Költ

IF TWO HAVE DISPUTING, THE MIDDLE WILL BE JOYED. Barley Illustration We are Hans and Matthias, two friends on the Rhine, who got to know each other while studying design at the Düsseldorf University of Applied Sciences. When we were out and about in the old town with friends from Cologne and Düsseldorf in the summer of 2014, the well-known topic came up again: Cologne against Düsseldorf, Kölsch against old. Our argument arose from this argument: költ - a beer brewed together. A long process followed: Because brewing a beer that combines both traditions requires more than just a good relationship with beer and a distinctive name. We worked our way into the art of brewing, but there was no way around it: we needed a master brewer. Much more, a master who has the craft of Kölsch and Alt in his blood. In the middle of Monheim am Rhein, a small town exactly between Cologne and Düsseldorf, we got to know Henning in his small beer factory. Both beers have been brewed there for years. We had the right man in the right place for our long-awaited költ. After countless meetings and test brews, we did it: on August 26, 2017, the first was brewed cold. We started a crowdfunding campaign to find out who else was drinking and who wanted to drink, which overwhelmed us. Over 20,000 € were raised after just a few weeks. The press reported and was cold everywhere, even on TV, but unfortunately not in the bottle. From then on, the work really started. After a test run at Carnival, we quickly noticed that the small manufactory was reaching its capacity limit. So we started looking for a larger brewery. Early in the morning, before our actual job, we rattled through larger breweries. Brewed test brew, calculated, organized blind tastings. At the Rhineland Pitch Finale in the summer, we served our beer to over 1,000 Rhinelanders and evaluated the feedback. költ got better and better and we found our brewery in Krefeld. Regional, short transport routes and a cool, as we had wished. But the work was no less. We quickly realized that it was we who were slowly reaching their capacity limits. Bringing a beer to the market alongside the job seemed increasingly unrealistic. So we took our courage, gave up the job and plunged headfirst into the fermentation and storage tanks. This is the best way to learn to swim in new waters. We founded költ GmbH on 1.8.2018, but more than two months passed until bottling. We toured through Germany again, printed labels, carriers and crown caps. With a lot of luck, we got the Gründerstipendium.NRW for the innovative idea of uniting the Rhineland with its two rivals in beer.