Brewer to brewer, Kolsch is indistinguishable

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Message nuplastikk P beers 9859 º places 73 º 19:25 Mon 5/6/2013 Originally posted by KyotoLefty or·di·nar·y /’ôrdn?ere/ Adjective With no special or distinctive features; normal. It seems quite mistaken to me to say across the board that German beers have "no special or distinctive features." Actually, I simply can’t understand that statement. Seems to me like this whole thread is about "US craft beers rock and the old world sucks." Kinda weird, though not surprising on this site. Who said the US craft beer rocks so hard anyway? While it may, I completely respect the German beer world and roll my eyes at anyone disparaging it. If you can’t find anything to enjoy in Hefeweizem, Bock, Doppelbock, Rauchbier, Berliner Weisse, Weizenbock, Kellerbier, Pils, Alt ect..you have beer problems. And if you think all the Alts taste the same in Dusseldorf, you must’ve really not been paying attention. 1.80 for a Kolsch or Alt does kind of suck, was around 1 euro when I was there in 2003.
Message SHIG P admin beers 13083 º places 502 º 19:41 Mon 5/6/2013 Originally posted by KyotoLefty or·di·nar·y /’ôrdn?ere/ Adjective With no special or distinctive features; normal. It seems quite mistaken to me to say across the board that German beers have "no special or distinctive features." Actually, I simply can’t understand that statement. Seems to me like this whole thread is about "US craft beers rock and the old world sucks." Kinda weird, though not surprising on this site. Everyone is making this into US vs the world. Last I new ratebeer was about voicing your opinions on beer, not personal attacks on others views. It seems that many have forgotten this fact. When I started here 7 yrs ago I can’t remember it being this drama filled. I guess we have reached the level where drama ensues if someone beliefs different from the masses/the real beer raters. Since all of you seem to know me so well and obviously want to discredit my existence/experiences outside the US since I now call Anchorage home. Here the facts of my life since 2000. Moved to Germany May 2000-Nov 04 South Korea Dec 04-Jan 06 Germany Jan 06-09 started rating and getting into beer Jan 06 Italy Feb 09-11 South Korea Mar 11-12 Anchorage Apr 12-Jan 13 UAE Jan 13-hopefully out of here soon. As you can see I grew up learning about craft beer in Europe not the US. However in my time in Germany I can honestly say I was not won over by their styles and find them boring. I also could not to this day differentiate between several German brewers and their take on a particular style. This came apparent after reviewing notes from the Berlin Beerfest in ’08. 60+ samples from almost every region of Germany with similar notes on each beer in style. I credit them with tradition and flawless presentation to their craft, but this causes them to almost all taste the same to me in each given style. Now I can take into account that I am by no means the expert and probably never will be on all things beer, but I would appreciate this site going back to where we all could voice our opinions freely without being judges by condescending "know it all". In the end its about learning more and enjoying beer. I’m sure I can still learn more about these styles and maybe someday enjoy them as passionately as others do, but that will come from people providing feedback instead of picking apart peoples opinions. Can we now go back to the original topic? Or are we going to continue attacking ME until this becomes yet another frozen/disappeared thread?
Message User37895 beers 3085 º places 92 º 19:50 Mon 5/6/2013 Koelsch and altbier are tools to expose unrefined ignorance in supposed beer experts. They further help to distinguish those that need bold or outrageous extremes in brewing to get excited or differentiate. They also help to provide fodder for beer geek forums. I haven’t been back to either city, Koln or Dusseldorf, in five or so years. I’d go back in a second. Wonderful summertime experiences. There are clearly examples of either style that are blah, excellent, and actually quite bad - in both cities. Go to the US and you often find complete bastardizations of both styles. They aren’t easy to brew well. They travel poorly too. Either is a tough experience in the US. Cambridge in Connecticut does them both quite well.

Message tennisjoel P beers 2238 º places 53 º 20:41 Mon 5/6/2013 Originally posted by adnielsen If you have problems distinguishing Kolsch, maybe it’s time that you try the best Kolsch in the world: Cigar City Pilot Series Pineapple Kolsch. Yes, that’s sounds awesome, even if it is technically a fruit beer.
Message CLevar places 23 º 21:38 Mon 5/6/2013 Originally posted by KyotoLefty Originally posted by CLevar Originally posted by KyotoLefty or·di·nar·y /’ôrdn?ere/ Adjective With no special or distinctive features; normal. It seems quite mistaken to me to say across the board that German beers have "no special or distinctive features." Actually, I simply can’t understand that statement. Seems to me like this whole thread is about "US craft beers rock and the old world sucks." Kinda weird, though not surprising on this site. ISO: .rar Cantillon. Yes, that’s one of the exceptions. I don’t know about that being an exception instead of an example of a more general rule. (I would say that something like Hill Farmstead as it relates to American Breweries is more of an exception than Cantillon is to Euro breweries discussed on this site, but I digress) You can always find plenty of people who will go off about QC, carbonation, acetic character, one dimensionality, malt profile, hop profile, etc, etc, etc of American examples of Euro styles (not just sours), but lots of folks will jump to the defense of Euro brews (as evidenced by this thread...). Just my $.02. What do I know, anyway?
Message KyotoLefty P beers 15107 º places 1061 º 21:55 Mon 5/6/2013 I think it’s a mistake to say that anyone who disagrees with the OP (and others of the same camp) is harassing. I for one haven’t harassed anyone. This kind of OP is provocative, and it was obviously meant to be: a sweeping generalization with which many people were likely to disagree, like "I finally went to Cologne and don’t see what all the fuss is about..." ("Even though so many of you say the kolsch there is so special..." being implied.) That’s fine. It’s also fine (and to be expected) that many people simply and strongly disagree. Does that mean we’re the experts? Not necessarily. But what I find interesting is this: If you say: "Kolsch is boring," or "I don’t like weizens." There is nothing I can really say, as that is your preference. But if you say "All kolschs taste the same," or "German beers have no distinctive features," then we are talking about a more objective claim. I find kolsch to be not very interesting overall, but have been to Cologne twice and tried several of them there, and when I hear someone saying that they are indistinguishable one from another, I imagine that person must not have been paying much attention.
Message StefanSD beers 2449 º places 57 º 22:29 Mon 5/6/2013 For some reason I’m reminded of another thread by the original poster. Anyone remember this one-- http://www.ratebeer.com/forums/minnesota-is-rating-cigar-city_124073.htm

Message left_bank beers 106 º places 107 º 23:34 Mon 5/6/2013 ya,the 3rd comment in this thread,which was mine,said something similar to "how predictable" from this poster...which i deleted cause i did not think that this thread was worth 7+ pages.
Message Erlangernick beers 6 º places 2 º 00:32 Tue 5/7/2013 Has Kölsch not changed over the years though? I’ve heard this from non-ratebeerians whose palates I know to trust and respect, who’ve visited the city repeatedly...even for decades in one case. My own first visit in 2002 found me loving the fine subtleties in the differences between Früh and Malzmühle. But then on more recent visits, it’s like, hmmm, they’re starting to resemble each other more and more. (Feel free to suggest I suffer from palate drift -- I don’t, but no one has to believe me.) Ron, please tell us about where that Braufactum Bitterbier fits into all this -- did Kölsch used to not be more like that?
Message Erlangernick beers 6 º places 2 º 00:34 Tue 5/7/2013 Also, the vast bulk of the beer brewed by the 1200(?) breweries in Germany is intended to be indistinguishable from each other -- this is a trend that has been going on for years now and is well documented by the media, even with TV shows about it.