Robin Shepard
As Madison embraces its new soccer team, Forward Madison FC, fans will now have their own beer to toast victories. One Barrel Brewing had the team’s core fans taste-test several beer ideas before landing on the recipe of this cherry kölsch.
What is it? Forward from One Barrel Brewing.
Style: Forward is made from the brewery’s flagship brew, Commuter Kölsch, a light- to medium-bodied ale with a soft mouthfeel and pale golden color. Kölsch is a style associated with Köln, Germany, and there it’s brewed to strict standards, with 10 to 20 percent wheat. One Barrel’s take involves a kölsch yeast strain and German Hallertau hops. It’s easy drinking at 4.8 percent ABV. Commuter Kölsch has been a mainstay for One Barrel since it opened its Atwood Avenue location in 2012.
Background: One Barrel owner Peter Gentry was an avid soccer player in high school and in Madison’s adult league. So when he heard that Madison was getting a USL Division III team, he was quick to get on board as a fan and wanted to do what he could via his brewery to support it. “I really wanted to be a sponsor but I couldn’t afford to put my name on a jersey, so instead I got creative,” says Gentry. “We thought it would be fun to make a beer specifically for the team so I got in touch with the Flock,” he adds. The Flock is a collective of fans and team supporters and through the Flock Soccer Foundation they support community causes.
Gentry brought together about 20 members of the Flock in January for an initial meeting where he introduced the idea of a beer for the team. Then in mid-February he joined them again at Madison’s Nomad World Pub to watch an English soccer match. While there he offered samples of several of his ideas for light-bodied fruited beer before asking the Flock to vote on what they liked best. The winner became Forward cherry kölsch.
Forward is made with a hefty amount of Door County processed cherry puree, in about a one-to-five ratio with beer. That’s enough to lend a lot of cherry aroma, flavor and deep reddish color to the beer.
Forward cherry kölsch finishes at 4.8 percent ABV. You can find it at Breese Stevens Field for Forward’s home games, at One Barrel Brewery in Madison and Egg Harbor, and in six-packs of 12-ounce cans that sell for $10-$12. Ten percent of the proceeds from the sales of Forward cherry kölsch go to the Flock Soccer Foundation for charity and outreach programs.
By the way, One Barrel’s new Egg Harbor location holds its Grand Opening May 23-27. And, the next home game for the Madison Forward is May 18.
Tasting notes:
- Aroma: Light fruity notes of cherry.
- Appearance: Hazy, reddish amber color. A thick, frothy, pink head.
- Texture: Light- to medium-bodied and bubbly.
- Taste: Crisp, bright cherry notes with some sweet fruitiness. A mild grainy wheat-like background.
- Finish/Aftertaste: Bubbly, with crisp cherry notes and light sourness.
Glassware: The tulip glass allows the fruity cherry notes to expand under the nose while showing off the beer’s amber red color.
Pairs well with: light summer lunch fare. The beer’s cherry flavor is a nice match for a turkey club or tuna salad sandwich. It’s also very good on its own.
The Verdict: This is a beer with a lot of cherry character. It is assertive and fruit-forward with its cherry flavor, but not so much that the beer is forgotten. My first thought was that the cherry could easily overwhelm the light nature of the kölsch, however I found a firm grainy breadiness in the background that recalls the base beer. For that reason I feel it’s a nice cherry beer worthy of attention, even though the cherry flavor can be somewhat cloying. It’s very sessionable at 4.8 percent ABV so it should go well as a mate to a soccer match.
