Kölsch

Appearance & taste

Kölsch is a pale, highly attenuated, hop-accented, clear top-fermented beer. Besides the full-strength beer there is reduced-alcohol Kölsch with 2.1 to 2.8 % vol. and alcohol-free Kölsch with less than 0.5 % vol. The beers they are made from must meet the same quality requirements.

Production

Kölsch is brewed according to the German Purity Law with pure-culture top-fermenting yeast. Only brewing malt from barley and/or wheat, hops, brewing water and top-fermenting yeast are allowed. Some of the brewing water comes from the breweries’ own wells, and some of the yeast is cultivated by the breweries of the area themselves.

The malt is milled, mashed with water and lautered. The wort is boiled with hops, clarified, cooled and fermented with top-fermenting yeast; the yeast collects at the top. The young beer matures, is filtered and stored in pressure tanks. Bottling may also take place outside the area. For reduced-alcohol and alcohol-free Kölsch, the alcohol is removed from the finished beer in the area, for example by vacuum distillation, reverse osmosis or dialysis.

Origin & history

The area covers the city of Cologne and the towns of Bedburg, Bonn, Brühl, Dormagen, Frechen, Leverkusen, Monheim and Wiehl.

According to the specification, brewing in Cologne and the surrounding area goes back to the 9th century; the first record of it comes from a foundation charter of Gerresheim Abbey. Around 1250 the brewers’ guild was formed in Cologne. Until the early 20th century only top-fermented beer was brewed. When bottom-fermented beer appeared, the city council and the brewing office banned it for a time to protect the traditional brewing trade. Since January 1994 reduced-alcohol and alcohol-free Kölsch have been made exclusively by Kölsch breweries.