Pours of Loon Call, a pilsner by Batson River Brewing & Distilling; Golden Path, a pilsner by Battery Steele Brewing; and Bandicoot, a Kolsch-style ale by Odd by Nature Brewing look similar in the glass. Photos by Caitlin Enz
It’s almost impossible to tell a pilsner from a Kolsch by looks alone because of their similar straw-to-gold color range. But there are other ways to identify the different styles, and the abundant options made by Maine breweries make practicing easy.
For my tasting, I tried Loon Call, a pilsner by Batson River Brewing & Distilling (which has locations in Biddeford, Kennebunk, Wells and Portland); Golden Path, a pilsner by Battery Steele Brewing in Portland; and Bandicoot, a Kolsch-style ale by Odd by Nature Brewing in Cape Neddick.
The first clue to which style of beer you’re tasting is in the scent. Swirl your beer around in the glass and then get your nose down close to it. German pilsners will smell perfume-y, floral or herbal because of the hops, with notes of water crackers or white bread from the malt. Czech pilsners will smell like white bread or bread crust (malt), with spicy, floral or mint notes (hops). Kolschs will be bready (malt), with hop notes similar to the pilsners, and slightly fruity (yeast).
All of these beer styles are crisp and refreshing, so when tasting, you’ll need to search for specific flavors and pay attention to bitterness. The flavor of these styles is similar to their smell, and both types of pilsners have more pronounced bitterness than Kolschs.
These styles are difficult to tell apart because they use similar ingredients and brewing processes; the main distinction is that pilsners are made with lager yeast and Kolschs are made with ale yeast. Kolschs are sometimes called hybrid beers because they are fermented with ale yeast (which ferments at a higher temperature and tends to add more flavor to the beer than lager yeast), but are otherwise treated like a lager: fermented at a lower temperature and then lagered or stored.
The low fermentation and lagering temperatures keep the yeast in check and only add a small amount of flavor to the beer. This makes Kolschs special: clean and crisp like pilsners, but with some of the fruitiness usually associated with ales.
I enjoy Kolschs on hot and sunny days, because they’re so perfectly refreshing. During this tasting, it wasn’t exactly sunny or warm, but I channeled the spring while taking these notes.
The cans for the same beers.
LOON CALL, BATSON RIVER BREWING & DISTILLING
Style: Pilsner
Tasting notes: Light gold with white head. Smells floral and like white bread. As the beer warms up, the floral scent becomes more pronounced. Tastes floral and like white bread. I would categorize this as a German pilsner.
GOLDEN PATH, BATTERY STEELE BREWING
Style: Bohemian pilsner
Tasting notes: Light gold with white head. Floral, slightly toasted white bread with a hint of caramel. As it warms up, it smells more herbal. Tastes herbal, slightly spicy, and like slightly toasted white bread. I would categorize this as a Czech Pilsner.
BANDICOOT, ODD BY NATURE BREWING
Style: Kolsch-style ale
Tasting notes: Light gold with white head. Smells like white bread, slightly fruity, corn. Tastes like white bread, slightly fruity, with some notes of corn.
Caitlin Enz is a Certified Cicerone® who lives in Portland. Follow her on Instagram at @hops_and_brains.
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