Kölsch (beer)

Kölsch
A glass of Kölsch in Aachen
Country of origin	Germany
Yeast type	Top-fermenting
Alcohol by volume	4.4%–5.2%
Bitterness (IBU)	20–30
Original Gravity	1.044–1.050
Final Gravity	1.007–1.011
Malt percentage	usually 100%

Kölsch (German pronunciation: [kœlʃ]) is a beer brewed in Cologne, Germany. It is a clear, top-fermented beer with a bright, straw-yellow hue similar to other beers brewed from mainly Pilsener malt.

Kölsch is warm fermented at around 13 to 21 °C (55 to 70 °F), then conditioned by lagering at cold temperatures. This style of fermentation links Kölsch with some other central northern European beers such as the Altbiers of western Germany and the Netherlands.

Kölsch is defined by an agreement between members of the Cologne Brewery Association known as the Kölsch Konvention (). It has a gravity between 11 and 16 degrees Plato.

The term Kölsch was first officially used in 1918 to describe the beer that had been brewed by the Sünner brewery since 1906. It was developed from the similar but cloudier variant Wieß (for "white" in the Kölsch dialect). It never became particularly popular in the first half of the twentieth century, when bottom-fermented beers prevailed as in the rest of Germany. Prior to World War II Cologne had more than forty breweries; this number was reduced to two in the devastation and its aftermath.

In 1946, many of the breweries managed to re-establish themselves. In the 1940s and 1950s, Kölsch still could not match the sales of bottom-fermented beer, but in the 1960s it began to rise in popularity in the Cologne beer market. From a production of merely 50 million liters in 1960, Cologne's beer production peaked at 370 million liters in 1980. Recent price increases and changing drinking habits have caused economic hardship for many of the traditional corner bars (Kölschkneipen) and smaller breweries. By 2005 output had declined to 240 million litres.