Party Eyes Kölsch

Party Eyes Kölsch by BrewBilt Brewing was judged as a Kölsch, Category 5B, per the 2021 BJCP Style Guidelines.

A brilliantly clear, bright yellow beer arrives in a beer-clean glass with a rocky, fizzy, eggshell-white head sitting atop it, standing about two inches above the liquid. Small bubbles rise steadily from nucleation sites at the bottom of the glass. The head persists and retains at least an inch of thickness more than a minute after first catching my admiration. An initial big sniff reveals medium-low intensity grainy, nearly sweet malt blended with low spicy and herbal hops. Diving back in for additional nasal hits, I find a slight white cracker-like toastiness to the malt character, somewhat led by an earthy, woody hop aroma.

The first sip is a soft, crisp mouthful where the malt serves as the backbone while allowing spicy and herbal hops and a soft general fruitiness to appear. The fruitiness hints at sweetness that is deftly restrained by a balanced, subtle, low-intensity hop bitterness. The malt character is mostly neutral with a hint of graininess. Into the finish, the earthy, herbal, and spicy hops linger at the very tip of the tongue, while the residual malt sweetness hangs around mid-tongue. All flavors are subtle, but discernible and distinct. The beer finishes dry and has an appropriate mouthfeel. Carbonation is medium and feels a touch higher due to the interplay with some lingering soft hop bitterness.

This beer represents the Kölsch style quite well. The malt aroma has a slight cracker-like toastiness that gives a pleasant complexity to an otherwise subtle beer. Fruitiness is optional in this style, and this sample leans toward the lower-intensity side. A beer this delicate could be paired with a soft, buttery cheese or alongside some briny oysters, where the delicate characters of both beer and food would complement each other.