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FijiFlavors · Colônia
Light, pale beer with top fermentation, served in a thin cylindrical 0.2‑liter glass by the breweries’ waiter, the Köbes. It is a protected geographical indication and may only be made in Cologne and in a few breweries in the region.
Traditional drink from Colônia, Renânia do Norte-Vestfália
Also known as: Kölsch-Bier, cerveja Kölsch
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
Click a photo to enlarge it.
Kölsch — Colônia, Germany
Kölsch is Cologne’s beer. It is pale, filtered, top‑fermented, well attenuated and hop‑forward. In German, the same word also names the city’s dialect, and brewers like to say it is the only beer that is at once a drink, an origin and a language.
The style is regulated. The Kölsch‑Konvention, published in 1985, defines what Kölsch is and where it may be produced. Since 1997 Kölsch has been a protected geographical indication of the European Union. It may be brewed in Cologne and, as an exception, in some breweries outside the city that were already producing Kölsch before the convention.
The way it’s served is part of the experience. Kölsch comes in a thin, narrow 0.2‑liter glass called a Stange. In traditional breweries the waiter, called a Köbes, circulates with a round tray full of glasses, the Kranz. When a glass runs empty he replaces it with a full one without asking and makes a mark on the coaster. To stop, the rule is to place the coaster on top of the glass.
The tavern‑breweries in the old town, near the cathedral and along the Rhine, serve Kölsch straight from the cask with dishes from the Rhenish kitchen. The small glass ensures the beer always arrives fresh. At Cologne’s Carnival the Kölsch is everywhere.
Colônia , Renânia do Norte-Vestfália
Kölsch is a protected geographical indication and is brewed in Cologne, under the Kölsch‑Konvention of the city’s breweries.
Light malt, hops, water and top‑fermenting yeast, according to the German beer purity law.
In the thin 0.2‑liter glass (Stange), brought by the Köbes on the round tray (Kranz). The glass is replaced until you place the coaster on top. Served with Rhenish dishes. Enjoy in moderation.
Year‑round; very prominent during Cologne’s Carnival.
Your questions
The 0.2‑liter cylindrical glass, the Stange, is the traditional form. The beer always arrives fresh, and the waiter replaces an empty glass with a full one.
Place the coaster on top of the empty glass. It’s the signal for the Köbes not to bring another.
It is a protected geographical indication of the European Union. It may be produced in Cologne and in some breweries outside the city that were already making it before the Kölsch‑Konvention.
Flavors of Germany
Aachen spice cookie, sweetened with syrup and with small pieces of brown candi sugar that crackle when you bite them. It can be hard or soft, plain, with almonds or coated in chocolate. It has a protected geographical indication from the European Union.
Fresh pasta dough filled with ground meat, spinach, soaked bread, onion and herbs, served in broth, browned with onions, or sliced and fried with egg. A Swabian dish with protected geographical indication since 2009, traditional at Easter week.
Layered chocolate sponge cake soaked in Kirschwasser, the cherry brandy of the Black Forest, with cherries and whipped cream, topped with chocolate shavings. Black Forest tourism presents it as the region’s most famous sweet specialty.
Dark beer with a smoky flavor, made with malt dried in the smoke of beech firewood. Bamberg tourism presents it as part of the city’s identity, and the traditional preparation is listed in the Slow Food Ark of Taste.
Paste of camembert or brie cheese mashed with butter, paprika and, depending on the recipe, onion, cumin or beer; eaten with bread or a pretzel. A beer‑garden dish from Bavaria, with protected geographical indication since 2015.
Sausage sliced into rounds, topped with tomato sauce and curry powder, served with french fries or bread. The creation of the sauce is attributed to Herta Heuwer, who sold it in Berlin in 1949.
Kale slowly cooked with bacon, served with the smoked sausage Pinkel, smoked pork and potatoes. Bremen’s official portal presents it as the city’s best-known specialty, a winter dish of the Kohlfahrt.
Sweet Christmas bread with raisins, candied orange and lemon peel, almonds and plenty of butter, coated with powdered sugar. Mentioned in Dresden since 1474, it has had protected geographical indication status since 2010.
Amber-colored beer, top-fermented with a pronounced bitterness, brewed in Düsseldorf’s brewery-taverns from a mid-19th-century recipe. The city’s tourism promotion presents it as the typical drink of the Altstadt.
Cold sauce of seven chopped fresh herbs with sour cream, served with hard‑boiled eggs and potatoes. The mixture of the seven herbs, grown largely in the Oberrad neighborhood, has protected geographical indication.
Sweet made from fermented, laminated dough with butter, sugar and cinnamon, rolled and pressed until it takes its characteristic flattened shape. Hamburg’s official portal presents it as a specialty of the city.
Dry, acidic apple wine, fully fermented, served in the Bembel ceramic jug and in the diamond-patterned glass called the Gerippte. It is a protected geographical indication of Hesse, and the apple wine culture of the state is listed in the German inventory of intangible heritage.
Little tart of shortcrust pastry filled with marzipan, almonds and a touch of jam or a cherry, with two strips of pastry crossed on top. It replaced the roasted lark, a Leipzig dish until the hunting ban in 1876.
White veal sausage with bacon and parsley, warmed in hot water and served with sweet mustard and a pretzel, traditionally before midday. It is one of Munich’s best-known specialties.
Honey cake with spices, walnuts and almonds, often baked on a thin wafer and covered with chocolate or icing. It has a protected geographical indication since 1996 and may only be made within Nuremberg.
Pork sausages 7 to 9 centimeters long, seasoned with marjoram and grilled, served by the dozen with sauerkraut or inside a roll. They have protected geographical indication since 2003 and may only be made in Nuremberg.
Ball of strips of shortcrust pastry, fried and dusted with confectioners’ sugar, resembling a snowball. Rothenburg ob der Tauber tourism presents it as the city’s regional specialty.
Cake baked in thin layers on a spit that turns in front of a fire; when sliced it shows rings like those of a tree trunk. Made in Salzwedel since the early 19th century, it has been a protected geographical indication since 2010.
Long, thin pork sausage, 15 to 20 centimeters long, seasoned with marjoram, cumin and garlic, grilled over charcoal and eaten in a small roll with mustard. The earliest known mention dates from 1404, and the name has protected geographical indication status since 2004.
