[denny]

https://www.experimentalbrew.com/podcast/brew-files-episode-106-dark-side-k%C3%B6lsch

Collaborations are known for producing some wild ideas and Andrew Bell (Radiant) and Casey Harris (Topa Topa) came up with a doozy - a dark double dry hopped Kölsch that defies the odds and made something really interesting! Check it out!

[Bilsch]

Everything about that is not a Koelsch. Why the heck does everyone feel the need to use that name? Is it just cool, will it give your crappy beer some status without actually having to brew a technically correct beer style?

On second thought, the heck with nomenclature. Lets just brew whatever and call it whatever. Double imperial stout helles. That sounds good too.

[Iliff Ave]

Everything about that is not a Koelsch. Why the heck does everyone feel the need to use that name? Is it just cool, will it give your crappy beer some status without actually having to brew a technically correct beer style?

On second thought, the heck with nomenclature. Lets just brew whatever and call it whatever. Double imperial stout helles. That sounds good too.

Yeah I was wondering that too. If I use kolsch yeast for everything can I just call it a kolsch? Doesn’t make any sense.

[Bilsch]

Calling it a pale ale is so passé. However if you call it a Kölsch people will think you must really know what you’re doing, using a cool German name like that. And in the end isn’t that what’s most important?

[hopfenundmalz]

Calling it a pale ale is so passé. However if you call it a Kölsch people will think you must really know what you’re doing, using a cool German name like that. And in the end isn’t that what’s most important?

A cool German name with an umlaut would be be perfect for this random beer. Hey, Kölsch!

[denny]

I agree that it has nothing to do with kolsch.  That's why I wasn't in on it.  But if you listen they acknowledge it has nothing to do with kolsch. Many they chose to make that association is a mystery to me.

[denny]

Calling it a pale ale is so passé. However if you call it a Kölsch people will think you must really know what you’re doing, using a cool German name like that. And in the end isn’t that what’s most important?

In a commercial situation, where you're trying to sell beer, yes.  This isn't the first beer with a misleading/out of context name and it won't be the last.  I don't care for the practice, either,but that's the way it is.

[ynotbrusum]

Sinamar and Midnight Wheat added to a Kolsch isn't hugely far flung (thinking Schwarzbier, for example....).

[denny]

Sinamar and Midnight Wheat added to a Kolsch isn't hugely far flung (thinking Schwarzbier, for example....).

In a kolsch it's hugely far flung

[hopfenundmalz]

Sinamar and Midnight Wheat added to a Kolsch isn't hugely far flung (thinking Schwarzbier, for example....).

Sinimar is allowed in lagers such as Schwarzbier. Midnight Wheat is not. Kölsch is not a bottom fermented bier, so Whaet is allowed.

We don't  have the RHG, or the Kölsch Konvention, so here we are.

[chinaski]

Brewers like to use style as a tool for talking about beer.  Everyday beer consumers probably do not.  Commercial brewers are brewing for the latter.  I wonder how well this beer sold.

Not my favorite episode as I'm not a fan for reviewing recipes for commercial beers that I cannot get and will never have.  Not sure I'd order this beer to try either.  Whatever- podcast is free, Denny and Drew can and should do what they like.

[denny]

Brewers like to use style as a tool for talking about beer.  Everyday beer consumers probably do not.  Commercial brewers are brewing for the latter.  I wonder how well this beer sold.

Not my favorite episode as I'm not a fan for reviewing recipes for commercial beers that I cannot get and will never have.  Not sure I'd order this beer to try either.  Whatever- podcast is free, Denny and Drew can and should do what they like.

Truthfully, from my point of view, I'd like us to focus solely on homebrewing and leave commercial brewing out completely. But I'm only half of the decision making process,  which is also driven by listener feedback.

[ynotbrusum]

I listened and enjoyed the collaborative discussion and what drove them to this particular recipe.  And, hey, brewing to piss off German Brewers seemed like fun for these guys.

[dmtaylor]

+1 to being a crabby old fuddy-duddy.

Furthermore I think Koln should mandate that no one outside of the area may use the term Kolsch, in the same way that the Trappist monks have a trademark such that the rest of us are only supposed to call our beers abbey-style or whatever.

Not that any American ever gave a sh!t.

[dbeechum]

I'm happy just to see a conversation happen - even with all the sturm und drang - because that's far more interesting to me. (also, sometimes I get really amused by folk's reactions - yes, including Denny's, although I try not to be too tweaky about things)

Here's why they referenced Kölsch in the beer name (which if you look at the can is labeled as a "DDH Hoppy Dark Lager ish Ale" - which to my tastebuds is a fair assessment)

• Kolsch gravities and IBUs
• base structure of malt, water kettle hopping, yeast, fermentation schedule is all Kolsch appropriate
• And then they twisted away with the addition of Sinamar, Midnight wheat and an American style dry hopping

Also, I wanted to celebrate this sort of playful beer tomfoolery over the "we chucked a bunch of cake flavors in a beer and 200 lbs of dungeness crab before adding lactose and aging on barely drained tequila barrels" style of "innovation"