Goose Island Summertime

Brewed by Goose Island Beer Company
Style: Kölsch
Chicago, Illinois USA

12-oz bottle received via trade with unclemike. Pours clear and sparkling dark yellow with a spare, fizzy, white head, mostly diminishing with spare lacing. Aroma is heavy malt (hay, straw, meal), light hops (flowers, grass), average yeast (dough, sweat) with notes of grape and cooked cabbage. Light bodied, sticky texture, average carbonation, and a chalky finish. Average duration, light sweetness, acidity, and bitterness.

From bottle. August Dayton Beer Tasting event - Favorite Summer Brews. Pours clear gold with decent head. Light bodied. Not a lot of aroma or flavors to grab onto. Decent lawnmower beer but not up to par with some of their other beers.

Bottle at GBBF08. Weak fruity aroma. Clear shiny golden colour. Small white head. The flavour has a little caramel but is quite light. A little rough bitterness in the finish.

Pours a very light gold that is murky and pale in color. Typical. Decent head on the pour. Smell is slight fruit, mostly lemon. All malt in the taste. Good amount of bitterness. Very crisp, light and refreshing. Not my cup of tea, but good enough.

A Mes rate: bottle at GBBF.
Pale gold with a thin white head. Dull and watery with very little action. Faint fruity notes, some card and metal and hints of butter. Bland as hell, very short in the finish, pretty lifeless all round.

Bottled at Monk’s Café, Stockholm. Lightly hazy pale golden, small head. Almost neutral nose. Fairly light bodied dense and somewhat sweet. Fruity with some cereals. The short fruit flavour quickly fades out into slight metal. More bland/fruity than refreshing.

Kolsch has long been one of my favorite beer styles, so it’s no wonder that I can’t wait for those hot summer days, when nothing but a clean, crisp and gentle kolsch could possibly be better. Goose Island actually makes an excellent example of this style. It pours a very pale gold, with a brilliant, lustery, whipped topping-like head, and leaves plenty of foam and lacing. The aroma is like fresh hay, a warm summer evening, and a cool breeze. It has a sherbety, ripe red strawberry, herbal lavendar calmness. Summertime’s taste is ever-so-gentle- tickling the tongue, bringing forth lemon sorbet, bubblegum, strawberries, and a fresh, minty, cooling zestiness that quenches the thirst and soothes the soul.

Draft at Goose Island Clybourn brewpub, listed simply as "Kolsch". A clear very pale straw, little head or carbonation. No noticeable aroma. Things pick up with the flavour. First taste has significant flavour and body to it. Grassy malts and crisp hops seem like they fit the style, though I’m certainly no expert.