lager Revolution swept across Europe. A line was unknowingly drawn in the sand in 1553 when Bavarian rulers – not knowing the cause for the lower quality of beer brewed in the summer – completely outlawed summer brewing, essentially declaring (though not in so many words) that only Lagers could be brewed. In 1603 Köln retaliated by enacting a law allowing only the brewing of top-fermented beer – otherwise known as Ale – as an attempt to fend off this first Lager Revolution. These two proclamations divided the German peoples into Lager in the South, and Ale in the North, and would seal Köln’ s fate as a centre of German Ale brewing.