Stewart's Wind Blown Blonde Kölsch

As Adam has said before, we are pretty fortunate to live so close to more than a few great brew pubs, the closest of which is Stewart's Brewing Company. This was my second trip to Stewart's. During my first visit I tried their Irish Red and their 2008 Barleywine, both of which I enjoyed. This time around I was in the mood for something light and drinkable, and the Wind Blown Blonde sounded like just the beer I was looking for.

The Wind Blown Blonde is a Kölsch, a slightly obscure style, which is usually served in a Stange or what has come to be called a Kölsch glass. A tall, narrow, straight-walled glass, it is also referred to as a "pole" or "thimble." It would seem the style takes its name from the German city of Köln (Cologne) where it was first, and for many years, exclusively brewed.

The beer had a pale golden color to it. It was completely clear, and there was no head to speak of. In fact, I hardly recall seeing more than a few bubbles in the glass.

The smell was mainly of grain. It had a very tight nose, i think, due to the narrow glass and substantial lack of carbonation. There was a definite breadiness to it, though, and a bit of oats (almost the smell of a box of Cheerios). The sweetness came out as I sniffed more, but there was no clear scent to distinguish there.

The taste was sweet, slightly fruity, and had a bit of a honey component to it. As I sipped more, I was reminded of the meade that I have at home, but only by the sweetness that first hits the tongue. The sweetness moves smoothly into a grainy, wheat flavor, which I enjoyed. There was a mild to medium hop flavor on the back of the tongue.

This is where this beer really grabbed my attention. The sweet flavor at first, moving to grainy, and finally to that light hoppiness reminded me of Leffe Blonde. Not Leffe by itsself, however, but with a cigar. Adam, and I discovered this combination a while back, and noticed how much more enjoyable Leffe was when changed by the flavor of a cigar. This has since become a recurring experiment for me, to see exactly how the flavor of a beer is changed by smoking a cigar, which will be obvious in my review of Brooklyn Brewery's Monster Barleywine (coming soon, I promise).

The light carbonation and watery feel of this beer gave it a very thin mouthfeel. It wasn't undercarbonated like I would expect from the look, though.

Overall, I enjoyed this beer. It was light and refreshing, and exactly what I was looking for. I had a second glass, which came with some head on it (about half a finger). Given that this reminded me of the altered flavor of Leffe, I am curious to see what a cigar would do to this beer. I suppose I'll just have to go fill a growler of it and find out.

-Dan