New Holland Brewery has outdone itself again. If you consider yourself any sort of fermented malt beverage maven you owe it to yourself to try their Lucid Kolsch-style! Not overly hopped, and a wonderfully fresh aftertaste.
Got a six at Warehouse Beverage, but I've yet to crack one open. Based on the growing number of Kolsch beers I'm seeing on store shelves, I think it's going to be the next popular rediscovered style, similar to the boom in wheats in the mid 1990s, and Belgian-style whites and ales in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Any of you think there are other esoteric styles of beer which could be "rediscovered" and see popularity among a larger audience? I'd like to see more altbiers; they have the heavy hoppiness that is the trademark of beers from Three Floyds and Victory, two craft breweries who are enjoyng growing popularity. I also see rauchbiers becoming a little but more common in the future; certainly not widespread, but not as rare as they are now.
A side note .. gotta' be careful from now on at Lina's in Painesville. They have a HUGE beer selection for what looks like a hole-in-the-wall cigs-and-lottery store in a very blue-collar town, all refrigerated too (!), with a lot of Belgians, Eastern Europeans and Germans that are missing from the shevves at Warehouse Beverage. However, it seems like a lot of their stock is out-of-date. I saw H.C. Berger bombers in the coolers; a Fort Collins brewery that closed in
2002. For old time's sake, I bought a bottle of Mountain Kolsch.
It poured with chunks. After a swig, I used it to water my plants.
Warehouse Beverage in South Euclid may not have all their beers refrigerated, but their stock is fresh, and their massive selection of US craft beers counters the depth of imports at Lina's.
That's all I have to say about lists like this. It's like comparing McDonald's to Ruth's Chris, Wal-Mart to hand made, etc. etc. Damn, this country is embarrassing sometimes.... :gagged:
