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    Friday 9 November 2007

    Drinkability


    I had a few beers yesterday in Leicester. Mostly English cask ales, but I also had a couple of foreign bottled beers. I first had Mühlen Kölsch; one of Köln's finest. Then later I had Sloeber from Brouwerij Roman in Oudenaarde, Belgium.

    I am not a big fan of Kölsch. I think it lacks flavour. Not much in the way of hoppiness and not much in the way of malts. This one just tasted like a smooth refreshing lager with a creamy texture. What I mean by this is it didn't have what I describe as lager snatch, that nasty adjuncty bite that poor lagers give you.

    Sloeber is a Belgian Strong Ale, and is full of spicy peppery hop flavours as well as nice yeasty notes. It's got much more character than the Kölsch and is a far more interesting beer.

    However, these beers made me think about drinkability. As stated, the Kölsch was smooth and very easy to drink and even though the rain was sheeting down outside it was the sort of beer I could have had another of as it was pretty refreshing. The Sloeber on the other hand was a bit of a struggle. It was a little heavy from the carbonation, and the spiciness was a little distracting.

    Drinkability is not scored on RateBeer, and even though Sloeber scores higher using their scale, it was the Mühlen that was more satisfying. I wonder if I am going soft and mellowing into a lager drinker or if I'm just getting fed up of average Belgian ales?

    4 comments:

    Kieran Haslett-Moore said...

    "What I mean by this is it didn't have what I describe as lager snatch, that nasty adjuncty bite that poor lagers give you."

    could you expand on this alittle? Im not quite sure what you mean.

    Anonymous said...

    I've only ever enjoyed Koelsch in Cologne -- it's got quite a subtle distinguishing flavour, which doesn't seem to age or travel well. Whenever I've had it in Britain (Dom, Frueh, Kueppers and Gilden) it's just tasted like any old lager. The Meantime one from Sainsbury's is the best I've had here, and that's nothing to write home about.

    Mark Edwards said...

    Kieran. I guess I am talking about that chemical bitterness I get from mass produced lagers which I also experience in a lot of Eurofizz or cheap Eastern European imports we have at the moment. These types of lagers do not have the mellow drinkability that a good hoppy pilsener or an unfiltered German lager has.

    Kieran Haslett-Moore said...

    Ok I see, Im not sure that could be attributed to adjuncts, more likly isomerised hop extracts.

    I have never been to Cologne and have only experianced Kolsh through homebrewed versions and I find it a desperatly boring style.