Old Bore

Today was interesting, but much of the interesting stuff cannot be shared on social media. I did end up doing some research on beers.

It is not what I was meant to be doing, but in a desperate effort to find some "festive" spirit, I went for it. 

I had gone into a nearby shop to buy a beer for one of my colleagues to drink when she got home. I knew she would need it - a tough day for her. The can of Früh in the shop's fridge caught my eye immediately. Früh is a brand you see everywhere in Köln.

Being a Radler (2.2% alcohol) it was unsuitable for the medicinal requirement my colleague had. But the one next to it (a Scottish pale ale) seemed ideal. Two Towns Down Brewery was founded in 2019 and is just starting to get a reputation. 

By contrast, the Früh brewery was founded in 1904 and produces 380,000 hectolitres annually. 

Cölner Hofbräu Früh is a Köln based brewery specialising in a beer called Kölsch. It has PGI status. The expression can only be used for a beer made within 50 km of the city and it must be brewed according to the Kölsch Konvention. Kölsch is filtered and not cloudy and must be brewed according to the Reinheitsgebot*.It is warm fermented with top-fermenting yeast, then conditioned at cold temperatures like a lager. It is served in a traditional 200ml Stange type of glass.

I drank the occasional Kölsch made by Früh during my two visits to Köln this year. 

I ended up with a can of the pale ale to try myself, and of course the Radler. I also bored the pants off the young woman serving in the shop with my stories of German beers, football matches and Bratwurst.


* Bavarian beer purity law which is now "German" but pre-dates unification by a few hundred years.