Name: Knew Kolsch
Brand: Farmington Brewing Company
Availability: InStock

The pun in the name is the least conventional thing about Farmington Brewing Company's newest tap. Knew Kolsch is pouring now at the Grand River Avenue taproom at 5.5 percent ABV, and everything underneath the name is by the book.

The brewery says it brewed with Pilsen malt and hopped with Hallertau and Hersbrucker, two German aroma varieties named for the Bavarian districts they come from. Both sit at the delicate, faintly herbal and floral end of the hop range rather than the citrus-and-pine end most American taprooms are built on. In a beer this pale and this clean, there is no malt weight or hop resin to hide behind. That makes the pairing close to the entire flavor plan.

Kolsch is a hybrid by design. The Cologne original is fermented warm with ale yeast, then conditioned cold like a lager. The result lands crisper than an ale and slightly fruitier than a pilsner. Farmington's version runs a touch stronger than the Cologne standard. The brewery frames it plainly as its take on the traditional style rather than a reinvention of it.

That framing carries some history. Kolsch is a protected name in Europe, locked down by a 1986 agreement among brewers in and around Cologne and recognized by the EU in 1997. It is closed to breweries outside that radius. The protection does not travel past the EU border. That is why a Michigan taproom can put the word on a menu at all, and why plenty of American versions still hedge and call theirs Kolsch-style. Farmington does not hedge.

Knew Kolsch is on tap now, part of a new-arrivals list that also includes a Vanilla Bean Porter and the brewery's Oktoberfest.

Editor’s Take

Knew Kolsch. It is the sort of pun that only lands out loud, and it has been attached to the quietest beer on the board - a style whose entire appeal is that it never raises its voice, handed the loudest name on the tap list.

There is a nice irony sitting underneath it, too. Kolsch is one of the most fiercely defended words in beer: two dozen brewers in and around Cologne signed a convention in 1986 to lock it down, the EU recognized it in 1997, and to this day a new Kolsch brewery can only open in Cologne itself. Which makes a Michigan beer called Knew Kolsch - Pilsen malt, Hallertau, Hersbrucker, not a single 'style' asterisk in sight - rather charming. It stands cheerfully outside a fence it was never inside, and then builds the thing to spec anyway. Hallertau and Hersbrucker together in a beer this pale is an unshowy, genuinely traditional pairing, and there is real satisfaction in a brewery reaching for two hops nobody has ever put on the front of a can.

Source & Editorial

JollyPint independently prepares release articles using information published by breweries through newsletters, websites, and other official public communications. Brewery-supplied descriptions and tasting notes are reported as provided, while editorial context is added by JollyPint.

Knew Kolsch Builds a Cologne Classic on Hallertau and Hersbrucker

Farmington's newest tap keeps the paperwork German: Pilsen malt, Hallertau and Hersbrucker hops, and a 5.5 percent finish. Knew Kolsch is pouring now at the Grand River Avenue taproom.

Source & Editorial