Image taken from Metro Brewing

Type: Beer – Kölsch
Name:Metropolitan Krankshaft Kölsch
Price: $6 at a pub in Chicago
Made: Chicago, IL
Alc/Vol: 5%

“Brewed in homage to the beer of Cologne, Krankshaft is a pale straw hued smile in a glass. We throw in a little wheat malt to round out an easy Santiam hop bitterness. There are no Köbes to serve them up, but you should feel free to have as many as you like.

Krankshaft Kölsch style beer goes great with fruit salad, sailing, pot stickers, graduation parties, gyros, kick ball, pistachios, cole slaw, Star Trek marathons, miso, rye vodka, canoeing, dinner waffles, dal, gelato, star gazing, popcorn, beach combing, barbeque, lawn chairs, chiles rellenos, muenster cheese, Black Jack, hummus & pita, pinball, guacamole, gardening, French Onion soup, and yoga. “

This is a little hard to believe, a German beer with French onion soup….seems like an insult to one or the other and I’m sure there is a French joke in there somewhere.

I had this beer at an “Irish” pub called D4 on E. Ohio St. in Chicago, IL this past weekend. The pub had green paint on the walls and that was as Irish as I could make it out to be. They had a beer section for five or six countries yet their three Irish beers were lumped in the ‘other’ category. I’d give them a break but the staff were about as friendly and welcoming as a brick wall. I decided to try a local selection, I already had a Pizzaria Uno Amber Ale but forgot to write about it and I sampled too many drinks throughout the night to honestly recall that one other than I liked it. I saw that there was a German style Kölsh beer from Chicago and seeing I’ve never really had either (Chicago beer or Kölsh style) it was time to swing into a Chicago sampling.

D4 pub Logo taken from D4pub.com

This was my first Kölsh that I can distinctly remember, it tastes familiar but I can’t recall enjoying that style of beer before and from what I’ve read it is a pretty unique style of brew. The taste was sweet with a little bit of hops at the tail end. It had a fruity/citrus flavoring to it but I couldn’t narrow down if it had a distinct fruit taste or the citrus mix was more pronounce (grape or apple maybe?). The beer had a straw yellow coloring to it but was still light, not cloudy. The taste was slightly watered down, for all it’s complexity it was very light and didn’t have that bite that I’ve come to expect with German beers, although it sounds like that is the way Kölsh beers are brewed. I kind of wish I could have shook off my allergies because I would have been able to enjoy the subtleties of this beer that I’m sure I missed.

The beer is a good beer, something I picture myself more likely to drink in the summer then fall or winter seasons. However, I just don’t think Kölsh is the beer for me, I’ll have to try a few more but I tend to favor darker beers than light summer style brews. I give this beer a 2.5 out of 5 bananas, it has spunk and the difficulty in this style of brewing shows that this brewery knows that it is doing. Yet, I think it would have fared better if we met at a different time, a different place, a different season.

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