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KC Bier Co.

Putting the i back in bier.

König Eisbock & the Science and History of Eisbock

Written by · Categorized: Bier, Bier Nerd

Every April at Kansas City Bier Company, we fill a small tank with Carolator, our Pale Doppelbock Lager, and gradually lower the temperature until ice forms. Thus, König Eisbock (“King Ice Bock”) is born.

Historic Illustration of Kulmbach, Germany

“The origin of Eisbock is frequently attributed to the Franconian city of Kulmbach in northern Bavaria. Folklore holds that, when a barrel of bock was left outside during a particularly cold winter night in the 1890s, brewers came back to discover that ice had formed in the bier and expanded, breaking the wooden staves. They also found that the block of ice was encapsulating a small amount of dark liquid, which tasted delcious. They realized that the water froze but the alcohol did not, thus concentrating the alcohol content and flavors. Because the beer was frozen, it became known as Eisbock, meaning “ice bock”.

A zoomed-in view of ice forming inside of a tank of beer. The ice is yellow-tinted and has brown flecks of sediment.
Ice formed in the tank of Carolator

When a brewer freezes a bock (or more typically, a Doppelbock) the ice floats to the top of the tank. The dewatered, high-alcohol beer is then drained from below, leaving the ice behind. The beer takes on a distinctively alcoholic character in mouthfeel and aroma from the concentrated levels of esters and fusel alcohols that impart dark fruit flavors, such as prune and raisin. The caramel malt flavors are also concentrated, which creates a full body and rich, semisweet finish. Freezing reduces the solubility of proteins and harsh polyphenols, which are more readily removed during filtration, producing a smoother tasting beer.”

Our König Eisbock, however, is not made from a frozen dark Doppelbock, but rather, a pale one. Instead of caramel and dark fruit flavors, the freezing process imparts a honey-like sweetness and notes of golden raisin. This decadent bier will be available only at the Bierhalle beginning on April 8th in 4-packs to go and on draught.

A four-pack of König Eisbock and a doppelbock glass full of amber colored beer. The 4-pack label has a goat with icy horns against a blue-gray mountain backdrop. Behind the beer is a pallet of more 4-pack decorated with green Easter grass.
König Eisbock
Sources: 

Holle, Stephen R. et. al. Beer Steward Handbook: A Practice Guide to Understanding Beer, Second Edition. 2012 Master Brewers Association of America. 

Oliver, Garrett. The Oxford Companion to Beer. 2011 Oxford University Press

From the Archives: Other German Ales- Kölsch and Altbier

Written by · Categorized: Bier Nerd

Before he opened KC Bier Co, founder and managing owner Steve Holle wrote a lot about bier. We’ve started pulling some of our favorite excerpts from his articles and books and sharing them here for all of you who want to dig deep into bier science and history. First up is an excerpt* about Kölsch and Altbier from Steve’s 2012 book, Beer Steward Handbook: A Practical Guide to Understanding Beer. Enjoy!

*Headings and photos were added for readability

Germany is widely known for its lager and wheat ales, but several other important ale styles are produced in Germany. Kölsch from the city of Cologne (Köln) and Alt from the city of Düsseldorf are two top-fermenting beers from two northern cities that elected to hold onto the old tradition of brewing ales, albeit employing cooler fermentation and cellaring conditions than do the English and Belgians. While these two cities share a close geographical proximity and cling proudly to the old tradition of brewing ales, the two styles are distinctively different and patriotically championed within their respective cities.

Kölsch

Cologne, Germany on a map. Encyclopedia Britannica

Cologne is an ancient Roman city that grew into a major mercantile center as part of the Hanseatic League of free cities in the Middle Ages. Since a free city was granted considerable independence from the feudal laws of the time, Cologne thrived along with its sister cities in the league as centers of commerce, including the brewing and exporting of beer. Free enterprise and market competition helped brewers in Cologne and other northern cities surpass their southern German neighbors in the quality of their beer. In fact, to retain its brewing identity, the city of Cologne actually forbade the brewing of bottom-fermenting beer in 1603 in response to the Reinheitsgebot, which established the dominance of bottom-fermenting beer in Bavaria. Almost 350 years later, Cologne brewers would again establish by law their unique identity as top-fermenting beer brewers with the Kölsch Konvention.

The spread of pale lager brewing also reached Cologne in the nineteenth century. While lager beer grew in popularity, the brewers of top-fermenting beer did not totally abandon their traditional brewing but rather modified it to create a new type of beer. Probably in recognition of the popularity of the clean, refreshing, bitter Pils, certain top-fermenting beer producers began using pilsner malt, fermenting at the lowest temperature limits (e.g.,60°F/16°C) to produce a less fruity taste and finishing the beer with a long, cold maturation period. Essentially, Cologne began producing Pils but with top-fermenting yeast, which they named Kölsch, after the city where it was brewed. Kölsch is also the name of the local Low German dialect, making it the only language that can be both spoken and enjoyed!

Kölsch Kovention

Certificate of the Kölsch Convention of March 6, 1986 with the signatures and seals of the Cologne breweries

Nevertheless, Pils became the dominant beer style in Cologne after World War II. In 1948, an association of local breweries created a formal agreement called the Kölsch Konvention to preserve their local beer style and protect it from outside imitators and even against local producers that switched to bottom-fermenting yeast. The main tenant of the agreement states,

“The designation ‘Kölsch’ may only be used for pale, highly-attenuated, hop-emphasized, top-fermented ‘Vollbier‘ (i.e.,11-14% extract) that is produced according to the Reinheitsgebot within the Kölsch area of origination.”

Their efforts proved highly successful since Kölsch overtook Pils in popularity in Cologne, and in 1986, the German government adopted the Kölsch Konvention as federal law, giving legal status to the Kölsch name. This meant that only the two dozen or so member breweries in and around Cologne could call their beer Kölsch, thus creating an Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée. In 1997, the European Union also recognized this same appellation. Therefore, in the European Union, only sparkling wine from the Champagne region of France can be called champagne and only pale, top-fermenting beer brewed in Cologne can be called Kölsch.

Kölsch Characteristics

KC Bier Co Kölsch, Köln-Style Golden Ale

Kölsch is a very pale, refreshing beer with distinct noble hop bitterness. The beer resembles Pils in many ways but may have a hint of fruitiness to indicate that it is still an ale. Because it is top-fermented, other malts besides barley are permissible ingredients, and on occasion, some brewers may include up to approximately 15% pale wheat malt in the grist. Authentic German examples are not widely available in the United

States, but craft brewers frequently offer the style for their customers who prefer light golden lagers. Although not legally required to recognize the Kölsch appellation in the United States, respectful brewers labelthese beers “Kölsch-style” beer to indicate it was not brewed in Cologne.

Notable Examples: Reissdorf Kölsch, Gaffel Kölsch, Früh Kölsch, Küppers Kölsch, Sünner Kölsch

Alt

Gaffel Kölsch glassware and serving tray. Credit: Valéry Kloubert fotodesign Copyright: © Valery Kloubert

Alt in German means “old” in reference to the older traditions of brewing with top-fermenting yeast. The city most associated with Altbier is Düsseldorf in northern Germany, a mere 45 kilometers north of Cologne. Like Kölsch, Alt brewers use low fermentations temperatures and long, cold conditioning times to mellow their brews, but unlike their brothers in Cologne, they did not embrace the new pale malt but instead retained the traditional copper color through the use of Munich and caramel malts. A small portion of wheat malt may also make up part of the grist.

Passion for Tradition

Both Cologne and Düsseldorf have lively pub cultures that include serving Kölsch and Alt in a narrow, straight-sided glass called a Stange (“pole”).  Kölsch glasses are a mere 20 centiliters (~6.75 ounces) which the waiter brings to the table in a special tray carried by a handle. If the waiter sees an empty glass, he simply replaces it with a full one until the patron says stop. The old section of Düsseldorf is known as the Alstadt or the “old city”, which hosts a dense number of pubs in a radius of a few blocks. Alt is served in similar fashion, but the Düsseldrof Stange is a bit larger than the Kölsch Stange.

Although the cities are close neighbors that share a passion for preserving an old tradition of brewing, they are quite protective of their individual interpretations of the ale. Cologne is proud of the clean, refreshing character of their pale Kölsch with its subtle nuances, while Düsseldorf views Kölsch as just an imitator of the ubiquitous Pils, with only the amber Alt and its assertive bitterness representing a true example of the old brewing traditions.

Altbier Characteristics

Alt is copper to brown with rich, toasted caramel malt flavor from the use of Munich malt. It has a firm bitterness but with little or no hop aroma. The body is medium in mouthfeel with a clean, well-attenuated finish and minimal fruity esters that may be found in other ales. While similar to English pale ale in color and bitterness, it lacks the assertive hop aroma and fermentation esters found in pale ale.

Notable Examples: Diebels Alt, Schlösser Alt, Frankenheim Alt, Uerige Alt, Füchschen Alt, Schumaker Alt, Original Schlüssel, Dry Dock Bismark Alt

 

KC Bier Co brews both a Kölsch-Style Golden Ale and an Altbier, available on draught and in bottles and cans throughout Missouri and Kansas for a limited time in 2025. Learn more here.

Zoigl Bier & the Community Brewhouse

Written by · Categorized: Bier, Bier News, Bier Nerd

The 2023 winner of the KC Bier Meister’s Homebrew Scale-Up Contest, Logan Beets, came to our brewery and brewed a special kind of lager that is seldom seen in today’s craft beer lineups: a Zoigl. Logan’s Zoigl bier will be on draft ONLY at Kansas City Bier Company beginning Saturday, August 12th, for a limited time.

What is Zoigl Bier?

Historically, a Zoigl is a lager brewed according to traditional methods in community brewhouses, or “Kommunbrauhaus” in just five towns (Eslarn, Falkenberg, Mitterteich, Neuhaus, and Windischeschenbach) in the Oberpfalz region in Bavaria, near its border with the Czech Republic. This regional tradition dates back to the early 1400s, and has been passed down through generations. Buildings that hosted beer brewing were marked with a “Bierzeigel” or “beer sign”. In regional dialect, “Zeigel” became “Zoigl”, and thus the name for Zoigl beer was born.

It is fitting that Logan’s winning recipe was a Zoigl-style bier; as the winner, he was invited to brew his winning recipe in the Kansas City Bier Company facility and release the bier in our taproom on draft only, echoing the 500 year old tradition that still takes place in the Oberpfalz region.

Logan Beets (left) and Chad Crawford brewing the Zoigl beer.

 

Traditionally, any homeowner within the area of the “Zoiglbraurecht”, or legal brewing right, have the opportunity to use the brewing facility. So, anyone could come and brew beer for themselves or their neighbors. In the beginning, as this began long before the discovery of yeast and pasteurization, Zoigl was unfiltered and unprocessed. This meant that once the cask was opened, the beer had a very limited “shelf life”. In the beginning, many brewers with Zoiglbraurecht (brewing rights) brewed beer simply for their own consumption, but would often invite their neighbors to come and drink beer that was leftover. As time went on, some began commercializing their practice, charging a small fee for beer drinking.

The Zoigl Star

The oldest known depiction of the brewer’s Zoigl star. Unknown artist, Hausbuch der Mendelschen Zwölfbrüderstiftung, Band 1. Nürnberg 1426–1549, public domain.

 

 

A modern Zoigl star: Tempest in a Tankard, Franz D. Hofer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The brewhouses that brewed and served Zoigl did not mark their buildings with signs or advertisements like other pubs or breweries. Instead, they hung a 6-pointed star outside of the house. It is made of two equilateral triangles, one pointing up and one pointing down. One triangle symbolizes the three essential ingredients of beer: water, malt, and hops (remember, yeast was not discovered yet). The second triange represents the elements: fire, earth, and air. While this symbol is not exclusive to the Oberpfalz region, it holds a special significance there, signifying that beer is brewed and served within!

The Echter zoigl vom Kommunbrauer logo

This tradition lives on today in the Oberpfalz region. While it is not extremely well-known outside of Germany, the popularity of Zoigl has increased, both in the commercial bier market and within pubs near the Oberpfalz region, who hope to capitalize on the popularity of the region’s tradition. To differentiate the genuine Zoigl biers that are brewed within the 5 Oberpfalz towns according to tradition, the brewers within these towns now label community brewhouses and Zoigl biers with the “Echter Zoigl von Kommunbrauer”. This logo ensures that the beer was brewed in a community brewhouse located within the same town, using the traditional methods and ingredients, and brewed entirely within the labeled premises.

Join us on Saturday, August 12th, to raise a toast to brewing tradition and community with a Zoigl-style bier!

KC Bier Co and the City of Fountains Foundation Team Up for Fountain City Wheat

Written by · Categorized: Press, Bier, Bier Nerd

Kansas City Bier Company is excited to announce the release of Fountain City Wheat, a new Spezial Release bier brewed in collaboration with the City of Fountains Foundation in celebration of its 50th Anniversary. The Foundation, established in 1973, is responsible for raising funds to construct new fountains, cover maintenance costs, and increase awareness of the importance of Kansas City’s 48 publicly owned fountains. Read more about the foundation here.

To support the preservation of Kansas City’s fountains, KC Bier Co will donate a portion of the bier’s proceeds to the City of Fountains Foundation.

Fountain City Wheat is a Kristall Weizen, or clear-filtered Hefeweizen. With subtle notes of clove and banana from our Bavarian Hefeweizen yeast, Fountain City Wheat is clear like the water that runs through Kansas City’s iconic fountains, easy-drinking, and utterly refreshing. The special packaging for Fountain City Wheat features four fountains from around the Kansas City area, as well as a map of Kansas City’s fountains. Vanguard Packaging collaborated on the package production, and graciously donated part of the cost of materials in support of the fundraiser.

Fountain City Wheat will be available beginning March 15th at Kansas City Metro area and Lawrence, Kansas retail locations in 6-packs and on draught while supplies last. Drink bier and help keep Kansas City beautiful!

From the Archives: Make Better Lager Beer The Bavarian Way – Use More Yeast!

Written by · Categorized: Behind the Scenes, Bier, Bier Nerd

We’ve started digging into our archives and have come across a bevy of articles and essays written by KC Bier Co. founder and managing owner Steve Holle for a variety of beer publications prior to founding KC Bier Co. We’ll start posting these here for your enjoyment. Kicking off this series is an article from Zymurgy magazine written in May 2007, “Make Better Lager Beer The Bavarian Way – Use More Yeast!” An excerpt is below; click the link at the end to read the full article.

***

In March of 2006, I spent a week with three brewers touring nine breweries in Bamberg and Munich, Germany.  Many of the breweries, especially in Bamberg, are small with aging equipment cobbled together over decades and crammed into centuries old buildings with less than ideal floor plans for a modern brewery. Yet, the brewery was able to produce very good beers, which I credit to the power of yeast and a fastidiously clean brewer.

Cleaning protocols often includes only a brush and elbow grease, and fermentation is sometimes conducted in open fermenters. Yet, in spite of these challenges, each brewery produces great beer. In certain ways, these Bavarian brewers are coping with the same issues as a homebrewer who pieces together a multitude of gadgets constituting a brewery in an overcrowded garage or basement.  The reasons for their success are applicable to homebrewers as well.

The first key to the Bamberg brewers’ success is the short distance they distribute their beer, which is often sold on premise (like a homebrewer) or distributed within a very short radius from Bamberg. Even if some of the filling equipment introduces elevated levels of oxygen and the pipe work isn’t extremely sanitary, the beer remains delicious until drunk a few days later. The short time period between packaging and consumption does not allow for defects to be manifested.  Because of the freshness, Germans still expect that beer drunk within site of the brewery smokestack will be the very best beer.

However, these breweries also use another safeguard.  They ferment with lots of healthy yeast at cold temperatures.  Each of the small breweries we visited obtains fresh yeast from a larger brewery nearby because they do not have the time, space, or financial capacity to propagate their own yeast. The large breweries seem unconcerned about safeguarding a proprietary yeast strain. The yeast is treated just like any other ingredient. In fact, many of the brewers did not even know the specific yeast strain they were buying.

Lager yeast works and multiplies more slowly than ale yeast because the cooler fermentation temperature slows down the yeast’s metabolic activity. This is the reason that brewers use larger quantities of pitching yeast for lagers compared to ales (typically 50 to 100% more yeast). The Bamberg breweries usually obtain their yeast in sterile milk cans immediately before brewing and then pitch directly into the brew. Their pre-pitching protocol, if any, is usually limited to mixing the yeast slurry with a slotted spoon to homogenize and aerate.

Finally, the brewers use traditional cold fermentation. Lager beer first gained popularity in medieval times because of its clean taste and stability. When Bavarian monks unknowingly selected for yeast that could ferment at cold temperatures, they reduced the number of spoilage microbes that could only survive in a warmer environment. When beer was fermented cold and stored cold, it remained stable longer before souring.

The most fascinating brewery that I visited was the brewpub Union Bräu on Max-Weber-Platz in Munich. In an attempt to replicate an old-fashioned brewery, Union Bräu operates one of the most archaic commercial brewing systems I have seen.  Yet, the brewery was able to produce very good beers, which I credit to the power of yeast and a fastidiously clean brewer. Union Bräu is an excellent working museum that demonstrates how beer was made 100 years ago.

My hero, Japanese-born and German-educated brewer Yasubumi Sawamura spends 2 days brewing and 3 days cleaning each week. Yasubumi said he initially believed that he could never brew contamination-free beer when he first started working at Union Braeu. Yet, he said he has never had an off-tasting beer, which is a tribute to his hard work, since the whole brewery must be cleaned by hand. Secondly, the fact that he uses a large quantity of yeast ensures that the yeast can overwhelm and crowd out spoilage organisms.

Finally, the cold temperatures inhibit the growth of other organisms because their metabolism and growth are drastically reduced by the cold. In this regard, Union Bräu is a throw back to the original attraction of lager yeast – it could produce clean tasting, spoilage resistant beer without the application of modern sanitation practices. The quality beer served at Union Bräu is a testament to the historic power of lager yeast and the dedication of one highly motivated brewer.

-Stephen R. Holle, May 2007
IBD Diploma Brewer, GABF Judge, and member of the North Texas Homebrewers Association

CLICK HERE FOR FULL ARTICLE: “Make Better Beer with Better Yeast 5-19-07”