Surprising body with dry finish.

Review by Gerhard on 5/3/2009

Pros: This beer surprised me a bit by how interesting it is for a lighter brew. It starts crisp, displays good body, and finishes dry. This is really an excellent recipe.

durable kolsch

Review by Charles P. on 4/24/2009

Pros: This kit is better than two others that I have tried. The yeast seems to be the vital part. After brewing two kits, the yeast can be combined with ingredients from one of several Kolsch recipes and the end product inevitably tastes great and is clearly another Kolsch. There are no suprizes in the product or its instructions. Just really good beer that is very true to type.

Cons: Really, no complaints, altough the yeast pack had been "smacked" in shipping and had to be used soon after arriving. But not a problem in this case.

At racking...

Review by Scott on 3/3/2009

Pros: I wanted to throw in that before racking the smell the yeast kicks off may get you a little worried, but if you pull out a sample you will find that it is already pretty fruity and tasty. I fermented this one at about 68 and the fruit tones are definitely present. I will age in the secondary for a couple of weeks, but it is already very tasty even flat. It has a nice wine-like character to it. This is what I remember kolsch tasting like in Koeln.

Cons: The body is very thin, the yeast fermented it out very heavily to 1.011. Carbonation should help this a little bit, but next time I would drop the fermentation temperature to about 64 and probably (as someone already said) use a little bit (1 - 2lbs) of vienna or munich pre-boil to up the body just a little bit.

Close to authentic

Review by John B. on 3/3/2009

Pros: Lived in Germany for many years and have had Kolsch...this is perhaps the closest to the real thing without being back in Koln. Smooth, clean, and refreshing; great for the warm afternoons.

Cons: Perhaps this is not a cons...in fact I'm sure its not, but I had an issue with over activity during fermentation, had to change the airlock several times. I was worried and hoping there was no contamination

Great summer evening drink

Review by Richard C. on 9/25/2008

Pros: Easy brewing , great flavor even for those non beer drinker types. A little fruity taste. Everyone I gave ot to enjoyed it

Cons: None