Goose Island Summertime

Pale yellow hazy with a white head. Aroma is corn malt and grass. Flavor is malt, corn, grass and a a fruity sweetness. Mediocre but not in any way bad.

On tap at Wrigleyville Goose Island. Poured gold with a white head. Aroma was of barley and malts. Flavor had some underlying sweet notes, but other than that, quite basic.

Pours cloudy pale yellow with a 3 finger fluffy white head that has good retention. Aroma is straw, sweet grass, hints of apricot, some bready yeast notes, citrus and a touch of lime soda. Flavor is sweet and somewhat sour citrus to start, fruity yeast esters in the middle, and some nice lemongrass and hay to finish. Palate is thin and fairly sweet all the way through with a slightly slick feel toward the back. Good stuff overall, I really can find much fault in it as a nice summertime quencher, it’s not the most interesting or complex... but that’s not what it’s here for. Light, thirst quenching, and delicious. I should probably add that I have had this stuff a number of times in the past and it has never tasted this good. I think it probably goes south pretty quickly.

12 oz bottle. Had this a few times, and it is a wonderful session beer that you can drink straight from the bottle, but for this tasting, I poured it into a glass. Pours a dark, yet pale yellow, with a small white head that dies quickly. Smells of VERY light hops, some malt, a little bit of fruit (reminds me of tangerine), and maybe some yeast. Tastes of that fruit taste, a little malt, a hint of hops, and thats about it. Very light, drinkable. Sessionable, I’m a lightweight and I could drink a 6 pk of this is in one sitting, but it is nice during the summer.

Draft at Harry Caray’s Tavern, Chicago. Hazy light gold pour with thin white head. Aroma fruity, yeasty. Flavor of sweet malt and some citrus. Thin body and texture. Would be refreshing on a hot summer day, which this was not. Not bad.

Bottle. Poursa hazy gold with a thin white head. Aroma is sweet malts, a small bit of hops and not much else. On the palate it is refreshing and crisp. The flavor was a bit watered down, but it was refreshing for a hot day. I am not a big fan of a Kolsch, but this one was pretty good.

Sampled at Chicago O’Hare at the Goose Island bar there. Pours out a hazy yellow with a white head that quickly goes away. Aroma is a touch of sweet malts and some fruit buried in there. Taste is very much the same, I dunno this one left me wanting more. Kolsch can be excellent for a nice fruity refresher but this one was just off for some reason. Not the best example of a Kolsch I’ve had, but then again, I haven’t had very many. Perhaps I’ll need to visit this one again.

A blonde Kolsch with a thin white head. A fruity aroma with light mineral notes, and a bit of boiled veggies. In mouth, a clean crisp malt with light sweet notes, and a bit of hops. Refreshing. On tap at Clybourn, May 17 2009.