Wild vs Spotted Cow

If you read Wild Cow (sort of) Kölsch (Batch 394), you know that I designed Wild Cow (sort of) Kölsch as a tribute to New Glarus Spotted Cow back in 2020.

As I don't live in Wisconsin, though, my memory of Spotted Cow was sort of fuzzy. My brain had Spotted Cow as a darker beer than it actually was, and the original version didn't look anything like Spotted Cow.

I have family in Wisconsin and since 2020, I've had the opportunity to drink and study Spotted Cow a bit more, and I modified the Wild Cow (sort of) Kölsch (Batch 394) recipe to at least look a little closer.

This past weekend, I had an opportunity to try the beers side-by-side.

Visually I nailed it. Color on both is a gold, darker than typical "light" beers but not dark enough to be considered amber or even copper. Both had fluffy white head. The Wild Cow maintained its head better. Carbonation was pretty close, but I think Spotted Cow had a bit more. Both were hazy, but not the ugly cloudy you get from most hazy IPA's. 

I think the malt bills were very similar. Spotted Cow was a little sweeter, and Wild Cow a touch drier and more drinkable. The Spotted Cow can says they follow the Reinheitsgebot, so they don't have the flaked wheat and barely I put in Wild Cow. Tastes close enough, though. 

Neither had much hop flavor or aroma, but I think Wild Cow was better balanced and had a little more hop character. 

I'm pretty sure that Spotted Cow does not use the Colorado Kolsch yeast that I used. Or ... Perhaps they fermented their beer warmer than I did. There are more esters in the Spotted Cow. I'm actually more of the fan of the slightly cleaner Wild Cow. 

They are actually fairly close. And the differences are better in Wild Cow, so this is the recipe for this beer. 

I think I'm likely to brew this again sometime.

While tasting these beers together, I was grilling chicken thighs on the Weber Kettle.

Chicken thighs are the thing I cook the most, but I hardly ever mention them on this blog.

They turned out great.

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