This past week, we visited family in Wisconsin, home of New Glarus Spotted Cow. New Glarus does not distribute its beer outside of the Wisconsin boarders, and I decided to pick up some Spotted Cow and bring it back to my home brewery to compare to my Wild Cow (sort of) Kölsch, which I plan to brew soon.
I'm the meantime, my Bad Lands Kölsch is on tap, and Thursday I decided to compare it to the Spotted Cow.
Honestly, I never considered Spotted Cow a Kölsch style ... and really still don't really. But when I started researching Wild Cow (sort of) Kölsch, it seemed that most "clone" recipes I came across seemed to put it in that category.
Anyway, as a comparison of these two beers:
Spotted Cow is considerably more hazy, although Bad Lands is certainly not crystal clear. Spotted Cow does seem to be like half a shade darker in color. Head formation and retention is very similar.
Bad Lands seems to be lighter and more crisp on the pallet. Spotted Cow might have a fuller body. Bad Lands seem to have a cleaner flavor with less fruity esters than Spotted Cow.
I think I get a little more noble hop flavor from Bad Lands.
Honestly, though, these beers are more similar than I thought they would be.
If I had to pick a favorite of these two, I'd pick Bad Lands, but I enjoy both beers. Of course it is much easier to get my beer than travel to Wisconsin and bring it back.
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